Case Study: +66% YoY Revenue for Needle & Thread After Migrating From Magento to Shopify Plus

Brand overview

Renowned for its beautifully intricate beadwork and lavish sequin embellishment, London-born occasionwear label Needle & Thread has established itself as a key brand for big-name stockists across the globe, including Harrods, Net-a-Porter and Zalando to name but a few. 

This romantic womenswear brand also has a flagship direct-to-consumer online store, with ready-to-wear collections, bridal pieces and a recently-launched kids offering.

Needle & Thread is certainly no stranger to the spotlight, having recently graced the pages of magazines and news sites across the globe when none other than Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was snapped wearing one of its stunning statement gowns!

The challenge

Frustrated by the number of bug fixes required on the brand’s Magento store, and with Magento 1’s end-of-life looming, the Needle & Thread team were craving a fresh start for the back-end infrastructure of their site. 

Speaking in a recent episode of the Ecommerce MasterPlan Podcast, Mark Liddington, the brand’s Chief Operating Officer, said: 

“Our Magento store was held together with lots of sticky tape. We had to re-platform.”

Choosing a new ecommerce platform

After putting their heads together with fellow fashion brands from their “extended ecommerce family”, the Needle & Thread team felt that Shopify Plus was the solution for them. They were particularly impressed by the flexibility of the platform and its rich ecosystem of apps.

“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”, revealed Mark during his podcast interview.

Our consultants substantiated the team’s thinking around Shopify Plus, validating it as the best-fit solution based on the brand’s long-term commercial goals and technical requirements. 

Discussing our consultative approach, Mark said: 

“We had a good quality connection with Swanky. You need to have an agency who will buy into your brand and understand it.”

Replatforming from Magento 1 to Shopify Plus

We migrated Needle & Thread from Magento 1 to Shopify Plus, implementing a stunning design refresh that reflects the femininity and elegance of their products. 

Discussing Swanky’s approach to the site’s aesthetics, Matt Giles, our Creative Director, said:

“The design needed to reflect the elegance of the products on offer. Our goal was something well-presented and well-ordered – nothing brash or over-imposing. 

Indeed, the journal-like presentation, which matches elegant serif titles with subtle calls to action, follows in the footsteps of classy fashion editorials, allowing users to browse the breadth of Needle & Thread’s product inventory in an efficiently curated manner.

The beautiful landing pages showcase the brand’s products in situ, with gorgeous lifestyle imagery and highly-browsable lookbooks capturing the attention of users arriving on the site. The variety of imagery styles and layouts used helps maintain interest throughout the user journey. ”

Needle & Thread’s online store represents an effortless marriage of form and function, where users can glide through collections with ease.

No longer stifled by the constraints of their Magento 1 site, the Needle & Thread team can now enjoy the freedom and flexibility gifted by Shopify Plus. With less time and resources being spent on store maintenance, they are able to focus their efforts on implementing an exciting growth strategy alongside Swanky.

Commenting on the replatforming process, Mark said:

“Swanky helped us at every step of the migration from Magento 1 to Shopify Plus. Their advice and experience allowed the transition to be smooth from a business perspective, as well as seamless for our customers.”

The results

Since their Shopify Plus store went live in the summer of 2019, Needle & Thread have seen a boost in key ecommerce metrics.

Perhaps most significantly, when you compare the six months post-launch (July-December 2019) with the same period the year before:

• Revenue grew by 66%! 
• There was a 44% increase in the number of transactions on the store. 
• They saw a 16% growth in average order value. 

These results speak volumes about Shopify Plus’ innate capacity to accelerate growth, as well as the Swanky team’s strength in designing websites that convert.

Ecommerce migration projects with Swanky

If the thought of an ecommerce migration is making you miserable, take a look at 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. 

You can also contact our team for a chat today.