The international umbrella, footwear, and cold weather accessory company, Totes, approached us to help support upgrades and restructuring on their complex legacy middleware, ERP and hardware systems. What began as a fractional tech support project quickly evolved into a comprehensive transformation of their eCommerce store based on data-driven insights and reporting.
What we did
- Full UX-CRO audit
- eCommerce optimization
- Tailored tech stack optimization
- Multi-brand site creation
- Ongoing technical support
How we did it
UX-CRO Audit & Optimization
Our initial step was a thorough audit of all four Totes brands: Isotoner, Acorn, Manzella, and Totes. Based on our findings, we made optimization recommendations aimed at achieving long-term growth through enhanced conversion rates.
- We upgraded the company to Shopify 2.0, improving filtering and design without bloating the code, and future-proofing the sites. Our goal was to enable long-term digital business transformation rather than short-term fixes, ensuring Totes had full CMS control with minimal developer involvement.
- We optimized digital branding elements such as fonts, buttons, and hover states, creating a blueprint for the company's online presence. We built a custom menu and structured the online stores for seamless future expansion.
Tech Stack Optimization
Our goal was to beef up Totes’ tech stack to support ERP integration. While analyzing Totes’ current Linux Box and Laravel environment, we looked at:
- PHP version compatibility
- Speed of queries
- Response times
We upgraded the Linux Box and Laravel, and upgraded Shopify to the latest API recommending GraphQL instead of RestAPI.
We're Still Doing It
Ongoing Technical Support
After working with Totes on various projects we agreed to continue working together to ensure structured and consistent updates to the Totes eCommerce store based on trackable and quantifiable data insights. We now work with the company on the following:
- Providing support for additional updates, changes or configuration to tech stack and back-end.
- Features development defined by Totes & TVP
- Iterative development for the next version or feature set(s) on a project basis
We also provide back-end technical troubleshooting, front-end updates on request, comprehensive email support, and weekly calls.
Results
Our collaboration with Totes is an on-going success story. Our initial projects resulted in significant advancements across multiple facets of their eCommerce operations. We substantially enhanced their digital branding and user experience. The transition to Shopify 2.0, combined with tailored tech stack enhancements, improved site performance and future-proofed their infrastructure.
Our efforts led to a more streamlined and efficient backend, supporting ERP integration and accelerating response times. The creation of multi-brand sites and the establishment of a robust, scalable architecture enabled Totes to manage their online presence with minimal developer intervention. Ongoing technical support ensured continuous improvements and adaptability, fostering sustained growth and innovation for Totes' eCommerce ecosystem.
