Winning moves.
The brief:
The delivery process was effective, communication was genuinely strong, and the new customer experience is "significantly better" than what we had before.
Arthur Blazey - Zatu Programme Manager
Migrate a high-volume UK ecommerce site from WooCommerce to Shopify, without losing trade, rankings, or customer trust. Restyle the key journey pages (home, collections, product, cart), roll out full global brand styling, and build new category landing templates from scratch.
The result:
A faster, more commercially effective Shopify storefront, with average order value up 19%, organic sessions up 77%, and returning customer rates doubled. Product discovery improved, customer journeys became easier to navigate, and Zatu now has a platform ready for its next stage of growth.
Scroll 👇 for the full story.
The numbers do the talking.
In the months since migration:
Put simply: customers returned more and spent more, these are the compounding metrics that genuinely validate the decision to migrate.
Luke Green - Inspira Co Founder
- Organic traffic up ~77%
Organic sessions increased significantly post-migration, with a controlled comparison used to strip out seasonality and known anomalies. - Average order value up ~19%
Customers are spending more each time they check out, strengthening the commercial impact of the new Shopify storefront. - Returning customer rate near doubled
More customers are coming back to buy again, clear evidence that the migration protected trust and encouraged repeat purchasing. - Usability transformed
Products that were once buried are now easier to find, making Zatu’s large catalogue faster to explore and easier to buy from.
The migration didn’t just protect performance. It created a stronger, more profitable buying experience.
A better place to browse, discover and buy
Zatu needed depth without friction. We delivered a feature richer storefront that was easier to explore, and the results proved the approach.
Mike Fryers - Inspira Project Lead
Zatu’s migration wasn’t just about moving from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus. The real challenge was creating a richer Shopify storefront that customers would enjoy browsing, exploring and buying from, without stripping away the depth board game fans love.
Some key improvements were:
- Clearer product discovery
Improved navigation, collection structure and ultra-fast filtering helped customers easily move through Zatu’s large catalogue, including filtering by products available for next day delivery. - Stronger product page hierarchy,
Product pages were reworked to make price, availability, delivery timelines and key buying information easier to understand at a glance. - Smarter delivery messaging
Dynamic messaging across PDP and checkout showed the right delivery promise based on stock availability, stock depth and where that stock was held. - Richer content in the buying journey
Reviews, how-to-play videos, awards and author profile pages brought more useful content closer to the point of purchase. - More tools to support repeat buying
Merchandising features, offers, upsells and Victory Points gave Zatu more ways to promote products, reward customers and encourage future orders.
Since launch, return customer rates have doubled, showing that customers are responding positively to the new storefront and that the improved buying experience is supporting repeat purchase behaviour.
Smoother operations, better customer experience
Rather than forcing customers into separate purchases, we created a split shipping solution that allowed eligible items to be separated after checkout.
Mike Fryers - Inspira Project Lead
One of the more complex challenges was handling mixed baskets where customers were buying products with different delivery timelines, for example, next day delivery items alongside preorders. Due to limitation of their WMS setup we couldn't rely on Shopify's native split shipping functionality.
So rather than forcing customers into separate purchases, we created a split shipping solution that allowed eligible items to be separated after checkout. This meant customers could place one order, choose split shipping, and receive available products sooner while preorder items followed separately.
Behind the scenes, the app splits eligible next day delivery items from the original order and creates a matching fulfilment order, allowing Storefeeder to process each shipment correctly.
Some key improvements were:
- A simpler buying experience
Allowing customers to purchase mixed product types in a single checkout. - Faster fulfilment for eligible products
So available items do not need to wait for preorder stock. - Cleaner operational workflows
With Storefeeder receiving separate order records for each shipment type. - Less manual intervention
Reducing the need for the team to manage mixed orders by hand. - A real world custom solution
Where native split shipping fell short, built around Zatu’s real fulfilment process.
It wasn't all plain sailing
Migrations of this scale rarely happen as smoothly as many slick case studies will have you believe. There are always real challenges, hidden complexities and commercial realities that often get edited out of the success story.
But for us, this where the real lessons are, here's where we hit friction, uncertainty and importanly how we handled and navigated it for Zatu
Things got noisier than we anticipated...
- SEO re-indexing volatility was more significant than we'd modelled going in and the first weeks of post-launch data required some intense scrutiny and level headed analysis
- Post-launch conversion bumped up, but then drifted below historical peaks
- The migration of 200k+ historical orders created some very complex mapping, elongating initially understood timelines.
How we responded
Timeline adjustments where handled with regular client updates, involving all partners with clear goals for shared success. This made the management of expectations and delivery clear for the client, rather than adding uncertaintey and stress.
As a direct result we adjusted our process to move the data review (both internally and with partners) to much earlier in the process.
The initial data, which in less experienced hands could have easily caused Zatu concern was carefully assesed in partnership with our specialist SEO Partner, Marco Felicio at Leftfield.
When we stripped seasonality, excluded clear outlier days (and importantly) uncovered the fact there was widespread GA tag double-counting in the old site. It was clear the baseline data was much better than first thought.
Daily median sessions (not peak days) were used to compare equivalent out-of-season windows pre and post-migration. This brought together a baseline data set that filtered out much of the noise and short term variability that can be inherent during moves like this and helped provide the client with confidence that things were on the right track.
