Inchoo

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an online auto part retailer. We specialize in Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mini, Land Rover, Jaguar, Sprinter, and more.

For what projects/services did your company hire Inchoo, and what were your goals?

Our Magento 1 e-commerce store was created internally over 11 years ago and had become restricted and outdated. Since we didn't have in-house developers to re-design and migrate to Magento 2, we hired Inchoo to design and develop our new Magento 2-based website.

By doing this, we were hoping to improve our store's functions, usability and to increase conversions and traffic.

How did you select Inchoo and what were the deciding factors?

We've been following Inchoo since 2009. In fact, we've learned a lot about Magento development from their blog. We contacted them several times throughout the years. The official collaboration started at the end of 2019.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kick-off phone conversation to discuss our goals and objectives. From there, the team delivered a detailed proposal that outlined their suggested approach for the migration and complete re-design of our store to Magento 2.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

At first, a project manager was our main point of contact. But then were gradually introduced to the rest of their highly skilled team.

So far, we've probably worked with about 15 people including, backend developers, frontend/graphic designers, SEO specialists, PPC specialists, and server/networking specialists. We communicate directly with every team member working on our project. This allowed for faster and more efficient work.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The new site has only been up for under two months. We're still experiencing the initial fluctuation with search rankings and traffic. Our customers love the updated design. The store is much more usable and attractive.

Assigning applications guides to products on the backend is also a breeze. Now that many of the bug are ironed out, we have big hopes for 2021.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We had almost daily updates from each team member and project manager. With direct access to the ActiveCollab project workspace, collaborating with the team is very easy.

They use Git and GitHub for code versioning and deployment. They take security and backups very seriously. From the initial planning process till now, working with Inchoo's team has been an absolute pleasure.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have a lot of experience with Magento and e-commerce, in general. In addition, they have deep knowledge of analytics, SEO, PPC and networking which helps them take a holistic approach to e-commerce development.

Are there any areas for improvement?

All we desire at this point, is for Inchoo to provide us with the same excellent level of service we've grown accustomed to.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital marketing for a business label e-commerce site. We have about 2,500 labeling products, all manufactured in Florida.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

We wanted to migrate from our old OsCommerce site to Magento 2 to get more flexibility and capabilities. Our in-house development team only consists of two people, so we wanted to bring on a more experienced partner that could lead us through that migration.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Inchoo supported us through our site move, migrating our customer and order data from 2015 onward. Then, they modified the site theme on Magento 2, and there were also quite a few custom features that we had to recreate and integrate. 

One of them was a label builder that allowed customers to design their labels on a digital canvas. Another was an auto-reorder feature so that customers could subscribe and receive their items on a recurring basis.

Finally, we had a lot of backend integrations with both our accounting and inventory software as well as our production management software.

What is the team composition? 

At any given time, we’ve probably worked with about 10 people from their teams. But on an ongoing basis, it’s about 7–8. 

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

I came across them through a web search, looking for companies that specialized in Magento 2 migrations. We met with four companies to go over our plans before settling on Inchoo. 

Out of all of them, Inchoo was the most responsive and robust in their early-stage process. They really dug in, examining what it would take to implement all of our custom features. Taking the time upfront to understand the breadth of our project allowed them to be very specific with their proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

The development and migration cost around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The main migration lasted between April 2019–June 2020. Now, we’re on a service contract with them because there are still so many new features, bug fixes, and other support services that we need.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The new site has only been up for under two months, so we’re still experiencing the initial fluctuation with search rankings and traffic.

As far as customer feedback, we’ve received lots of comments about how much easier it is to navigate the site and order items. More quotes and orders are coming in through the custom label feature, and Inchoo has enhanced our ability to track those customers. The aesthetics also look much better than before — more professional and modern. 

All in all, in the early-going, it seems like we’re definitely moving in the right direction.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve knocked it out of the ball park from a project management standpoint. They used collaboration tools like ActiveCollab that made it easy for us to communicate given the time zone differences, and it was simple to follow along, track progress, and add notes. What’s more, they’re very quick and attentive when it comes to replying to our questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s their attention to detail, for sure. Inchoo is willing to tackle projects no matter how complex and bring about the results that we envision. Whereas other providers might compromise the solution, Inchoo makes sure to implement things the way we requested.

