Platform Change ADDS 36% Sales 

Having an old, outdated website will hold back your online sales as web innovation marches on relentlessly. This case study looks at how changing from an old, tired platform to a fresh, constantly updated one can reap real rewards. This was for the period 2011/12.

BR Special Tuning had been selling performance motorcycle exhausts via mail order and magazine advertising originally before moving online using osCommerce to power his ecommerce store. Sales had reached a plateau around £330,000 per annum with no marketing in place to drive more sales. After all, this was a comfortable level of sales for the owner.

However, in 2010/11 the website was coming under attack from hackers who were able to download the code legitimately and exploit it because it was "open source". At the same time, the site was frequently running slowly due to hosting constraints.

Wildfire Internet transferred the website to our superior ReallyEasyCart platform in early 2011. We imported the data using our osCommerce connector and advised on how to structure it for better search based on Make Model Year variations since the parts were for vehicles. This resulted in a 36% increase in revenues with no additional marketing at all and a far better user experience, with loyal customers saying how much better the new site was to search and buy from.

How We Achieved It

1. Out With The Old, In With The New

The first step was to win over the client, convincing him that by moving to a new software platform that was written to be super search engine friendly with a better user experience was always going to pay off. In addition, because ReallyEasyCart is always kept up to date with new innovations and all the things that matter, the website would remain at the forefront of innovation and not become old and tired as had happened before.

2. Undertaking Due Diligence

It was important to make sure that the new software could handle or improve the critical functionality of the site it was replacing. We diligently checked that this would be the case. In fact, we knew we would outperform the old site because of our auto parts plug-ins for enhanced search and Google Shopping feeds, plus ease of use in manipulating data via spreadsheet import/exports. In addition, there were over 50 new features that added extra facilities to the store, so the decision to change was an easy one in the end. 

3. Setting Up A Test Environment

We set up a special test environment so that we could make sure the data import had been successful, given there were products, options, attributes and customer data to bring across. Once the data was confirmed as clean by the client and signed off, we ran some test searches and orders making us 100% confident that the site transfer would be seamless.

4. Customer Trained, Site Launched

The next step was to train the client on all the new features in the store and the ones which were most important from day one. Once this was completed, an email campaign was sent to existing customers to advise the site was switching to a superior platform and the switchover took place. We followed good practice in reducing the time-to-stable so that web domain name servers around the world recognised the new site in the shortest possible time.

5. Monitor, Review, Enhance 

Following a successful site launch, we monitored the site and reviewed its performance. Traffic to the site started to pick up and conversion rates rose. The site began to attract more foreign visitors and sales revenues increased. This resulted in a 36% increase in sales with no extra marketing activity, leading to the best ever year for BR Special Tuning.

During the year, as a matter of course we updated the site with new enhancements at no extra charge. This included the new Google Merchant Centre rule changes which led to a further rise in visitors and sales. All part of the service!

Minimising The Risk, Maximising The Reward

The risk for BR Special Tuning was that switching to another ecommerce platform after years of making money on his "old, reliable cart-horse" might cause a loss of earnings.

Understanding this, we worked together hand-in-glove to make sure everything would proceed as expected.

The reward for BR Special Tuning was to benefit from the significant superiority of the ReallyEasyCart platform and its ability to drive in more traffic and increase conversions. Ultimately this reward meant a £100,000 increase in sales.

In summary, switching to a leading edge system backed up by real experts is the right way to go.

To switch to a superior money making machine, call us on 0845 643 1290 today and start the discussion.