Case Study: The 4-Week WooCommerce to Shopify Migration That Helped Double Revenue For This Australian Beauty Retailer

TL;DR

• Swanky supported omnichannel retailer Salon Supplies and Furniture with an accelerated migration from WooCommerce to Shopify.
• We improved information architecture on the new site, upgrading navigation and the overall browsing experience.
• Our team supported a redesign of Salon Supplies’ online store, with a focus on improving overall look and feel.
• We recommended and configured a comprehensive Shopify tech stack, including tools for enhancing site search, showcasing customer feedback, improving shipping and fulfilment, and delivering smarter customer communications.
• Analysis has revealed a significant improvement in Core Web Vitals following the migration, whilst year-on-year comparisons show a doubling in total ecommerce revenue and a 43% increase in organic search impressions.
• Following launch, we supported the implementation of Shopify POS Pro.

Salon Supplies and Furniture: Brand overview

Family-owned, Brisbane-based business Salon Supplies and Furniture was established in 2006. Since its founding, it has been a trusted supplier of premium salon products and equipment to Australia’s professional beauty industry.

Now partnered with over 100 national distributors, the Salon Supplies team pride themselves on helping salon owners, technicians and therapists create spaces that their clients love.

An omnichannel brand, Salon Supplies sells to both businesses and individual consumers via its ecommerce website, as well as in-person in its Queensland store.

Project goals: New look, new ecommerce platform

The Salon Supplies website, powered by WooCommerce, was slow, crashed frequently and didn’t provide a positive experience for customers – risking the brand’s reputation and revenue. The team were therefore looking to migrate to a faster, more reliable ecommerce solution.

Meanwhile, they wanted to take this opportunity to implement a full rebrand, elevating the overall look and feel of their website to better reflect the Salon Supplies business.

How Swanky helped

Platform validation

Swanky validated Shopify as a good fit for Salon Supplies’ needs – with both current requirements in mind and longer-term ambitions.

Specifically designed for ecommerce, Shopify is a much more comprehensive platform than WooCommerce, offering powerful native functionality as well as thousands of plug-and-play apps. More and more tech vendors are building solutions with a ‘Shopify-first’ approach, such is the prominence of the platform in the ecosystem.

Shopify’s global content delivery network also supports rapid website load times, as well as 99.99% uptime thanks to dynamic allocation of resources – providing the reliability and page load speed that was missing with the Salon Supplies WooCommerce site.

What’s more, Shopify empowers retailers to make changes without having to rely on developers, thereby providing sought after agility and flexibility. This targets another common challenge for WooCommerce retailers.

Accelerated WooCommerce to Shopify migration

Our Shopify experts in Australia completed a successful migration from WooCommerce to Shopify in just four weeks.

A key priority was ensuring that all store data – including product data, page content and shipping structure – was migrated safely and accurately, without loss or error during the transition.

Read more about Swanky’s tried-and-tested replatforming process.

Improved information architecture

We improved the information architecture of the Salon Supplies website, carefully defining product filters, collection rules and metafield data structures to create a more intuitive navigation system and improve the online browsing experience. Shoppers can now find items more quickly and confidently, whether they are searching for a specific brand or product type.

These improvements not only streamline product discovery but also support upselling and cross-selling opportunities by surfacing relevant items at the right time.

Elevated store design

Working closely with the company’s new brand guidelines, we supported a full redesign of the Salon Supplies website. The aim was to craft a digital presence that reflects the professionalism and quality synonymous with the brand.

This meant introducing a modern, polished aesthetic, alongside a clean layout that prioritises clarity and ease of use. Every design choice was made to inspire trust and confidence, while also showcasing products in a way that highlights their quality.

The result is a sleek, contemporary storefront that not only strengthens brand perception but also provides a more engaging and enjoyable browsing experience for customers.

Premium lifestyle imagery instantly signals a sense of luxury and trustworthiness on the homepage.

Thoughtfully organised product navigation reflects the breadth of Salon Supplies’ offering, whilst connecting customers with relevant products quickly and easily.

Stylish collection previews showcase key product lines whilst supporting an intuitive browsing experience.

Use of high-quality video serves to capture attention and elevate the perceived value of key products.

A carousel of customer testimonials help build trust through reflecting Salon Supplies’ excellent industry reputation.

