Adobe Commerce Agency: Our Process, Projects, and Results

IronPlane Specializes in Adobe Commerce Websites

Specifically, we help both B2B and B2C companies by:

• Finding the best solutions for their individual needs, based on business goals and technical challenges. Our work is focused on the idea that business priorities should drive the technology, not the other way around. That’s why we take the time to research how our clients’ businesses work, what goals they have, and how their Adobe Commerce site should help them get there.
• Becoming a long-term, trusted agency partner. We don’t treat client work like a one-time contract. Instead, we aim to support businesses over time by keeping their sites updated and secure, finding new ways to improve them, and overall — being a reliable partner for all things Adobe Commerce.
• Making their sites faster, improving the user experience (UX), and optimizing conversion rates. Our team of Adobe Commerce developers, designers, and project managers analyze the performance of our clients’ sites and uncover opportunities for improvement — be it from a purely technical perspective, UX perspective, or both.
• Working on custom development projects. From entire eCommerce websites to custom checkouts, themes, modules, pricing pages, integrations, and product catalogs — you name it, we’ve probably already built it.

As an eCommerce agency focused on Adobe Commerce for 10+ years, we’ve tackled projects in many industries and developed a process based on transparency and clear communication.

In this article, we’ll show you three of these projects and explain how we improved our clients’ sites with upgrades, custom development, integrations, and more. 

Then, we’ll walk you through the exact process we use for each client engagement, as well as all the Adobe Commerce services we offer, so you know what to expect when working with us.

Note: In this article, we focus exclusively on Adobe Commerce (the paid version of Magento, not Magento Open Source) and we use the terms “Magento”, “Magento Commerce”, and “Adobe Commerce” interchangeably. 

How An Adobe Agency Helps Companies Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2

There are three methods you can use to migrate your site from Magento 1 to Magento 2 (also called Adobe Commerce):

• Migrate manually using the Magento Migration Tool
• Hire a developer or Magento development agency to migrate the site
• Utilize an automated migration service

Here's a quick overview of the migration process:

1. Begin by downloading the necessary Magento 2 software and files
2. Backup your store information
3. Start data migration to the Magento 2 store, including any extensions, custom code, and themes
4. Test and review data to ensure the migration was successful
5. Begin using your store

How We Migrated Bosca’s Site to Magento 2

Bosca is an online retailer that manufactures high-quality leather goods. Their eCommerce store was originally built on Magento 1, but since Adobe was ending support for this version, Bosca’s team had to migrate to Magento 2. This migration, along with some improvements to the site, had to be completed within six weeks.

Bosca’s team chose to work with IronPlane due to our years of experience in the world of digital commerce, and specifically — our history of successful Magento 1 to Magento 2 migrations. After we conducted a business discovery and code audit (which are essential for all IronPlane projects), our project management team helped Bosca prioritize their requirements to ensure an on-time launch.

Then, we started work on the actual migration. In order to limit the necessary development time, we used our Colibri foundation — a lightweight eCommerce foundation that helps us quickly design, develop, and implement Magento sites.

Besides launching the Magento 2 site on time, our team also ensured it had the following elements, based on Bosca’s requirements:

• Custom homepage layout
• Configurable product swatches
• Custom return merchandise authorization (RMA) forms
• Integrations with Google Tag Manager, their ERP system, and more

After the site went live, our team continued to work with Bosca to improve its page load speed and conversion rates. In the following months, we also monitored how the Magento 2 site performed compared to the old one.

Here are the results five months after the launch:

• Page speed improved by 36%
• Organic conversions increased by over 45%
• Transactions increased by 10% 
• Revenue increased by 7.8%

To learn more about Bosca’s challenges and our approach, check out the full Bosca case study.

How An Adobe Commerce Agency Builds New Magento Sites

Building an eCommerce site is an involved process — and one that can be very difficult without the proper guidance. Generally speaking, building a Magento 2 store involves the following steps — though every site has unique needs and steps can change:

1. Choose a plan and your domain name
2. Install the latest version of Magento 2 on your server
3. Configure your settings
4. Set up your catalog and categories
5. Add your products to the system
6. Set up financials (tax, payment, delivery, and more)
7. Implement store front(s)

How We Built a Magento Site for Russell Marine Products

Russell Marine Products (RMP) is a premier fishing technology retailer and certified distributor of Garmin, Lowrance, Minn Kota, and Humminbird electronics. 

Their online store was initially built with Volusion (a popular eCommerce platform and page builder). However, Volusion didn’t support important integrations, lacked automated order fulfillment capabilities, and wasn’t optimized for mobile, so RMP decided on a switch to Magento 2.

When they contacted us for a consultation, our first objective was to see if their decision to choose Magento  was the best fit for their needs. Once we were sure Magento was the right solution, we created a personalized migration and implementation plan. 

Here are some of the things we did to execute that plan:

• Design and develop a mobile-optimized Magento site with fast load times
• Implement their new eCommerce site on our Colibri Foundation
• Select a hosting partner

Another key part of this project was the shipping automation our team implemented. Here’s what Josh Schneiter, Sales and Operations Manager at RMP, had to say about this functionality:“We used to touch every single order. Now with automation, we can design a workflow where we rarely ever have to touch an order and can work on more strategic goals.”

Compared to their old Volusion site, RMP’s new Magento site had:

• 99% more pageviews
• 54% faster load times on average
• A 27% increase in conversion rates

For more details on how we helped RMP build a new Magento site, check out the full RMP case study.

