Case Study · Visualsoft to Shopify Migration
How UKDJ moved from Visualsoft to Shopify without losing a day's trading
Around 3,000 products, 250 collections and 7,500 old web addresses, moved across in under two months with the shop open the whole time.
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A migration like this is mostly a data job. The design is the easy bit. The real work is making sure 3,000 products land in the right collections with the right variants, and that every one of the old addresses Google knows about still goes somewhere sensible.
What changed for UKDJ
The same shop, on a platform UKDJ can run and change themselves, at a lower monthly cost.
No downtime
The switch from Visualsoft to Shopify happened without the shop closing. Customers kept buying throughout.
Search traffic held
Around 7,500 old Visualsoft addresses were mapped to their new Shopify equivalents, so rankings and bookmarks carried across.
Lower running costs
Shopify's monthly cost came in below what UKDJ were paying before.
Changes in their own hands
UKDJ's team can now update products, banners and pages themselves, without raising a ticket and waiting.
UKDJ
UKDJ is an online retailer of DJ equipment, lighting and AV, with a big range: pro audio, lighting and effects, stands and cases, cables and accessories, and plenty more.
Their store had been on Visualsoft for some time. With the contract coming up for renewal, they wanted to bring the running costs down and be able to change the site themselves.
The situation: A large, deep catalogue with thousands of products, a lot of collections and years of old web addresses, all of which had to keep working, and a business that could not afford to stop trading while it moved.
The UKDJ home page on Shopify, with the original design carried across.
Moving a deep catalogue without losing anything
We moved the catalogue by script rather than by spreadsheet, so 3,000 products and their 3,850 variants came across consistently, with their descriptions and images.
UKDJ's range is organised by brand as well as by product type, so we built the collections and brand collections automatically, more than 250 of them, and generated the main menu from the same structure. That way the navigation on day one matched how their customers already shop.
Then the redirects. Around 7,500 old addresses, products and other pages, were each mapped to the right place on the new site before the switch, which is what keeps search traffic and old links working.
Some of the 250-plus collections, built automatically from UKDJ's catalogue.
On a phone.
What we moved and built
A complete move from Visualsoft to Shopify in 4 to 8 weeks, with the shop trading throughout.
- Around 3,000 products and 3,850 variants migrated by script, with descriptions and images
- More than 250 collections, including brand collections, built automatically
- Main menu generated from the same category structure
- Customer accounts moved across
- Around 7,500 redirects from old Visualsoft addresses to the new Shopify ones
- The existing design rebuilt on Shopify's Horizon theme
- Go-live with no downtime
What our clients say
19 clients. A few of their words.
A well-rounded team, ensuring a full suite of expertise & resource is always available. CDS Global have seen the successful completion of major projects over the years where Dev Partners' ability to grasp the underlying business needs to provide a future-proof solution has been invaluable.
We have worked with Jason & his team to develop our Shopify store, and the experience was outstanding from start to finish. The design is clean, modern, and perfectly aligned with our brand identity, while the build is fast, responsive, and easy to manage on the backend. They clearly understood our vision and delivered a store we're genuinely proud of. Highly recommend to any brand looking for a top-quality Shopify partner.
After ongoing issues and delays with our previous developers, we brought in Rob & Jason at Dev Partners to take over all our websites and bespoke software. What a breath of fresh air, fully focused, excellent pre-launch designs and clear communication throughout. Highly recommended.
BPC Energy Ltd turned to Dev Partners for a complete turnkey solution, and they exceeded our expectations. The team handled everything from project management to development and support with real care and attention. They understood what we were aiming for, stayed on top of every detail, and always delivered on schedule with excellent quality.
Working with Dev Partners to redesign and modernise our WMS system: the whole process has been thoroughly professional from the outset and a delight to work with. Cannot recommend enough.
Great agency. Have used Dev Partners for several years and they have built 20+ sites for us, in addition to taking on our legacy websites, upgrading and maintaining. Easy to work with and some great practical ideas to improve our digital offerings.
Jones Hire have been working with Dev Partners on several projects, which have been very successful. They linked our catering database to a new improved website so clients can easily place and update orders, created a custom warehouse picking app to fulfil all our challenging requirements, and are currently developing a custom transport app to streamline our loading and delivery process.
We have been trying to reinvent our website for over 5 years, trying to make it convert and failing each time. Spoke to Rob at Dev Partners, the team helped create our new site and the improvement was instant.
We have been working with Rob and the team for about 10 years now. Dev Partners helped us build a completely bespoke CRM from scratch which manages our daily business and is always well maintained. We have been able to use the system and roll it out in our new franchise branches.
We collaborated with Dev Partners on the front end of a fairly complex telemarketing platform. Rob and Jason took the time to properly understand the moving parts, asked the right questions, and delivered a clean, intuitive interface that's made the system far easier for our team to use.
I have been working with the team at Dev Partners for the last 3 years and we have always been impressed with the speed in which they act on things for us, along with the honest open communication. The team are a valuable and vital part of our supply chain.
We've had a program for our business in the electronic security sector that Dev Partners developed and keep up to date. They've never let us down, always there when needed. Thanks Rob and the team.
Dev Partners have been working with us for just over 2 years. They have significantly upgraded and redesigned our existing web platforms, and always deliver a first class service.
Dev Partners helped us build an event website. The team were very knowledgeable, easy to work with and quick to deliver a high quality product.
Working with Dev Partners has been an exceptional experience. Their team is highly skilled, professional, and committed to delivering results. What truly sets them apart is their communication and transparency; we always felt informed, supported, and confident.
We've worked with Dev Partners a few times to support us on bespoke web build tasks. They're very easy to work with, approachable, and explain the detail in a way that's understandable. A great partner for technical issues at sensible prices.
Excellent customer service backed up with solid experience. As a media business we have had five websites built by Dev Partners. I would certainly recommend them.
Found Dev Partners and they were great, nothing too much trouble. They managed to help us with integrating our old existing system with Shopify.
I've worked with Rob and his team off and on for many years and have always found them to be professional, knowledgeable, and best of all, they listen to their clients and deliver what is required.
We have worked with Dev Partners for 7 years and can highly recommend them for their expertise and excellent customer service.
Thinking of leaving Visualsoft?
We will tell you honestly what the move involves for your store.
Every Visualsoft store is different underneath: how the products and variants are set up, how many old URLs are out there, and which systems it talks to. A short conversation is usually enough to tell you how big the job is.
What we will cover:
- Products, variants, images and collections
- Customers, and anything like store credit or loyalty balances
- Redirects, so your search traffic comes with you
- Integrations with your ERP, stock or fulfilment systems
- Going live without losing a day's trading
We reply to all enquiries within one working day.
Talk to us
Tell us about your store and when your Visualsoft contract comes up for renewal.