Their team members are experienced and comfortable with Magento 2. They’re definitely experts in the matter.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The main challenge was that the timeline extended far past what we were aiming for in the beginning. That was due to some complications with the custom features. I don’t know if there was another way they could have done things to get everything completed within the initial estimates since the project ended up being a lot more complex than we initially envisioned.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This is good advice in general, but make sure that you have everything laid out in detail on what you want to achieve prior to starting the project. Try to think of every possible scenario to make sure you get the best, most accurate timeframe and features implemented.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Packaging Price. We’re an internet seller of packaging supplies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

Our website was a shell, so we hired Inchoo to design the website and determine how to have the most effective platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did a lot of research to help us determine how to categorize what people search for on our website, including terminology, specific words, and other needs.

For strategy, they contributed a lot since Magento is a difficult platform to work on. We have 7,000–8,000 items and 50,000–60,000 customers, so they considered those dynamics on the platform when developing. They also helped craft the website so it is intuitive and user friendly. They did continual tweaking of categories and searching tools. 

SEO and Google Ads campaign work was handled by their team, too. They used the information they gathered from Google Ads to determine how the website was performing and what changes to make. 

What is the team composition?

We had a couple of different direct reports on their team. Ivan (Magento Developer) was initially our point of contact and then Vanja (E-Commerce Growth Strategist) took over once the development was done. In general, they had 4–6 people on the team, ranging from developers to programmers for different tasks. 

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

Our CIO decided to bring them on because once we switched to a Magento platform, our prior company wasn’t performing well. He searched and brought it to the team, and we decided to go with Inchoo.

How much have you invested with them?

The monthly fee was based on a percentage of our revenue, so I believe they were paid around $10,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from roughly March–May 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We had a successful relationship. Their work on the website helped our sales grow. We pretty much doubled our order growth on a regular basis. Our revenue has grown at least 20%, if not 25%, per year. We had a new director of marketing come on board and take over all the campaigns so we could control it in-house. However, Inchoo successfully completed our website development and helped us grow. They did a nice job. 

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

There was a bit of a language barrier, so that was a bit of a hurdle to get over, along with the time difference. There were times we had hoped to get quicker responses, but we started working when they were logging off because of the time difference. Despite that, they responded to our emails at all times of the night.

They gave us monthly overviews of our Google Ads statistics, too. We primarily used phone calls or Zooms. We had weekly, or sometimes daily, calls and chats for meetings. They flew in to see us at one point, as well, to go over some highlights of the new website rollout. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a good, conscientious team and worked well as partners. To understand the Google statistics, a trained eye was necessary so we appreciated that we could just trust everything they told us was true. They gave us good information and we thank them for the work they did for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No —out of all the developers I have worked with, they rank highly because of their performance. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The results speak for themselves. We were happy with it. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and owner of A1Supplements.com. It’s an online sports supplements company, selling online and shipping products all over the world.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

We were migrating our platform from X-Cart to Magento. We started with a company based in South Carolina, but they completely failed us, going over budget and beyond the timeline. Inchoo took over the migration and have done an amazing job in continuing to customize the store.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inchoo assigned a team of developers to build a customized site. Magento 2 can cause a lot of complications, especially on the community package, which we have. Inchoo and their team of engineers and developers were really amazing in overcoming working with the promotional section of the site. They’ve never failed to overcome a challenge in the 4–5 years they were with us.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Aron (Head of Marketing, Inchoo) and two project managers, both of whom were superb. The time difference and communication were not a problem for us.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

We found them through a developer friend of ours in the US. We were struggling with our previous development team, so we reached out to this friend for guidance. When we first spoke with Inchoo, they took some time to evaluate the project, with a lot of back and forth on whether they could salvage the bad code. They never over promised and told us they would try to rebuild the platform from the ground up.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around April 2015 and it is ongoing. This project ran from March–November 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve had an amazing time working with them and have a great relationship with the team. They delivered quality code, provided us with an SEO-friendly e-commerce structure, and set up excellent security for the platform. They met our deadline, and the project was within our budget, so we’re very pleased