The vindication
For Inspira, rooting the analysis in reality with controls, baselines, and methodology you can defend, is what separates a migration that drifts from one that compounds.
Mike Fryers - Inspira Project Lead
While the headline charts seemingly told a story of "muted recovery in progress", the controlled analysis showed there was an actually a significant uplift of ~77% in daily organic sessions vs the pre-migration baseline. Moving from "things are OK" to this is "a huge win"
How we delivered it.
- Tight feedback loops after style sign-off and live-build checks, no surprises on launch day,
- Making sure the client was fully prepped and ready internally before go live with detailed handovers and practical updates
- Integrated comms across Basecamp and Slack, with SEO and migration teams in the room from day one, including Marco Felicio at Leftfield leading the SEO migration workstream
- Commercial flexibility when the client's internal cycle needed it
- A scoped, opinionated approach to complex features shipping logic, gift wrap, and the migration of 200k+ historical orders, delivered in partnership with our data specialists at Loncom Consulting
What we're unlocking next
Migration this kind of comlexity and achieving stability is the genuinely hardest part. But the bigger prize is what comes after. And this is where our 60–90 day optimisation phase concentrates on three levers:
- Conversion stability
nudging CVR back above 2.2% and toward the 2.4% historical high - Checkout execution
pulling checkout bounce down from ~62% to sub-60% - Mobile performance
the single largest bottleneck, and where 55%+ of traffic lives - Increased product reach without paying for clicks
We've enabled a unique distribution channel for their travel games via an Alvio partnership with Holiday Extras
At current traffic volumes: this has the potential to be a +25–35% uplift in revenue efficiency, without spending a pound more on acquisition. At ~1M sessions, that's a material six-figure revenue opportunity inside a short horizon.
The takeaway
Migrations often get delayed, with reasons ranging from commercial impact through to concerns about resources. But they don't have to be full of uncertainty, risk and burden.
Zatu proves that with an experienced team, engaged partners, detailed planning and good execution (both pre and post live), you can really move the numbers without affecting the day to day operations.
Zatu's investment in moving to Shopify is already paying dividends. Not to mention they are now ready to engage and leverge the platform and consumer discovery as ecommerce develops in the AI age.
The runway from here is now measurable, accessible and clearly driving business momentumn.
Thinking about a migration to Shopify? Learn more in our Shopify Migration Guide.
We help you make sure it's a move that allows you to thrive, not just survive
Key Delivery Partners
For this project, we worked with trusted partners who brought specialist expertise to support delivery and help achieve the best possible outcome.
Frequently asked questions
1. What results can a Shopify migration deliver?
A well-planned Shopify migration can improve performance across traffic, usability, average order value and repeat customer behaviour. Following Zatu’s migration from WooCommerce to Shopify, the store saw a +77% uplift in daily organic sessions, a +19% increase in Average Order Value and a near-doubling of returning customer rate.
2. How long does a Shopify migration take?
The timeline for a Shopify migration depends on the size and complexity of the store, including product data, order history, integrations, SEO requirements and theme development. Zatu’s Shopify migration went live in February 2026 after a six-month build phase, followed by around two weeks of post-launch stabilisation while tracking, trading patterns and customer behaviour settled.
3. Who should manage a complex Shopify migration?
A complex Shopify migration should be managed by an experienced ecommerce team that can coordinate theme development, data migration, SEO, integrations and post-launch optimisation. For Zatu, Inspira Digital led the Shopify migration, working alongside Loncom Consulting on data migration and Marco Felicio at Leftfield on the SEO migration and post-launch performance analysis.
4. What makes a large ecommerce migration challenging?
Large ecommerce migrations are challenging because they often involve significant product data, historical orders, SEO risk, complex integrations and changes to customer behaviour after launch. For Zatu, the key challenges included SEO re-indexing volatility, post-launch conversion changes and the migration of more than 200,000 historical orders. These were managed through tighter feedback loops, controlled measurement and focused post-launch optimisation.
5. How can SEO performance be protected during a Shopify migration?
SEO performance can be protected during a Shopify migration by planning redirects carefully, preserving important pages, auditing metadata and using controlled post-launch measurement. For Zatu, seasonal peaks, known tracking issues and traffic anomaly days were removed from the analysis so equivalent pre- and post-migration periods could be compared fairly. This revealed a defensible +77% uplift in daily organic sessions.
6. Can a Shopify migration increase Average Order Value?
AOV increased 19%, primarily because the new Shopify storefront made products materially easier to discover, browse and bundle at checkout. Improved usability translated into customers building larger baskets per visit.
7. What are the key lessons from a successful Shopify migration?
The key lesson is that the first few weeks after launch do not always tell the full story. Tracking can take time to stabilise, customer behaviour can reset and seasonality can distort headline numbers. Zatu’s migration showed the importance of controlled measurement, post-launch optimisation and judging performance against a clear baseline rather than reacting to early volatility.
8. Is Shopify right for high-volume ecommerce brands?
Yes, Shopify can be a strong fit for high-volume ecommerce brands when the migration is properly planned around performance, SEO, data, integrations and operational requirements. Zatu’s migration shows how Shopify can support a large catalogue, significant historical order data and high trading volumes, while creating a more scalable platform for ongoing optimisation after launch.
