Website E-commerce Replatform

From Magento to Shopify, a tale of two platforms.

Magento, the current platform Universal Audio conducts business through, is outdated. The current architecture has been custom-built in-house to fit the e-commerce, data, licensing, and SKU management needs of the company to such an extent that they can’t update to the latest version anymore, and it’s operating on Magento 1, with the kinds of bugs you’d expect from deprecated software.

Moving to Shopify+ allows the company a modern architecture, and an ecosystem of app developers that is set to innovate how quickly they can release new features.

We partnered with The VAAN Group, a dedicated Shopify+ partner agency, to make this project happen.

The project is not live yet, estimated live date is Q4 2024.

Goals

• Migrate the Universal Audio flagship Magento site to Shopify (Replatform)
  
  
• Improve/modernize site UX and design with a focus on facilitating discovery through predictive search and improved information architecture
  
  
• Increase recurring revenue of UA’s online properties
  
  
• Focusing/simplifying brand presentation across product categories and devices
  
  
• Offer hardware DTC opening up a new sales channel
  
  
• Instrument data capture and analytics to track funnel and behavior metrics that are actionable and can be optimized over time
  
  
• Remove friction from the customer buying path
  
  
• Reduce tickets to CS for basic account and licensing problems

$40M

YoY Software Revenue

500k

Budget We Managed

3

Years In The Making

“

I’m having issues registering and transferring my device via the account portal.”

— 100's of user calls to CS

“

We need to create a new engine for cross-sells, and sell hardware direct to the customer.”

— Stakeholder

Timeline & Design Phases

The inception of this program started in 2021, when we did internal research, onboarded into Shopify, built our first subscription product (Spark) on the platform, and did a series of workshops that would inform the goals for this project. Things kicked into gear when The VAAN Group was engaged in January 2023. The timeline will likely be extended beyond April, well into Q4, due to the complexity of this program and all the systems that tie into the Ecomm platform. 

tips_and_updates FUN FACT: Shipping things is a messy process, it's never a neat timeline. With a project this large, you are constantly uncovering new unknowns. My method is to derive certainty in what is known, and anchor there, acknowledging there'll be a thousand things we couldn't predict, and keep driving forward, navigating a sea of ambiguity, and putting markers in the territory traversed, like an "explorer."

Team & Stakeholder Map

Once The VAAN Group agency was onboarded for this project, a group of stakeholders set up a core team to manage this project, with me as the lead, and Eric Schmitt as my technical counterpart. One of my core responsibilities was stakeholder management, which was done through a series of recurring meetings to review design and gather input and alignment, async via Slack, and through various project status and presentations on the program.

Requirements & Agencies

One of the jobs I did in this project was managing the relationship with the agency, unblocking them, and providing clarity on the requirements for the design. We had over 20 interviews with experts at the company to gather requirements and I produced dozens of documents to assist this agency in finding their way through this complex project. I also facilitated and set the agenda for over 150 recurring tech calls with the agency.

tips_and_updates FUN FACT: When it comes to facilitating conversations, I believe in making things tangible, whether that's through writing, sketching or prototyping. Tool preference aside, if it allows you to collaborate on shared ideas, any platform can be useful. I use Google Suite a lot, but also Whimsical, Figjam, and other whiteboarding tools when needed.

Moodboards

Leaning into the heritage aspect of the historical brand, we aligned on using a minimal style, with neutral tones, grids, and a design that stays out of the way to make room for product photography.

Wireframes

We had to create over 50 templates as well as several self-serve flows. Wireframing helped the agency understand the problem, and drive alignment with all the relevant stakeholders, paving the way for an expedited approval process when reviewing high-fidelity design.

High-fidelity Designs

With the project under NDA and unreleased still, I can’t show too much, but here’s a sneak peek at the new design. Key innovations around e-commerce functionality, predictive search, upsells and improved UX in the account portal are elements we expect to have measurable impact.

Key Results 

Since the program is still ongoing, the delivery of key results is still to be determined upon launch and optimization, but so far...

5-8%

Expected Revenue Growth

6

App Partners Integrated 

100's

Of Facilitated Conversations

Credits

Stakeholders

John Bigay (Chief Revenue Officer)
Dan Fulop (VP, Digital Marketing)
Erik Hanson (VP, Brand)
Andrew Rossa (VP, Product Marketing)
Shawn Rasson (VP, BizApps)

Core Group

Louis Voguel (Sr. Program Manager)
Eric Schmitt (Director, Cloud Services)
Josh Frank (Director, E-commerce)
Frank Weckerly (Program Manager)
Ryan Wagner (Product Manager)

The VAAN Group

Geo (Director, Product)
Ronald (Product Manager)
Allison (Director, Client Services)
Ashley (Project Manager)
Kyla (Sr. Designer)
+10 developers (front and back-end)