Case Study: How Olivia von Halle’s Magento to Shopify Plus Migration Led to +35% YoY Revenue

A stylish staple of the luxury loungewear scene, Olivia von Halle (OvH) brings a sense of glamour and sophistication to bedtimes with its premium silk nightwear collections. In this case study, find out how Swanky helped this high-end fashion brand leave the constraints of Magento 1 for a beautiful new life on Shopify Plus, increasing YoY revenue by 35% along the way!

Brand overview

Established in 2011, OvH has quickly become a hallmark of luxury silk loungewear. The brand is synonymous with exceptional quality and uncompromising opulence, securing itself as a mainstay in the wardrobes of the fashion industry’s biggest names.

OvH is sold online through the brand’s own direct-to-consumer ecommerce site, as well as in-store at their flagship residence in Sloane Square, and by over 100 of the world’s most prestigious retailers, including Selfridges, Harrods and Net-A-Porter to name just a few.

The challenge

Faced with the prospect of support for their Magento 1 store soon being ceased, and frustrated by the endless resource-consuming updates required on the platform, OvH knew the time had come for an ecommerce upgrade. 

Discussing the challenges of Magento 1, Hugo von Halle, the company’s Director of Finance and Operations, said: 

“Updates needing to be done by a developer, at cost, was stifling our progress. The stability wasn’t great, reporting wasn’t good, and the back-end was old and clunky. Also, the price of moving to Magento 2 was going to be horrendous.”

The solution

Platform validation

With the need for a more stable, flexible and scalable platform clear, OvH set their sights on Shopify Plus. With the standard advantages of Shopify Plus in mind, they invited Swanky to help substantiate their thinking. 

We validated Shopify Plus as a good fit for OvH based on a detailed understanding of their technical requirements and commercial goals (both immediate and long-term). There were certain challenges set out in the brief, that, as an agency with a decade of ecommerce experience, we were well-positioned to identify solutions for using our knowledge of Shopify Plus and its capabilities.

The Magento to Shopify Plus migration process

Understandably, the process of migrating your ecommerce store to a new platform can seem rather daunting at first, but making the switch doesn’t have to be scary. With countless successful re-platforming projects under our belt, Swanky were able to ensure a smooth and stress-free transition from Magento to Shopify Plus. 

Thanks to dedicated weekly calls and a clear schedule guiding the way, we created a finished product for OvH in just three months.

“Everything went according to plan. It was a real relief to have it all done on time,” described Hugo. “Swanky were very good at laying out the plan of action, with what needed to happen and when. It was really straightforward – I’d definitely recommend getting away from Magento to anyone that’s in that position. Swanky knew what they were doing when they were moving us to Shopify Plus.”

These thoughts were echoed by the brand’s former Head of Ecommerce, Lucy Dix, who led the project alongside one of Swanky’s Project Managers:

“The project was done in a timely and professional manner and we were kept updated throughout. Swanky are a fantastic agency and easy to work with.”

The aesthetics

Renowned for the beautiful opulence and exceptional quality of their products, OvH wanted a site that reflected just this. The design needed to tell the brand’s unique story, conveying an immediate sense of luxury and distinction.  

Here’s Swanky’s Creative Director, Matt Giles, explaining how we gave the site this premium edge: 

“As each item of OvH clothing is a statement of luxury and a highly considered purchase, we knew straight away that images were going to play a major part in winning customers. OvH have achieved what so many brands aspire to but never acquire: stunning, powerful, yet simple, product photography. 

So many people we’ve spoken to about OvH have said that they spend time on the site just enjoying the brand and imagining themselves in whichever gorgeous item they finally purchase. With that in mind, we’ve given the photography as much real estate as possible – pushing both lifestyle and product out to the edges everywhere, maintaining tight grid references to maximise impact. Having two images up at a time on product pages gives us an opportunity to show off the fabulous quality and fit to the maximum. 

Throughout the site, we’ve subtly offset the image content with a delicate beige background. White would have brought too much contrast. OvH is such an elegant brand, and the silken comfort of the dresses, gowns and pyjamas needs to be conveyed in a near seamless manner against detail.

Throughout all of this wonderful brand indulgence, we knew we also had to focus on strong calls to action, purchase flows and navigation. That’s what we specialise in at Swanky – form and function marrying beautifully to maximum effect. 

Across the site, the CTAs are obvious and placed above-the-fold. They contrast well against the beige background on both mobile and desktop. We opted for a sticky Add To Cart button on mobile that will follow the user down the page. 

Filtering and sorting in collection view are within thumb reach on mobile, making for efficient browsing of relevant product ranges.

From previous CRO testing programmes that Swanky has run in the fashion sector, we’ve seen that using imagery on key menu items within mobile navigation can have a significant positive impact on conversion rate and average order value. In this instance, we’ve managed to leverage a win-win situation of having beautiful imagery for the customer to engage with, alongside the UX uplift of increased accessibility – subtle thumbnails complementing top-level categories to create affirmation and intent in user journeys and choices.” 

The results

When discussing the benefits that OvH have seen since making the move from Magento 1 to Shopify Plus, Hugo drew attention to the speed, stability and flexibility of their new site. The accessibility of reporting on Shopify is also a big advantage according to Hugo:

“The reporting is good and very easy. In fact, I’ve got an app on my phone so I can see when we get orders, and you can pretty much run a whole website from your phone which is amazing.”

In terms of numbers, there have been some notable wins for OvH since their new Shopify Plus store went live. For instance, when you compare the three months post-launch (September-November 2019) with the same period the year before, revenue has increased by nearly 35%. 

There have also been more transactions on the site (+18%), with consumers buying more items (+11%) and spending more money (+14%) in each order.

There’s also been a change in how users are behaving on the new OvH store. Based on figures from the same year-on-year comparison as above, the number of pages users are viewing in a session has increased by over 23%. This would suggest that Swanky’s UX-focused design has had the desired effect of improving navigation across the site and supporting better page discoverability. Bounce rate has decreased by over 10%, too.

Looking to migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus?

If you’re tired of your outdated, inflexible Magento store, just like the Olivia von Halle team once were, then why not check out our must-have migration bundle, complete with downloadable ebook, on-demand webinar and lots of real-life success stories. Find out what a platform move could do for your business, check what the migration process entails, and get our top tips on how to ensure a smooth and stress-free transition.