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ShopMelissa Case Study: A Strategic Migration from BigCommerce to Shopify Plus
Growth is essential for a successful fashion brand like ShopMelissa. However, their BigCommerce store, which had once provided a solid foundation, was now holding them back. It couldn’t support their aim of delivering an outstanding customer experience. They needed to move to a truly scalable eCommerce platform that was built for the future, not just an upgrade. This is the story of their planned migration from BigCommerce to Shopify Plus, a difficult replatforming that Nextige managed to execute with remarkable effectiveness and performance.
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At a Glance: Project Highlights
Client
Shopmelissa
Industry
Fashion & Apparel
Services
eCommerce Replatforming, Custom Shopify Development, Data Migration
Platform Switch
BigCommerce → Shopify Plus
Key Results
- 40% Faster Load Speed
- 15% Increase in Mobile Conversion
The Challenge: BigCommerce to Shopify Plus
Despite ShopMelissa’s success, major BigCommerce limitations were slowing their growth. Their once-effective platform became a bottleneck, creating serious obstacles for their future success. They had to navigate a minefield of possible issues for the project:
Customer & Order Data Integrity
Moving sensitive account data and the complete customer order history was the biggest risk. A single mistake could lead to operational chaos and a loss of customer trust.
Complex Product Catalog
ShopMelissa had a vast product catalog that included thousands of products, intricate variations, and a unique category structure. Migrating all this data without damaging product associations or losing important information was a challenge.
Preserving Social Proof (Reviews)
ShopMelissa had gathered thousands of insightful product reviews. To keep customer confidence and conversion rates high, they needed to transfer this third-party data (Judge.me on Shopify) without any losses.
Maintaining SEO Equity
It was essential to maintain SEO throughout the platform migration due to years of high search engine rankings. A perfect 301 redirect strategy was necessary to avoid broken links and a sudden drop in organic traffic.
Unscalable Technical Architecture
The current website was slow and struggled to handle traffic spikes during sales events. This poor performance caused lost sales and affected the eCommerce user experience.
Inefficient Backend Operations
The ShopMelissa team found the BigCommerce backend to be unwieldy. They couldn’t respond quickly to market trends because simple tasks like managing inventory and updating promotions took too much time.
Our Solution: A Blueprint for a Flawless Migration
To address ShopMelissa’s challenges, we used our four-stage migration process. This isn’t just a technical checklist; it’s our approach designed to minimize risks, ensure transparency, and provide a smooth transition from start to finish. By dividing the complexities into clear, manageable phases, each with its own deliverables and approval steps, we turn a potentially chaotic migration into a predictable project. This method gives our clients visibility and confidence throughout the entire process.
1. Strategic Blueprint & Design Translation
We started with a deep-dive discovery phase to create a strategic blueprint that guided the entire project. Our process flowed from a high-level strategy to a pixel-perfect final product.
Discovery & Strategy → UX/UI Translation → Development
We mapped out the entire data structure, translated the Figma designs into a component-based plan for Shopify, and then began the custom Shopify theme development with a clear, mobile-first focus.
2. Meticulous Data Migration
This was the most important phase, requiring careful attention to ensure nothing was lost. Our team carried out a thorough migration that included:
1. Customer Accounts: All user profiles, saved addresses, and contact information.
2. Product Catalog: All products, variants, images, and metadata.
3. Collections and Categories: The full site structure and product organization.
4. Third-Party Review Data: All product reviews and ratings from their previous system.
3. Custom Development & Integration
After laying the groundwork, we developed unique features and added the necessary third-party applications to create a strong eCommerce ecosystem.
1. Theme Implementation: We created a fully responsive Shopify theme that was both visually appealing and fast. It was optimized for Core Web Vitals.
2. Reviews Integration: We connected Judge.me, ensuring that all migrated social proof showed up correctly on the updated product pages.
3. Marketing & Analytics: We integrated their email marketing and analytics platforms so customer data flowed properly for segmentation and reporting from the start.
4. Rigorous Testing & SEO Preservation
The new website went through a complete quality assurance process before launch. We followed a strict, multi-point checklist to ensure a flawless go-live.
1. Cross-Browser & Device Testing: The new website went through a complete quality assurance process before launch. We followed a strict, multi-point checklist to ensure a flawless go-live.
2. Functionality & App Audits: We tested each user path on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices using Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
3. SEO Go-Live Protocol: We checked that all buttons, links, and features from third-party apps worked as intended.
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The Tech Stack: Integrations & Features
The right technology is crucial for a successful migration. We provided ShopMelissa with a strong and flexible tech stack designed for growth, efficiency, and performance. Each component was chosen to solve a specific issue and create new opportunities.
Shopify Plus Platform
As the foundation of the new business, we made use of Shopify Plus’ enterprise-grade features. We made use of its unique tools to create a real growth engine, going beyond its basic eCommerce capabilities. In order to free up the ShopMelissa team to concentrate on strategy, this involved configuring Shopify Flow to automate repetitive tasks like flagging unusual orders or tagging high-value customers. Additionally, we made significant customizations to the checkout process, resulting in a smooth, consistent brand experience that increases trust and dramatically lowers cart abandonment.
Custom-Built Shopify Theme
The custom theme, created from their Figma designs, gave ShopMelissa a unique brand identity that sets them apart from competitors using templates. This approach allowed us to develop a user journey specifically for their clients, giving us full creative control. More importantly, the theme was built from the ground up to be lightweight and optimized for Google Core Web Vitals. This ensures a fast user experience, improves SEO rankings, and boosts customer retention.
Advanced Search & Filtering
We created a smart search system to help customers find the right product quickly. Customers could locate what they needed even with minor spelling errors because of the instant and, importantly, typo-tolerant search results it provided. For their collections, we also designed personalized filters that allow customers to easily narrow their choices by price, size, color, and style. This greatly improves product discovery and speeds up the buying process.
Judge.me Product Reviews
We integrated Judge.me to protect and grow their hard-earned social proof. Keeping the real customer stories that boost sales was more important than just moving star ratings. To build customer trust and provide a steady supply of new, genuine marketing materials, our team set up the platform to automatically collect new User-Generated Content (UGC) and smoothly transferred thousands of their past product reviews, including customer photos.
Advanced Data Migration Tools
We ensured that all important company data was transferred completely, accurately, and securely by combining our custom verification scripts with specialized tools like Mantrixify. This two-step process was essential. Our manual verification scripts cross-referenced the data to make sure every customer and order detail was correct before the final switch. The automated tools provided speed for tens of thousands of records.
Marketing Automation Integration
We ensured that Shopify Plus and their email marketing platform had a complete, real-time data sync. This direct data connection allowed us to instantly trigger advanced abandoned cart reminders, automatically sort customers into VIP tiers based on their spending habits, and customize email campaigns according to individual browsing history.
The Results: A Transformative Success
The migration to Shopify Plus was a major success. It brought immediate and clear improvements in many areas. The most noticeable change was the site’s performance, with a 40% increase in speed. This reduction in load times led to a lower bounce rate and, with our mobile-first design, boosted the mobile conversion rate by 15%. The advantages went beyond just the customer experience. Internally, the ShopMelissa team’s efficiency improved significantly. The easy-to-use Shopify Plus backend and Shopify Flow automations cut down the time spent on manual tasks, making their operations smoother. Now, ShopMelissa is no longer limited by its platform. It has a strong and flexible foundation that can handle large traffic surges and support future growth with confidence.
