How We Took a Regional Store and Made It Truly Scalable
This wasn’t a brand-new launch. It was a solid business held back by its tech stack.
Client
The client is a mid-sized manufacturer and distributor operating in the home improvement and interior design sector. Their catalog focuses on a narrow selection of customizable products with many variants,different sizes, colors, fittings, and usage contexts. They serve both direct-to-consumer and wholesale buyers, which places extra pressure on pricing logic, shipping workflows, and order customization. With operations across multiple regions, the business needed a scalable eCommerce solution that could handle complex catalog logic and ERP integration without compromising performance.
Project Overview
This wasn’t a brand-new launch. It was a solid business held back by its tech stack. Magento 1 had done its job for years, but things were starting to crack, slow admin, too many manual processes, outdated UX, and more plugins than anyone could keep track of.
We stepped in not just to migrate, but to rethink how the store worked, from the way pricing was handled to how support teams processed orders.
The Initial State
The store was running well from a business standpoint, but the technology didn’t keep up. It was a Magento 1 setup with patchwork modules, checkout extensions stacked on top of each other, and no clear path forward for new features. It couldn’t support modern marketing tools or even basic customer retention automation.
What We Changed
Full Magento 2 Migration & Cleanup
Before diving into development, we performed a deep audit of the Magento 1 store. Years of patched modules, performance bottlenecks, and overlapping plugin logic meant that a simple replatform wasn’t enough. We mapped out critical data types, products, customer accounts, order history, and tax rules, and rebuilt many of them from scratch using Magento 2 best practices. This included normalizing attribute sets, collapsing redundant categories, and cleaning up layered navigation filters. Legacy third-party modules were evaluated one by one: the essential ones were rewritten or replaced with leaner, custom modules, while the rest were eliminated. Our cleanup efforts dramatically reduced backend clutter and improved long-term maintainability.
Custom Tools Instead of Plugins
Instead of relying on bulky third-party extensions, we developed a suite of lightweight custom tools tailored specifically to the client’s needs. This included a product configuration system that could dynamically update pricing and display options based on selected parameters. For loyalty and promotions, we built a points system with logic that triggered rewards based on cart contents, customer tier, and purchase history. We also introduced a guided quoting interface for B2B users, letting them build configurable carts, save them for later, and submit them for approval. All these tools ran natively within Magento without introducing extra overhead.
Smart Admin Interfaces
We improved admin usability by building custom dashboards and utility panels for sales managers and warehouse staff. Key features included a ‘Quote Priority’ tagging system, visual indicators for express orders, and one-click PDF generation of factory-ready job tickets. We also added a live cart viewer and edit tool, if a client called in with questions about a half-completed order, staff could retrieve and finish it together in real-time. Instead of clicking through multiple tabs and entities, everything was accessible from a single streamlined interface.
Performance, Speed & Scaling
We treated performance as a feature, not an afterthought. Every frontend script was reviewed and either deferred, lazy-loaded, or removed if unnecessary. Images were converted to WebP and optimized with responsive size sets. On the server side, we enabled Varnish for full-page caching and Redis for session and object caching. We separated the checkout into a fallback theme to avoid frontend conflicts, which made mobile transactions much smoother. Stress testing during peak hours confirmed that the store could handle traffic spikes without degradation.
Seamless ERP & Shipping Integration
The ERP integration was built using a dedicated middleware layer that pushed and pulled data from the client’s internal system without blocking Magento processes. We implemented logic to group shipments based on compatibility (products that could be boxed together), and added fallback rules for out-of-stock situations. For shipping, we customized methods based on user type — retail or wholesale — and destination. Restricted products triggered shipping warnings or exclusions. Tax logic was tightly coupled with ERP sync to avoid invoice mismatches. As a result, warehouse operations became faster and far less error-prone.
Conclusion
Replatforming to Magento 2 wasn’t just a technical upgrade for this client, it was a chance to rethink the entire customer journey, from first click to final delivery. By reducing plugin dependencies, introducing meaningful backend tools, and deeply integrating with existing logistics systems, we delivered a scalable platform built to last. With performance, maintainability, and flexibility all dramatically improved, the business now has the technical foundation to confidently expand its reach, both locally and abroad.
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