They used best practices in development and coding. With that foundation, it’s now up to us to market, vend ourselves, and go. They’re a solid company in terms of knowing how to present a website to the end user and make it a user-friendly, functioning, quality site.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic, working on weekends and at night, and always just a phone call away even during off hours. They assigned a manager to delegate directions to the team and were in complete sync with one another. The project was well-coordinated from beginning to end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very responsive, very capable, and very reasonable. It’s hard to find a development team we can say this about.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ll be happy if they keep giving us the same service.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

No, I can't name any specifics.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at Sloan Implement Company. We’re an after-market agriculture parts supplier based in central Illinois.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

Though they’ve offered us a multitude of different services, we initially reached out for help with our website. Our main goal was to make our site visible on mobile devices. We were hoping that an enhanced mobile experience would increase conversions and make the shopping process smoother. We also wanted to reduce the time users spent navigating to and from different sections of our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inchoo has supported our business in a variety of ways. Their developers migrated our site from Magento to Magento 2 and fixed many of the issues we were experiencing. They redesigned our category structure, built URL routers, and implemented a more user-friendly search tool. Their team also developed a feature that lets visitors search for parts by entering the make and model of their machine. They included all of these updates on the mobile version as well.

In addition to site updates, the team has revamped our shipping capabilities. Customers now have the ability to save money on shipping costs by ordering items on our website for pickup at a local store. We also offer expedited shipping, and visitors can examine prices using our live shipping calculator.

Their team also implemented a Google Shopping integration that has boosted our advertising efforts. To support this feature, Inchoo conducts technical performance reviews of the products listed on our site. Previously, we were experiencing issues with data quality when we submitted our products to Google. The error reporting that they offer helps us avoid these problems. They’ve also developed a PPC and Google Ads strategy for our site.

What is the team composition?

They’ve assigned a project manager and two developers to our project. We’ve also communicated with their consulting group.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

We originally discovered Inchoo through visiting their blog, which included information about Magento. At the time, we were one of the largest companies using Magento, and their blog became an excellent resource for our team. Years later, we needed a new web development partner and reached out to them for a quote.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Inchoo in August 2016, and the project is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since the relaunch of our site, we’ve seen revenue increase by 34%. We’ve also grown our number of organic users to 25%, and our conversion rates have gone up by 48%. We’ve received positive feedback from users, especially regarding the mobile version of our platform.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

We meet frequently, typically once a week, if not more. They’ve been very responsive, and always set aside time to address our requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team’s consistent attention to detail sets them apart. They’re very insightful, and typically offer us plenty of ideas when we’re trying to solve problems. Their team also has a deep understanding of technology. They’ve communicated well at every phase of the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

More consistency would be nice. We’ve gone through several project managers since we started working with them, and each time we’ve had to adjust our scope.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open with their team about all areas of the project. Give them specific requirements, and hold multiple meetings when necessary. Having constant back and forth will help with problem resolution.

Also, prepare for the discovery phase. Make sure the scope of the project is clearly defined, because that will help with predicting costs and making timelines.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager of e-xplosion. We have two online shops, one of which sells running equipment, clothing, accessories, and nutrition products. We launched our second shop in March 2019.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

Our first shop was already five years old, and we had enormous problems with its plug-ins and extensions. The Magento version was outdated and required a lot of programming work for updates. It wasn’t flexible, the errors were increasing, and everything on it had become complicated.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began with a four-day workshop during which we worked out all requirements together. They then developed a navigation structure and came up with features, such as a running-shoe consultant. One option was to rebuild the shop entirely, but we decided to update our Magento version and build new features.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a project manager, two developers (one frontend and one backend), and a frontend designer.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

At one point, they took over support of our online shop. They later approached us and advised that we redesign the platform.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €5,000 (approximately $5,600 USD) per month on their services, with the total of the two shops coming to €100,000 (approximately $112,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Inchoo in November 2017, and we eventually launched the shop in October 2018.