Tech stack consultancy

We also advised on and implemented suitable tools and integrations in line with Salon Supplies’ unique business needs. The brand’s new digital tech stack includes:

• Shopify Flow – An ecommerce automation platform used to automate tasks and processes within your store and across your apps. Retailers can create workflows using triggers, conditions and actions.

• Search & Discovery – Advanced AI search functionality by Shopify, featuring collection page filters, controlled product recommendations and tailored analytics for smarter decision-making.

• Littledata – This server-side tracking reliably links revenue to marketing channels – boosting marketing attribution and fuelling higher performing campaigns for Shopify retailers.

• Starshipit – A popular shipping and fulfilment platform that enables more positive delivery experiences whilst reducing costs for businesses.

• Klaviyo – This leading tool enables brands to connect with customers seamlessly across channels, leveraging data to build smarter, and more profitable, relationships. Swanky is proud to be a full-service Klaviyo agency partner.

• Okendo – A comprehensive customer marketing platform that allows retailers to capture and showcase shopper feedback, driving benefits such as higher conversion rates, increased average order value and lower return rates.

• SEO Manager – Helps brands improve their search rankings with real-time feedback on SEO efforts, 404 error tracking and much more.

Learn about the importance of a consolidated tech stack for ecommerce brands.

Results

Better website performance

Store performance was assessed using Google PageSpeed Insights, both before and after Salon Supplies’ WooCommerce to Shopify migration. In particular, we examined the impact of replatforming on Core Web Vitals, Google’s key benchmarks for user experience and search ranking.

Pre-migration, results indicated that users were likely experiencing slow load times, unresponsive interactions, and layout shifts that could negatively impact their browsing experience and overall engagement.

Post-migration, we observed significant improvements across mobile (+33%) and desktop (+27%) Core Web Vitals. For shoppers, these improvements translate into noticeably better on-site experience, faster loading, smoother interactions and fewer disruptions from layout shifts.

Uplift in key ecommerce performance metrics

We also observed clear improvements across key performance metrics in GA4 when comparing the five weeks post-migration with the same period the year before.

The number of website sessions tripled and visitors spent more time on-site (with average session duration increasing by 102%). Meanwhile, conversion rate increased by 48%.

These engagement improvements translated directly into sales, with transactions growing by 293% and total revenue doubling.

Positive SEO impact

A year-on-year comparison of SEO performance revealed a significant uplift in organic performance following Salon Supplies’ transition to Shopify.

Search impressions increased by 43% whilst clicks rose by 26% – demonstrating that more users are discovering and engaging with the website through search.

This may be the result of improved SEO features and marketing tools in Shopify, helping improve search visibility in SERPs and drive more traffic to the Salon Supplies site.

Shopify POS implementation

Having experienced the benefits of migrating their ecommerce operations to Shopify, and with a clear goal of consolidating and simplifying their wider tech stack, the Salon Supplies team engaged Swanky to support them in rolling out Shopify POS Pro across their physical retail operation.

Implementing Shopify’s point-of-sale system has enabled the business to unify its online and offline transactions under a single platform, removing the complexity of managing disparate systems. With one centralised system in place, Salon Supplies can now streamline inventory management, reduce errors in sales reconciliation, and gain a complete, real-time view of customer interactions across all channels.

This unified data foundation not only improves operational efficiency today but also lays the groundwork for automating and personalising the customer experience in the future, ensuring Salon Supplies continues to meet the high expectations of its professional audience.

You can read more about benefits of unified commerce in our article on the value Shopify POS for omnichannel retailers.

What does the client think?

Reflecting on the project, Carlie Draeger, Owner of Salon Supplies and Furniture, commented:

“Our new Shopify website, expertly built by Swanky, has been a game-changer for Salon Supplies. It’s transformed our ecommerce store into a truly profitable platform, and we’ve seen incredible growth in a short space of time. 

“Beyond the fantastic results, the ongoing support from the Swanky team has been absolutely outstanding, making the entire journey smooth and successful.”

We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Salon Supplies, supporting business growth and exploring new opportunities.

Migrate to Shopify with a Shopify Platinum Partner

Our teams in the UK and Australia have years of experience migrating brands from WooCommerce to Shopify, driving successful outcomes for the likes of Wilkinson Sword, Catit, Valhalla Tactical and Akasha Brewing.

To discuss your replatforming project and learn how we can help unlock your ecommerce potential, reach out to our team today.