online store - Champs

Champs is one of the leaders in travel accessories. They provide luggage and travel accessories to major companies like Costco, Best Buy, TheBay, and more. To improve their website and reach more online customers, they decided to rethink their website. We worked with them on the development of their site. The mandate was first to migrate their site from version 1.9 of Magento to version 2. Then, we had to redo the entire design. We use our expertise to help them achieve their goal. In addition, we developed the site under Magento 2 and made a transactional site.

Description of the Champs project

As mentioned in the introduction, the old Champs site was under Magento 1.9 and was not transactional. Indeed, the majority of their customers visited their site just for reference before placing the order. Over time, the need to have more and more autonomous customers in the ordering process is increasingly felt. This is why Champs has decided to add features to the site that should allow customers to order online. However, since Magento version 1 will no longer be supported by the end of 2020, it was imperative to migrate to version 2. As a new specification, we will need to:

• Create a new site in Magento 2
• Migrate content from the old site to the new
• Integrate third-party resources such as payment and delivery methods
• Give the customer the possibility to access only the information specific to his group.

The development of the Champs site takes place in several phases. Here is a summary of the steps.

1- Feasibility analysis

The purpose of this phase was to analyze the client’s needs. Indeed, although the owner has his expectations, we are aware of the limits of Magento and must consider them. During our discussions, we agreed on the tasks to complete the project. We have also developed timelines to better advance the project.

2 – Site Map

Based on the current site map, we decided which URLs to keep or improve. When creating the site map, we took a long time to decide which keywords to use and the structure of URLs and sub-links.

3 – Design and Design

The customer’s specifications have enabled us to create a design adapted to his needs. We also examined the site’s ergonomics and browser compatibility. Indeed, aware that a large proportion of visitors are on their mobile or tablet, setting up a site that corresponds to this target is essential.

4 – Third-Party Resource Integration

Once the development was complete, we integrated payment and delivery modules and some marketing tools such as Mailchimp.

5 – Content Migration

During this phase, it was important to transfer content from the old Champs website to the new site. We also kept some features of the old site. To achieve this task, we made use of the tool proposed by Magento. Indeed, to allow users of their software to migrate from versions 1 to 2, Magento offers a tool called «Magento Data migration tool». Use this tool to migrate content where some basic features are easy.

6 – Test and validation

Once the project was completed, we did the testing and validation. With the general manager of the company, we did a series of tests on the site to make sure it was ready for production. Some tests performed are:

• Performance Test – To ensure the site is fast enough and accessible on any browser.
• Usability validation – We initially developed the site using Bootstrap. To ensure that all pages are compatible with any screen, we have validated the ergonomics of each page, thanks to the automation of the tests.
• Browser compatibility
• Site Security Validation
• Other tests

7 – Deployment of the Champs website

Once we confirmed that the site was close to production, we migrated to the field server. Together with the Champs management team, we are committed to supporting them in the SEO and maintenance aspects of the site.