Case Study: The Upgrade to Shopify 2.0 That Improved Speed, Conversion Rate & SEO for Medley Jewellery

Since launching in 2021, Shopify Online Store 2.0 has transformed the Shopify experience of retailers and consumers alike. This upgraded version of the Shopify platform has unlocked greater flexibility, agility and ownership for store owners, empowering the creation of faster, more compelling ecommerce websites for online shoppers to enjoy.

Whilst any new stores we build at Swanky leverage Online Store 2.0, we have also completed a number of projects to upgrade our clients’ existing sites to this latest version of Shopify.

This case study will explore the impact that upgrading to Shopify 2.0 has had for Australian-founded jewellery brand and long-term Swanky client, Medley Jewellery.

Our Shopify experts in Australia started working with Medley since its launch back in 2020. We created a new Shopify store in just five weeks, as well as consulting on an integrated Shopify tech stack.

Since then, we have continued to work closely with the Medley team on strategies to support the brand’s ecommerce growth, including the implementation of product personalisation functionality and, more recently, the rebuilding of Medley’s site on a new 2.0 template.

The benefits of upgrading to Shopify 2.0 for Medley

Online Store 2.0 affords retailers a range of benefits that the Medley team were eager to make the most of.

As well as general perks such as a more intuitive theme editor, more streamlined site management and better website performance, there were some key features of Shopify 2.0 which stood out to Medley when considering whether to upgrade.

We will examine some of these in more detail and consider how they have benefitted the brand’s ecommerce team. 

Increased customisability with ‘sections everywhere’

On their previous store setup, the Medley team were only able to use Shopify sections on the site’s homepage or a selection of templates. This meant having to rely on developers to make sections available on other pages.

However, with Online Store 2.0, the team can now easily add, remove and rearrange sections across their site. Tasks such as adding a banner to a collection page, moving an Add to Cart button on a product page, and creating a unique landing page are now doable without developer input.

This increased flexibility and control means that on-site changes can be implemented faster, with more time and budget unlocked for other activities like marketing, optimisation and product development.

What’s more, moving to this upgraded theme architecture has enabled greater customisation and creativity. For example, the team can create templates for product pages with a focus on enriched storytelling – perfect for promoting occasions such as Mother’s Day or Christmas, or speaking to their jewellery’s responsible sourcing. There’s also much more scope to customise their blog page, with merchandising opportunities through ‘Shop the look’ functionality.

More independence with drag and drop app integration

Whilst app installation and widget tweaks required app support and development resources on the previous version of the Medley site, this is very different with Shopify 2.0.

The team can easily add app widgets themselves through Theme Settings, with the freedom to rearrange on-page positioning of app blocks thanks to drag and drop functionality.

This once again means that time and budget can be directed towards other activities.

Varied benefits with metafield functionality

Metafields are custom fields used to assign extra pieces of data to objects in Shopify. They can be used to display additional information about a product on your product pages, like size, material and colour. These needed to be hard coded by a developer on Medley’s previous store. With Shopify 2.0 however, the team can add metafields from Theme Settings – saving time and increasing efficiency.

They can also group metafields using metaobjects and apply them to multiple products – allowing for the convenient organisation and addition of product information. This is particularly useful when wanting to add information in bulk about a product’s chain and stone specification, for example.

Furthermore, the Medley team can use metafields to customise the look of blog posts – allowing them to leverage different options for article layouts.

What improvements has Medley seen after its upgrade to Shopify 2.0?

Faster page load speed

Medley’s Lighthouse performance score for desktop improved by 38% post-migration, with improvement across all the core web vitals metrics:

• First Contentful Paint reduced by 53%. This refers to the time between a user first landing on a page and the first piece of content rendering on the screen.

• Largest Contentful Paint decreased by 27%. This is a measure of the render time for the largest content element visible in the viewport – which helps quantify the perceived loading speed of a web page.

• Total Blocking Time halved. This metric measures the total amount of time between the First Contentful Paint and Time to Interactive where the main thread was blocked for long enough to prevent input responsiveness.

• Cumulative Layout Shift metric reduced by 80%. This quantifies how much content visually shifts around on a web page, which can be disruptive to users.

• Speed Index reduced by 64%. This score is calculated based on the progression of visual elements on the page and provides a way to quantify perceived load speed.

These results indicate a faster loading time of the Medley site on desktop.

There were also improvements across mobile performance, most notably Cumulative Layout Shift reducing by over 70% and Speed Index improving by 45%.

Uplift across key metrics

We observed an increase in key commercial metrics when comparing online store performance in the three months pre- and post-migration, including:

• a 29% increase in sessions;
• a 13% boost to session conversion rate; and
• an 8% improvement to add to cart rate.

This could be the result of the improved speed and performance discussed above, as faster loading times typically lead to a better user experience and thus higher conversion rates.

We also recorded a 44% increase in average session duration post-migration, indicating that users were having a more positive experience on-site and staying engaged with the content.

Improved SEO performance

We noted a general uplift across organic SEO performance following Medley’s migration to Online Store 2.0:

• Organic search clicks increased by 64%.
• Organic search impressions increased by 19%.
• There was a 39% improvement to site click through rate 39%.
• Organic traffic conversion rate improved by 56%.

This may be the result of improved SEO features and marketing tools in Online Store 2.0, increasing the Medley site’s visibility in search engine results.

The Medley team reflects on Shopify 2.0

Sharing her thoughts on Medley’s upgrade to Shopify 2.0, Amber Hodgman, Head of Medley, commented:

“Medley is always looking at smart, cost effective ways to improve our user experience and engagement on site. As a start-up, migrating to Shopify 2.0 felt like a no brainer for many reasons. The launch has provided our somewhat small internal team with more design flexibility and UX/UI options, removing the constant reliance for a developer to assist us. 

“Swanky knew this would be the case when they recommended the upgrade and I appreciate that they had Medley’s best interests and business needs in mind. We are a lean team that relies on agile agencies. In this current retail market, our brand has continued to show green shoots, I am excited to see how Shopify 2.0 adds to our growth story.” 

Explore Medley’s Shopify 2.0 store here.

Upgrade to Shopify Online Store 2.0 with Swanky

Having built numerous ecommerce sites on Shopify Online Store 2.0, our teams in the UK, Australia and France are well-versed in this theme architecture and how it can be leveraged for maximum effect.

To talk to our team about an upgrade to Shopify 2.0, please reach out and we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements.