Success Story: Know How an Ireland Based Music Store Witnessed 2X Traffic Growth with Magento and Customisation

Everestmusic is a music and piano centre that has been in existence for over 35 years. It has rooted itself as one of the top music platforms across Ireland. The company does so by committing itself to making the satisfaction of its customers the top priority.

Everestmusic is a home for a wide range of quality musical instruments with enticing prices. These instruments include the guitar, piano, and many other musical accessories. The store employs a team of musical experts who provide one-on-one music lessons for both old and young students.

This is one of the most common challenges our clients face before reaching out to us. In almost all cases, the Magento 2 migration process is very tedious for the client to handle. Migrating from OSCommerce to Magento is an essential but delicate process. This is why our team’s primary focus is the website migration from OSCommerce to Magento 2.2.6.

We also focus on the resynchronisation of 3rd-party extensions for the online shop. The new release of Magento 2 is more efficient and has a better design to bring the best out of the music store. The platform also has improved security, faster checkout, and has high scalability.

Upgrading to Magento 2 comes with a lot of improved features. Some include the upgraded database and architecture design. This provides a user-friendly interface for customers to make the site navigation smoother.

• Core Steps in Migrating to Magento 2 – We would explain the step-by-step process needed for Magento 2 migration. First, you would have to clone your previous version of the Magento store. Hence, you have to install and set up the new Magento 2 software and also install themes and extensions. Note that every code customisation should be rewritten alongside products, categories, orders, settings, and so on. Hence, you integrate with third-party modules. Then you run a series of tests to be assured of its stability. Next, you optimise the new store for efficiency. Then you can finally go live with your new eCommerce store with the latest Magento 2 version.
• Timeline – migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 takes about 50 to 790 hours or an average of about 4 months. The importation of your previous data takes about 20 to 80 hours. Migrating compatible third-party extensions only takes a few days, about 10 to 60 hours. Non-compatible extensions usually take longer but still work in the same range. Setting up the theme takes a very long time ranging from 20 to 450 hours. The customisation of codes usually takes about 20 to 200 hours. It depends on the code used in the previous version of the Magento. However, the installation of Magento 2 can take up to 2 days to complete. Testing the new version should take at least a week to complete depending on the taste of the user, but the average time for the project is about 150-250 hours. 

• Magento Migration Cost – the cost of Magento 2 migration is affected by a lot of factors. Two common ones are the choice of opting for the full plan or only a few important features to reduce the cost. The main features include UI, frontend, backend, data migration, and licensing. The price here, however, varies. You are going to spend between $6,000 to $40,000. If you head on to our site, you will find the full breakdown of the total cost of the Magento 2 migration. 

One of the main aims of upgrading to a newer version of Magento is to provide an improved interface with a solid product structure for customers. Another is to also make sure the newer interface is easy to navigate by the customers. This is why we import all categories, attributes, images, customers’ base, CMS pages and email templates. We do this while keeping the current product structure of the website without data loss. A proper product structure is key to an efficient eCommerce store. This is because it also makes the interface easy to navigate while being attractive to the user.

A proper product structure is one of the best ways to keep users engaged on the platform. It helps them find products faster, and it is appealing to the eyes. 

• Homepage and Product Page Design Tips: A good web page would help you portray your business ideas, and also go a long way in gaining visitors attention. This is because when anyone logs on to your website, it is the job of your web page to help them navigate easily to their desired destination. Here are a few tips you should put into consideration when building a web page on your website. First, you must have a view of what you want your visitors to do when they log on to your website. This makes sure you reduce the number of steps that would help them find products and make purchases. And also, you have to take note of the amount of information they would need to access what they need.
• “Buy Now” Magic and Power of One Step Checkout: Many online stores are always left with the problems of having high traffic but not enough sales to reciprocate the visiting rate. In short, they are not converting their clients. This is due to a lot of factors, but one that stands out is the checkout process. According to a study, the average cart abandonment rate is about 68.9%. The study also points out that 18% abandoned their cart due to a long checkout process. This is why the best solution to this problem is to streamline the checkout process to the shortest it can be. Employing tactics like “Buy Now” to gain customer attention and a short/one-step checkout process is necessary here. It would boost the conversion rate immensely. To do this, the user must be able to check out a product with ease. This means checkouts that only need a payment method and shipping address. 

