Little Skiers

Since their inception in 2008, Little Skiers has been at the forefront of providing high-quality ski wear for kids. Recognising the need to evolve digitally, they embarked on a strategic migration to Shopify, aiming for a more streamlined and user-friendly online presence.

Client Link

littleskiers.co.uk

Services Used

Shopify eCommerce Web Design

BACKGROUND.

Magento to Shopify Migration

Little Skiers is a new Shopify site for a well established business that has been trading since 2008, specialising in kids ski wear, formerly operating on Magento 2.

The decision to migrate to Shopify was driven by the client’s desire for more control over the front end of the website. Additionally, as the complexities and associated costs for Magento support, relative to their sales turnover were increasing, the client saw the migration to Shopify as a strategic move to streamline the site functionality and ensure a seamless online shopping experience.

BRIEF.

Little Skiers expressed a desire for the new Shopify site design to draw inspiration from the original Magento layout but with a contemporary update to build further within their sector.

Although we did not build the Magento site, we’ve been helping the client improve their Magento site performance and security since 2022, when they first joined us as a Support client.

We were delighted when, based on the service levels they received in Support, they approached us to explore the feasibility of migrating to Shopify and determining its compatibility with their store requirements.

The time taken to apply version upgrades had been higher than usual because of its initial build and module configuration, so when we estimated for the latest Magento upgrade, the client saw this as the ideal time to evaluate if Shopify would meet their needs. A major consideration was to ensure a secure online shopping experience for their customers, which can be further expanded in the future.

This is a scenario we are seeing with a number of Magento clients, where some or all of the below factors are present:

Recent trends in migration from Magento to Shopify

Volume of sales does not warrant the support required for Magento
The Magento instance is 3+ years old and the client is considering a new platform
The Magento site was poorly build (not by Absolute!) and is difficult to maintain
A new ERP that is supported by Shopify is required
The customer journey is relatively simple and a theme approach can be used
The client’s marketing team wants more control over managing the site and do not have the necessary Magento expertise in-house.

Photo of a family of three smiling together in colorful winter coats against a clear blue sky, for the Little Skiers Shopify website design.

Photo of a girl smiling on a snowy mountain carrying a blue and white snowboard in bright sunlight, for the Little Skiers Shopify website design.

Photo of a girl wearing a bright pink and black snowsuit with a grey beanie hat standing on a rocky hill, for the Little Skiers Shopify website design.

HOW WE HELPED.

Our journey with Little Skiers on Shopify began with a review of their existing Magento 2 site, analysing the features and functionality to ensure they could be implemented.

Where compatibility was a challenge, we provided expert guidance on alternative solutions, ensuring that the new website would not only meet but also aim to exceed their business requirements.

Following this initial assessment, we embarked on a collaborative workshop phase, working closely with Little Skiers to understand their vision and goals. We presented a selection of Shopify themes, each chosen for its potential to align with the identity of Little Skiers. Through the process, we then narrowed down the options with Little Skiers, selecting the theme we thought would best fit the brand.

Absolute managed the Shopify project from initiation, build and then go live, ensuring we used best practices throughout so the migration from Magento 2 to Shopify was as seamless as possible for the client and their customers.

Impressed by the successful launch and user-friendly interface of the Little Skiers website, the client was so satisfied with our work on the Shopify platform that their sister company, Crafts4Kids, promptly engaged with us to initiate the next site build without delay.

Migrating the product data over was a large aspect of the project, and we needed to make sure that all of the custom attributes were copied over to be able to be used as filters and help the customer find the right product.

Equally, preserving search engine ranking for existing pages was vital, and we undertook to ensure that all of the content was mapped to its location on the new Shopify site.