Kjellmann Migration

Data migration

As always, we performed data migration in two stages. The first stage began by copying every necessary inch of data such as the relevant configurations, products, categories, customers and orders databases from the Magento 1 website to the new Magento 2 installation. The team began development and during that time, Kjellmnann’s ecommerce managers were updating category structure, and adding and editing product information according to their new vision of business operations.

When we have completely finished development on a new Magento 2 website, we proceed with the second stage of data migration, referred to as “delta migration.” This step is necessary in order to complete the transfer of the latest orders, and product and customer information to a Magento 2 website. At the end we had three Magento databases - the database from the live Magento 1 website, the updated database from the Magento 2 developed website, and the database from the Magento 1 website used for initial migration. We then compared and collated these databases thoroughly, checking the products (ex: product types for some products were changed), updating customer and order databases with missing entities. When it came to Kjellmann, the result when going live the Magento 2 website had all the latest information about the customers, orders and products, and engaged customers with updated product categories for better user experience.

Website redesign and theme development

The Kjellmann website had already been working successfully for three years and migration to the Magento 2 platform was the perfect time to breathe fresh air into the look and feel of the store.

Previously, the company employed the use of a fun, fresh and vibrant orange as its corporate color. However, they traded in the orange for a bold, brave red to better represent their vibe. With this in hand, we designed a new look for the product and category pages, and changed the homepage by updating it with more informative blocks which contain information about the most popular products and categories, and new arrivals. We also improved website navigation by implementing a modern menu solution with Amazon-like mega dropdown and reworking the header and footer. The website now boasts a clean and modern style over all, complete with an improved checkout process. All this has made the new store more convenient for customers, with an eye towards increasing the conversion rate.

Extensions migration

There were more than 20 extensions installed on Kjellman’s Magento 1 website. While this definitely added more functionality and possibilities to the store, at the same time it also impacted its performance. In keeping with the requirements of their Magento 2 store, we only used half of the extensions previously used whether they were the same extensions for Magento 2 or extensions from other providers with the same or enhanced functionality. A list of those extensions: Slider Revolution, Layered Navigation, Advanced Product Options Suite, Algolia Instant Search, a Multi User Account extension, a set of Amasty’s extensions for Google Shopping, Google Tag Manager, Rich Snippets, and others.

Custom logic development and third party services integration

Due to a complete mismatch of structure and methods within the Magento 1 and Magento 2 platforms, there is no way to simply transfer the code of custom-developed solutions during migration. Because of this, we developed custom extensions from scratch to extend Kjellmann’s website functionality.

1. ERP system integration.

Kjellmann required integration with the same cloud ERP system 24SevenOffice which is used on the Magento 1 website. As we previously developed the extension for its integration with Magento 1, we used the same pattern for the development of this custom extension from scratch for Magento 2. We were aware of the 24SevenOffice API and the required result, so the Magento 2 website was enriched by a similar custom orders grid in the admin panel like in the Magento 1 example. This custom grid became a one-stop place to:

• Process orders placed online in Magento and in offline stores
• Leave messages regarding orders by the logistics team for internal communications
• Print packing slips, and much more

The new grid also has two custom blocks - one that shows orders ready for shipping on the day, and the second - information about the orders awaiting delivery on the week.

2. Trustpilot reviews system integration

Kjellmann’s Magento 1 store used the Yotpo reviews and ratings platform. During replatforming to Magento 2 it was decided to switch to Trustpilot. After integrating with Trustpilot we noticed a specific feature - Kjellmann’s website began showing two different ratings for products. We figured out that Trustpilot uses separate databases for reviews transferred from Yotpo and reviews left after switching to this new system. To unify the review output, we had to implement an arithmetic mean formula to count the average ratings for products from the two separate databases, and adjust styles on product pages to show reviews in the review section in the same way.

3. Tax Switcher extension development

There was a Tax Switcher functionality implemented on Magento 1 store previously. The extension's purpose was to allow customers to change the way prices are displayed through the website - including or excluding taxes depending on the type of customer (corporate or private). We transformed the logic of Tax Switcher and developed a custom extension from scratch to replace it. When a customer lands on any Kjellmann website page for the first time, a pop-up window appears asking if the visitor is a corporate or private customer. This customer-type choice influences price output and the checkout page as well, wherein a field for entering a VAT number appears for corporate clients but is disabled for private ones.

4. Integration with VAT database service

Previously, when placing an order, Kjellmann corporate customers needed to enter their VAT number in a special field during checkout. To simplify things, we connected the website with a Norway VAT database that returns company details, such as the name of the company and the type of business ownership. In order to improve user experience, this information is used to output specific payment methods available for the customer.

5. Custom Defer JS extension development

Performance optimization is the most vital part of the work we always perform for our clients. While migrating the Kjellmann project, there was no ready Defer JS solution for Magento 2.2.3. Having deep expertise in performance tuning for Magento projects, we developed our own extension for the Kjellmann website with extended functionality, including delayed JS scripts and image loading, and minifying HTML code. It has significantly improved website performance characteristics.