How An Adobe Development Agency Leverages Custom Development and Integrations

Every business has unique needs — and your Magento store should reflect them. When you partner with an Adobe Commerce development agency like IronPlane, you gain access to custom development and integration implementation, including modules, extensions, third-party services, and more.

Developing a Customized Magento Site for High Point Scientific

High Point Scientific sells high-quality telescopes and telescope accessories. Their website aims to help visitors with detailed product descriptions, expert videos, warranty details, and “buy now pay later” options.

Like Bosca, High Point Scientific’s site was built on Magento 1. They contacted us when they were ready to upgrade to Magento 2, but as we worked on the migration, we found many other opportunities for improvement.

For example, High Point Scientific’s team had found two problems that were introducing friction in the customer journey — people were getting confused by the site structure and having trouble searching for specific items.

Due to these issues, we started the project by running an end-to-end UX audit (alongside Baymard). The insights we gathered during this process helped us improve the site's overall usability and customer experience. On the backend, we spent a lot of time developing and testing High Point Scientific’s many integrations with tools like Search Spring, ShipperHQ, Extend, Bread, and NetSuite. 

Once their Magento 2 migration was complete, alongside the UX and integration improvements, High Point Scientific’s site had:

• A 20.5% boost in overall visitors
• A 10% increase in transactions
• A 25.6% increase in revenue

For the full story on High Point Scientific’s site, check out the entire High Point Scientific case study.

The IronPlane Process

In this section, we’ll walk you through the exact process we use for each client engagement.

Before we dive in, note that while each business has unique needs and challenges, we maintain a few key principles throughout all projects:

• Long-term view: Since our goal is to be a reliable strategic partner (and not a “job shop”), we take the time to become experts in both your website and your business. Thanks to this long-term approach, most of our clients have been with us for years.
• Transparency: Because we track everything we do, our clients can always monitor our work, including which tasks we’re currently working on, which ones we’ve completed, how much time we spent on them, and how much we charge.
• Creativity: We’ve been working on Magento projects for over 10 years, with both B2B and B2C brands in many different industries. Thanks to this depth and breadth of eCommerce experience, we’ve gathered many ideas and best practices, which we can tailor to your specific needs.
• Flexible development process: Our development team can work closely with your in-house developers or operate independently. It’s your call.

Now, let’s look at the IronPlance process and methodology in detail.

Free Consultation Call

Before we start any project, we do a free consultation call, which has two objectives:

1. To help us understand your eCommerce goals and the current problems with your site (site speed, bugs, lack of integrations, etc).
2. To determine if our services would be the right fit for your needs, based on your technical challenges and business goals.

Again, our priority is to help you make the best decisions from both a financial and technical standpoint. That’s why we move on to the next stage only if we see a match between what we offer and what’s right for your business.

Business Discovery and Code Audit

One of our first tasks with new clients is to understand the business priorities that their site must support. This is a crucial step in our long-term partnership approach because it ensures our work is always aimed at helping you reach your business goals.

We offer three different audit options at this stage:

• Free Audit, where we look at your site’s theme, extensions, modules, and security, and provide a brief analysis highlighting areas you could make changes.
• Code Audit, where our team analyzes your site’s backend and frontend code and provides suggestions to improve website performance.
• Comprehensive Site Audit (our recommended option), which combines the two options above — with an additional focus on UX, site speed, accessibility, SEO, and an added Business Discovery element. This extensive analysis goes over your business goals while reviewing analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Project Planning, Deployment, and Reporting

After the business discovery and code audits, you’re matched with a dedicated Solutions Specialist who acts as a strategic partner between you and our dev team. They will help you:

• Clarify what tasks must be completed during the project.
• Prioritize these tasks based on your technical and business goals.

Only after this strategic planning is done do we kick off website projects. 

During our engagement, your Solutions Specialist will provide regular updates on how things are going and answer any questions you have. And because transparency is one of our core principles, we give you access to the project management tools we use, so you can always see what we’re working on.

Read more: How to Choose a Dedicated Magento Developer | Best Practices

IronPlane's Services

Now that you’ve seen a few real-life examples and know more about the IronPlane process, let’s wrap up our post with a brief overview of our Adobe Commerce services.

Our Adobe Commerce Solutions

• Magento Site Audit: Again, we offer three types of assessments. We can focus exclusively on code quality, including core files, themes, and modules. Or we recommend our comprehensive audit, where we can analyze both your code quality and real-world performance, alongside your business goals and KPIs.
• Custom Magento Development: We build sites, extensions, modules, custom integrations, internal sales tools, catalogs with relevant product recommendations, and everything else in between. 
• Magento Upgrades: Our team keeps your site updated to the latest version of Adobe Commerce. This ensures you get the latest security patches and other benefits that come with new releases, like better site speed, accessibility, and SEO.
• Magento Support and Optimization: We proactively maintain and improve your site’s speed, conversions, reliability, and security over time. 

Our Additional eCommerce Solutions

• UX & Conversion Rate Audits: Our team finds ways to improve UX and conversions by analyzing your and your competitors’ sites and diving deep into your users’ behavior and pain points.
• Magento-Optimized Hosting: We create the most suitable hosting environment for your site, based on factors like database calls, daily traffic volume, seasonal spikes, geographic visitor distribution, and order volumes. 
• eCommerce Security and Monitoring: Similar to the Magento Site Audit, we also offer three different security and monitoring options, as you can see in the screenshot below.

We’ve spent over 10 years applying our methodology to B2B and B2C businesses in various industries. If you’re looking for a reliable agency partner who knows the ins and outs of the Adobe Commerce Cloud ecosystem and is prepared to support your site long-term, we are ready to help.