McElhinneys partnered with StudioForty9 to deliver a Shopify Plus migration from Magento 1. Providing a best in class customer experience was the focal point of this project. StudioForty9’s expert team supported McElhinneys to reimagine their online store both in terms of appearance and functionality.
About McElhinneys
McElhinneys is a family owned department store in Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, founded in 1971 by John McElhinney who remains the driving force behind the business. While McElhinneys have only one physical location in Co. Donegal, the website sells to the entire island of Ireland with strong sales into the UK and internationally. The ecommerce store is one of Ireland's best known and most successful native ecommerce sites.
Challenges
McElhinneys are customer obsessed and work hard to provide a 5 star service. Their customer’s needs are always evolving and in turn, McElhinneys are always raising the bar to deliver the highest standards to their customers.
They needed a more flexible platform that allowed them to have greater autonomy on the look and feel of the online store as well as more control over promotions, merchandising and product information. They also wanted to be able to embrace trends that their customers love such as live shopping and to inspire them with ‘Get the Look’ product recommendations.
Solutions
StudioForty9 helped McElhinneys complete a successful Shopify Plus migration from Magento 1 which has given them much more flexibility and customisation options.
We developed a more advanced integration between Meridian and the ecommerce site with a particular focus on the improvement of product information management. The project also included a custom implementation for promotions management and delivery functionality.
Design UX & UI
Key to this project was a complete redesign of the ecommerce store with a look and feel of modern elegance delivered on a brand new Shopify theme OS2.0. We completed a detailed review paying close attention to minute details around imagery, buttons, menu and page banners which culminated to produce a premium look and feel.
A page builder was also successfully implemented to give McElhinneys the opportunity to create bespoke landing pages for each department.
Key Integrations
As part of the Shopify Plus migration project, we carefully identified the best third party integrations for the McElhinneys store which included:
- Custom PIM solution
- Bespoke Meridian integrations
- Search and product recommendation tools
- Live selling integration
- Shopify Markets
- Shipping and delivery integrations
- Payment options including Paypal and Shopify Payments
- Automated discounts and promotions
- Customer review portal integration
- Customer service tool
- Page builder to enable special landing pages for each department
The new site has achieved a sophisticated editorial feel that elegantly showcases McElhinneys products with a superior merchandising system. Their updated store is intuitive to navigate while still being enhanced by carefully chosen app integrations designed to boost the overall experience for customers. The team at McElhinneys now enjoy greater control over their store’s appearance, promotional campaigns, product information and merchandising.