Every online store visitor would love to be able to navigate through products with ease. This made Everestmusic and piano upgrade their search engine on their website. It made it easier for their visitors to get to their desired products fast. On Everestmusic’s online store you can search for your favourite products with ease. Here you will also get an autocomplete feature that intuitively guesses what you are looking for. You also get a customisable search bar to help you find products faster. This feature has played a very crucial role in the development of the organisation’s eCommerce store.

Advanced search is a great way to convert the visitors on your store and make more sales. It allows them to find the products they need with ease and speed. It also gives alternative suggestions in case the product is not in stock at that moment.

Top Popular custom search features to speed up the search process: Now that advanced search is beneficial to conversion rates and the growth of the store. On Magento 2, there are many popular custom search features that you can use to enhance your store. One is to add custom filters to help users narrow down what they are looking for on your site. The filter should include price range, product type, size, brand, colour, and much more. This makes finding products a lot more comfortable. Unlike a single search that would bring up a lot of products at a time.

After smooth website migration to Magento 2.2.6, our team embodied a “Buy Now” function that enables buyers to proceed to checkout right from “Product page” or “Catalogue page”. Now they can skip the Shopping cart and avoid extra actions. The store also retains the original product structure. This significantly streamlines the checkout process for the customer. It also enables new customers to buy goods without the stress of registration.

A whole scope of the WebMeridian team’s work include:

• Integration with payments systems such as Realex and PayPal, as they are the most reliable and popular in Ireland. These payment methods are also very secure and protect user data.
• Email marketing service integration (Mailchimp) to reach out to new and old customers. This is done with newsletters for promotions and other important information. The software synchronises user information and order data. It enables you to create targeted ad campaigns. This way, you get to generate leads and increase potential revenue. 
• Custom design based on the Ultimo theme to give the interface a nice and welcoming appearance while being easy to navigate.
• Multi-stock functionality that allows you to monitor the inventory of all your warehouses on one software and all at once. Get access to your stock to track, update and move them as required.
• Implementation of custom filtering by brands and “featured products” to widen the categories of each product. Also, to provide more efficient product searches. This helps new customers find products faster. At the same time, it recommends better alternatives to what they need.
• Bringing into action a search autocomplete function. It works seamlessly with brands, product SKUs, and product names. This helps users to make faster and effective product searches. At the same time, making the search process comfortable. 
• Search customisation: enabling search by full input with a dash in the name. It helps users find products by using the available search filters. The filters separate the products into categories.

What were your goals for this project?

New B2C eCommerce store to sell music instruments.

Describe the project in detail.

WebMeridian provided the team for store development and customization of some features.

What was the team composition?

3 devs, 1 project manager, DevOps, and QA. Varies throughout the project timeline.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We got a fully functional eCommerce store.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project managers were effective. They were available at all designated times, provided clear milestones, and managed the team effectively to meet all the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about the WebMeridian team?

Willingness to adapt to what you need. Flexibility. They are professional and friendly and despite a language barrier, communication was not an issue. They showed a high quality of work and met all the deadlines. We felt good support from the WebMeridian team.

We assisted in boosting the shopping experience in the Irish music store by implementing a number of unique features of Magento 2. Nowadays, the Everestmusic website is successfully running on Magento 2 and flawlessly operates over 2,500 unique visitors monthly. The platform allows them to search specifically for the products they need thanks to the advanced search features implemented on the site. It also allows them to pick up and buy necessary items and accessories in a few clicks thanks to the intuitive user interface and product structure.

It is safe to say that Magento 2 improves the quality of your eCommerce store while implementing a lot of useful and unique features. It increases your conversion rate by making the shopping experience of the customers a comfortable and smooth one. 

If you are running your store on an old platform, and you want to enjoy the benefits of Magento 2, then reach out to us. Our professionals will help you through it all with our all-in-one service. 

Let’s talk!

Numbers:

• Website smoothly processes 5.2K+ of monthly website visits.
• Bounce rate dropped to 25%. It’s a peak.
• Magento Version: 2. 2.2.6, to be precise.