Taos Footwear
is recasting comfort shoes
Magento to Shopify Migration: Stepping into Success with Taos Footwear
From Comfort to Confidence
Since 2004, Taos Footwear has been redefining the comfort shoe category. After years on Magento, it was clear they needed a more reliable platform to support their future growth. Enter Command C. Through a thorough technical discovery process, we determined that Shopify Plus was the ideal fit for Taos—but not without some challenges to overcome.
Migration Highlights:
The Challenge
Migrating Taos Footwear from Magento to Shopify Plus presented three key challenges:
Navigating Shopify’s 100-variant limit: Shopify’s prior 100-variant limit posed a challenge for many businesses, but it was especially tricky for footwear companies like Taos. With multiple sizes and colors for each shoe, accommodating over 100 variants is often necessary. Taos needed a way to present all options without overwhelming customers.
Harmonizing sale and non-sale variants: Previously, Taos had to create separate products for sale items, which led to customer confusion and inconsistent product reviews. For instance, a sneaker on sale might not show the same customer reviews as the full-priced version, disrupting the decision-making process.
Creating a custom filtering experience: Taos offers footwear in both US and EU sizes, and many of their customers search for wide-width options. Standard Shopify filtering wasn’t sufficient to handle these complexities, especially with the revised product structure we implemented.
Project Goals
- Creatively handle product variants and improve product presentation.
- Consolidate product reviews and pricing across sale and non-sale items.
- Develop a custom filtering experience for better customer navigation.
- Integrate Shop Pay to streamline checkout and reduce cart abandonment.
- Deliver on-time and on-budget
Our Plan
We redefined product handling by making each shoe color its own product. This required custom theme development so that customers could interact with all color options as a single product. Now, when you browse the Sneakers category, you’ll see just one Star sneaker with all its color options neatly laid out. This approach eliminates the need to click through multiple product pages and ensures a smooth shopping experience.
We didn’t stop at the frontend. On the backend, we collaborated with the team behind Taos’ ERP connector to redefine how products are communicated to their system. This ensures that inventory and product data are continuously updated in real-time, providing customers with accurate stock levels and options.
To address harmonizing sale and non-sale variants, we developed a custom solution that leverages a universal identifier to pull reviews for any color variant, whether it’s on sale or not. Now, when customers land on a product page, they can see all color options, pricing, and reviews in one place. If a particular color is on sale, the price dynamically updates as they select it.
To cater to customers searching for specific size and width combinations, we built a custom product filtering system that consolidates all these options. Whether customers are looking for a shoe in US or EU sizes, or searching for a specific width, our filtering system makes it easy to find the perfect fit. This custom-built solution works in harmony with the unique product definitions we created, providing a user-friendly way to navigate Taos’ extensive catalog.
As part of the replatforming, we also integrated Shop Pay, a powerful tool that reduces steps in the checkout process. Now, over 50% of Taos’ online orders are processed through Shop Pay, minimizing checkout steps and reducing cart abandonment.
The Results
- 100% increase in conversions
- 117% increase in BFCM sales
- Over 50% of online orders processed through Shop Pay
- Customers now enjoy a cohesive shopping experience where they can easily explore all color options without any hiccups. The sophisticated mechanisms behind this browsing experience remain invisible, and the user experience is enhanced tenfold.
- The transparent and intuitive pricing display has significantly reduced customer confusion and improved trust. Reviews are now consolidated across all variants, providing a comprehensive view of customer feedback for any given product, whether it’s full-price or on sale.
- Shoppers can now filter and find exactly what they’re looking for with ease, leading to a smoother shopping experience and increased customer satisfaction.
Looking Ahead
We’re proud to have partnered with Taos to turn their replatforming project into a transformative experience. By addressing complex challenges head-on, we’ve equipped Taos with a robust, scalable platform that not only supports their growth but also enhances their ability to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Whether it’s overcoming platform limitations, harmonizing product data, or streamlining the checkout process, our team is committed to empowering ecommerce brands like Taos to stride confidently into the future.
“Switching to Shopify Plus has been great for business. Conversions have been up 100%. The reliability of Shopify is fantastic. I’m so excited with the success of the migration – kudos to the Command C for navigating the technical challenges of this replatform so smoothly.”
– Gio White, Ecommerce Manager