Our second shop was built for us to expand our offering beyond running shoes, and it launched in March 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We saw an increase in our conversion rate immediately after launching the new shop. Since October 2018, we’ve seen a 20% increase in sales.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

Inchoo is a professional team. They did an excellent job on their side and stayed within the timelines. It was only because of us that it took longer. We used ActiveCollab as a project management tool, primarily for writing and tracking tickets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a lot of experience with agencies in Germany, and their willingness to go beyond the defined scope is not always there. In contrast, Inchoo is really flexible and provides us the help we need. We like working with them, and they’re more than an agency for us. We’ve become friends, and we can go to them with any problem we might have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything at the moment.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

We’re really satisfied with Inchoo, so there’s no advice I can think of.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of technology for Emma Mattress. We design, develop, and sell mattresses internationally.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

We needed to develop a theme for our online shop to go with our new branding campaign. We hired Inchoo to help because we didn’t have the internal resources for the project.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

We sent Inchoo our design files and wireframes. With those, they created the theme on the frontend of the Magento platform. They implemented all of the features we asked for and connected it to our backend.

What is the team composition?

Inchoo dedicated two developers to the project.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

I chose Inchoo for the engagement because I’d worked as a developer for their team six years ago.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Inchoo between November–December 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re fully satisfied with the quality of the final product and they delivered everything as planned. Without Inchoo’s help, we wouldn’t have been able to develop the theme the way we envisioned because of capacity issues.  

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily managed the project on our end, but we also used a collaboration tool from Inchoo’s team. They handled the work professionally and never hesitated to ask for clarity. If they needed anything, they spoke directly to our designers and primarily used Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The delivery and quality of the work were excellent. Everything was done on time and to a very high standard.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Though there were some minor issues, we were able to polish everything. Inchoo did a good job with the project.   

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of e-commerce at EJ Welch Company. We sell machinery and installation tools for the construction industry. We have an e-commerce website that sells tools specifically for flooring.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

Our e-commerce website was 15 years old and becoming increasingly outdated. We wanted to overhaul the site with minimal downtime to our sales. We hoped to migrate the website from Magento 1 to Magento 2 and maintain several complex functionalities. We engaged Inchoo to lead this overhaul project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inchoo set up the new website according to our design specifications. Our in-house marketing team provided rough mockups using Photoshop that Inchoo then brought to life. They also helped migrate customer data, order information, custom extensions, and shipping logic to the new site. Their team included complicated features such as price by square footage for specific products. 

The team maintained the integrity of our core code and documented their work thoroughly. Any bugs that came up were fixed; areas of potential conflict between new and old features were addressed in advance.

What is the team composition?

Tony (Project Manager, Inchoo) served as our project manager. Vesna (Head of Sales, Inchoo) also helped lead the team, which comprised several coders and developers.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

We’ve worked with their team on our Magento 1 store in the past. When we were in the market for a Magento 2 developer, Inchoo had several articles on working with Magento 2 as well as blogs on multiple e-commerce topics. Their broad online presence solidified them to us as respected developers for e-commerce platforms.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,000–$5,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from March 2018 until January 2019. We still have them on a monthly retainer contract.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We expected our sales to fall or stay flat after the site’s launch. Instead, we saw an immediate 15%–20% increase in sales from the new site. Inchoo improved the design and usability while maintaining the old URL structure, search scheme, and Google Shopping feed. They executed a smooth migration with no issues.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

The team had excellent communication. We received almost nightly updates on progress. However, we also had a weekly standing call and could reach out to them via Skype as needed. Their ticket support portal was straightforward to work with as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Inchoo’s quality of work stood out the most. They deliver well-documented, clean, and precise code. They tested everything in a test environment before releasing it live. We also valued their consistent professionalism and thorough communication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve worked in this industry for 15 years and Inchoo is as good a vendor as they come.

Any advice for potential customers?

