Shero Commerce

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Ecommerce Manager at a multi-channel specialty retailer, primarily focused in selling online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were running a Magento 1 Enterprise (now called Commerce) site and wanted to upgrade to Magento 2 Community (now called Open Source).

We chose to do so because Magento 1 support was ending so we wanted to move to 2, and we had found we didn't need the features offered by Enterprise and could save significant money by moving to Community.

We also needed to move to a responsive site to boost our mobile conversions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We evaluated a number of Magento focused developers, focusing on those who had specific experience with M1 to M2 projects. Ultimately we chose Shero because they had prior experienice with our specific migration - M1 Enterprise to M2 Community, and they were recommended by someone who worked in the SEO consulting space whose opinion we highly regarded.

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

The majority of the project was focused on two main pieces

1. Migrating the data from M1 Enterprise to M2 Community and
2. Moving to a responsive design while retaining the existing design layout & features as best as possible

Generally the responsive design went smoothly. They created a responsive layout that looked essentially the same as our site looked before - which was the desired outcome. There was various steps of development & testing to achieve this, and some changes were needed due to the different features & extensions that were available in M2 vs M1, but overall this was very successful.

The data migration was significantly more complicated because fo the move from M1 Enterprise to M2 community, but they kept working on the problem and were eventually able to develop a solution after a significant amount of development work on their end. We were then able to reliably migrate the data over and move forward with implementation.

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

We worked initially with a project manager and one of the principals to outline the scope of the project. We then worked extensively with the project manager and their CTO during the migration process. They occasionally brought in one of the lead developers to consult on specific technical aspects of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project took longer than we had hoped, but all of the desired goals were met. As a result of moving to a responsive design our mobile conversion rate increased by over 200%.

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

The project manager was very communicative, we had weekly video calls to review progress and discuss challenges they were facing.

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

Even though we encountered some hurdles during the process, they kept at it and continued to push to get the project completed. They were also very flexible with the cost of the project even though it took longer than expected.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

If they had a crystal ball we might have approached the data migration issues differently, but they did the best they could with the unforeseen challenges and were able to overcome them to produce the site we needed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of e-commerce at JG Edelen Co., Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Shero Commerce?

We had an outdated backend that was written in a language called ColdFusion and we wanted to transition into something that was more scalable and would evolve with us over the next couple of years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Shero Commerce did a complete frontend redesign for all ten of our websites and set up the backend infrastructure. We use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains and they connected that to Magento, which helps us keep our inventory synced across all sales channels. In addition, they installed an Amazon extension and a few other custom extensions for our Magento store.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with our project manager, a frontend designer, and a customer success manager. I've also interacted with their accounting team.

How did you come to work with Shero Commerce?

I did a Google search looking for a Magento partner. We interviewed three companies and decided Shero Commerce was the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $400,000 in total for the ten websites.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Shero Commerce essentially revolutionized our company, allowing us to do many things that we didn't think were possible. We've received incredible feedback from our internal team. Our customer service team is already using one of the extensions, which helps us streamline the checkout process. Our customers also find the shopping experience much easier.

How did Shero Commerce perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a very robust project management system and we've learned a lot from them. They're great communicators and meet their deadlines. We have a shared Slack channel, but they also use Jira and help desk service to manage the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're not doing it just for money. They've become a real partner to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define your needs and your goals clearly from the beginning.