Needle & Thread Talk Magento to Shopify Migration on Ecommerce MasterPlan Podcast

British contemporary womenswear brand and Swanky replatforming client Needle & Thread is certainly no stranger to the spotlight. The fashion label recently graced the pages of magazines and news sites across the globe when none other than the Duchess of Cambridge was snapped wearing one of its stunning statement gowns.

The Duchess of Cambridge wore Needle & Thread’s cherry-red Aurora gown at a recent Buckingham Palace reception. (Source: Kensington Palace Twitter)

Renowned for its beautifully intricate beadwork and lavish sequin embellishment, Needle & Thread has established itself as a key occasionwear brand for global stockists such as Net-a-Porter, Harrods, Nordstrom and Zalando. The brand also has its flagship online store needleandthread.com, designed and developed by our very own Swanky team.

2019 saw us migrate the Needle & Thread ecommerce store from Magento to Shopify, creating a stunning new site that reflects the ethereal elegance of their products. Their new online store represents an effortless marriage of form and function, where users can glide through collections with ease.

(Source: GIPHY)

Making the move from Magento to Shopify

Sharing Needle & Thread’s replatforming story on the airwaves recently was the brand’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Liddington. He was a guest on Chloë Thomas’ Ecommerce MasterPlan Podcast, discussing everything from replatforming and royal appeal, to customer service and currency solutions.

After touching on his route into the world of ecommerce, Mark and Chloë discussed Needle & Thread’s migration from Magento 1 to Shopify Plus – a hot topic in the ecommerce arena as Magento 1’s ‘end of life’ rapidly approached. 

Increasingly frustrated by the amount of bug fixes on the brand’s Magento store, Mark was after a fresh start for the back-end infrastructure of their site. Impressed by the flexibility of the Shopify Plus platform and its rich ecosystem of apps, and with recommendations from their ‘extended ecommerce family’, Mark and the team decided this was the solution for them.

“The thing that stuck out from Shopify for us was that we could really try different approaches and try different apps at the back-end. You can be much more agile in terms of your specific implementation across different channels and different communication strategies you’ve got”, says Mark.

Once they’d chosen Shopify Plus as their new ecommerce destination, it was time for the Needle & Thread team to choose an agency to help them get there on time, and in style! 

Mark told Chloë: “We had a good quality connection with Swanky. They’re obviously very competent in what they do, and also the connectivity we’ve got with Dan and the guys who work in the team has really helped as I’ve moved up the learning curve.”

They discussed the importance of picking an agency who understand what you’re trying to achieve and who share your longer-term vision – which is something we pride ourselves on here at Swanky. “You need to have an agency who will buy into your brand and understand it”, emphasises Mark.

Listen to the full episode

To find out more about Needle & Thread’s replatforming journey, as well as their use of Global-e, their gold-standard customer service, and their exciting celebrity following, check out the full episode here:

Ecommerce migration projects with Swanky

Want to know more about making the switch to Shopify Plus? Wondering what a migration would look like and how it could affect your performance metrics?

Have a read of our handy ebook; ‘From Magento to Millions: Everything You Need to Know About Migrating to Shopify Plus’. 

 The ultimate jargon-free guide to a smooth transition from one platform to another, it aims to help business managers like you understand what a platform move could do for your business, what the migration process entails, and exactly what steps you can take to make your own transition as seamless as possible.