Inchoo doesn’t offer the lowest rates on the market, but they provide an excellent value and will get your project right the first time. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO at JWG. We’re a leading global online shop for Jewish items made in Israel.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

Three years ago, we transitioned our shop to a Magento platform. Within the following two years, we worked with three different companies, and we had a negative experience with each. We needed to find a new vendor to handle our site development, maintenance, and support needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our site had several serious performance problems in terms of speed and reliability. Their first project was stabilizing our platform, which they completed quickly. Since then, they’ve provided a variety of other services. They made some changes to the site’s interface, design elements, and user flow. They also added new features to better support our SEO efforts. The team created filters to allow users to search using various categories, and they integrated new payment methods. When we acquired a competitor, Inchoo helped us migrate the legacy company’s existing customers to our platform. They continue to support our development efforts.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

They were recommended by a colleague who’d heard good things about their services. I did some research on my own, and I read a few very impressive reviews. Based on their reputation, we chose to work with them.

What was the team composition?

Antonija (Project Manager, Inchoo) is our project manager, and she leads a team of Magento programmers.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $150,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2017, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since we started working with Inchoo, our business has improved. They solved all of our issues quickly and developed new features that met all of our needs—everything that they deliver works flawlessly. The team is dedicated, professional, and easy to work with. They accommodate our requests and care about the success of our business.

In terms of metrics, Inchoo’s work to stabilize our site increased our conversion rate by 20% and our sales by 40%. Our average page load time decreased by 30%. Overall, we operate much more efficiently with their help.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been in business for 17 years, and Inchoo’s communication skills stand out among all of the other vendor’s we’ve worked with in the past. Their team is full of great ideas, and they’re always available to help. They’re accessible and responsive, even during after hours or on the weekends.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re both professional and personable. The team cares about the quality of their work, and they’re committed to their client’s success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Operations Director at Zee & Co Limited/Zee & Co Online Limited. We sell designer clothing, including men’s, women’s, and children’s fashion.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inchoo?

We initially contracted Inchoo six years ago to develop our mobile site. However, we realized that we needed to completely relaunch our website as our previous site was becoming unstable due to increased visitor numbers, which limited our growth. Inchoo came on board to re-platform our site and has continued to build out new pages.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inchoo created a fully responsive site from scratch, handling the design, coding, launch, and support. They developed the platform on a Magento enterprise so that it could scale with our future needs. Since then, they’ve continued to maintain our site, monitor our analytics, and constantly revisit areas for improvement.

Our site is fine-tuned to make our website customer-centric, so we strive to make it as user-friendly as possible. We’ll often release new pages every three months or so, and Inchoo’s team will work on additional features to refine the user experience. They incorporate most of our requests, even when they’re technically challenging, and find workarounds that keep the code clean while still delivering functionality. If any issues persist, Inchoo is extremely quick to rectify them. Inchoo has been both professional and supportive throughout the partnership.

What is the team composition?

We tend to work closely with three points of contact, including my lead developer, but we also have access to the analytical and design teams.

How did you come to work with Inchoo?

Another company that we work with referred us to Inchoo for our mobile site. They’d done such a great job on the initial project that we engaged them again to handle our site relaunch.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work started in 2012 and is ongoing. We plan to work with them to update the site to Magento 2 within the near future.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since the initial re-platform, we’ve seen an increase in sales, visitors, and average order value (AOV) year over year. The site’s stability has been key for our growth because it allows us to accommodate higher visitor volumes during peak consumer times.

How did Inchoo perform from a project management standpoint?

They organize their company by teams, which lets the teams tackle projects efficiently. After submitting a brief outline for a new page or function, it will be discussed thoroughly before it goes to the design and coding teams. The analytics team will then look over the new functionality before launching, which prevents potential problems. We use Hotjar to check the navigation and GA to monitor performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Because we mutually respect and trust each other, we’re able to have open communication about all areas. I know that if I have a concern, Inchoo will liaise until a resolution has been obtained.

The site’s stability is also crucial to our success because it gives us the potential to grow. They’ve supported us on this front, which has helped us to achieve our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was originally concerned that they may have lacked the facility to handle full 24-hour support, but, in reality, this has not been an issue as Inchoo is highly responsive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Making a website that is constantly evolving requires a partnership between you and the vendor. You can’t just build a website and leave it to stagnate. Technology is forever changing, and a website has to grow with these new challenges.

Furthermore, be honest and realistic with the developers, and listen to their advice. A good developer won’t tell you that they can’t update something without a genuine reason. More often than not, they’ll find innovative ways to implement a feature without risking a site’s stability.