A few months ago, my colleague Jakub Liška (one of our project managers at Sounds Good Agency | Shopify Experts) challenged me:
I was supposed to record a video about my experience working with OKAY and helping them migrate from a custom solution to Shopify Plus.
Here is the full context (in Czech):
Since I didn't manage to do it before, I thought about overcompensating and writing a dedicated article about it instead 😅
Let me set the stage:
- Okay is one of the most successful companies in electronics and furniture retail (both online and offline) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- They were running an older solution built by a very successful national-level agency. It worked, but it wasn't flexible and needed to be rebuilt.
- Everyone agreed it was time for a much-needed upgrade.
So, what happened next?
Questioning the Status Quo
Then COVID happened. And it changed everything. Okay's CIO — Vladislav Kovář — was more than ready to pull the trigger on a new version of their custom solution.
What could go wrong? That's the best way to do it, according to conventional wisdom.
But the pandemic brought many things in this world to a halt, including this project. That meant there was a new opportunity for reflection and renewal. That's when Vladislav heard about Shopify and Shopify Plus — a growing trend not just in North America, but also across the EMEA region.
One particular slogan kept ringing in his head: You don't need an army of developers!
With a cost-effective and focused team, you can achieve great things, have a scalable platform, and innovate quickly. Shopify makes that dream possible.
But was it true? Or was it just a foolish and naive dream?
Seek and You Shall Find
At this level of the game, you can't afford to take wild bets. So our story's hero did what any good CIO or CTO would do. Analysis. Verification. Due diligence.
He reached out to the best local Shopify partners across the country to learn more about the platform, its capabilities, and its limitations. Beyond that, he needed to know whether he'd find strong local resources to help with the build.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the guests in those conversations. From the very beginning, it was clear to me that this wouldn't be your "typical Shopify project." It was going to be an amazing and challenging Shopify Plus journey!
While discussing the project with all those people I considered more successful than myself (imposter syndrome!!!), I noticed one thing… WE ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO DO THIS!
A small surge of courage pushed me to dive headfirst into this adventure.
Think, Think, Think
Once we had established a clear path for the collaboration and built sufficient trust among everyone involved, it was time to start breaking this marathon down into smaller sprints. During the first month or two, we conducted an in-depth analysis of their many requirements, trying to find anything that would be a dealbreaker — something we simply couldn't implement on Shopify in any way.
As is often the case, almost everything was possible one way or another. We demonstrated our architectural expertise to Okay and assured them that there were many open paths to address their concerns about being the first major Czech player to migrate to Shopify Plus.
Work, Work, Work
Hard work pays off 👍
After finding a clear path to solving the most challenging requirements, we put together a development plan based on a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to launch on Shopify and test its capabilities. Within two months of collaboration, we launched the Jena Nábytek store and quickly started processing orders and reservations. This was a critical beta launch designed to test the processing of a smaller volume of orders into their SAP system without any issues. After the first store, we turned our attention to the more demanding okay.sk project and launched it before the holiday season. They had concerns at the start, but they were quickly convinced of Shopify's scalability after one high-traffic season with no major issues and zero downtime. Our work in collaboration with their team was finally beginning to bear fruit.
The final step in this major transformation was the launch of the Czech version of their store, which accounted for the majority of their online sales. It was all incredibly hard work with many challenges, meetings, and discussions. But the result was outstanding, bringing the magic of Shopify's simplicity and flexibility to a giant of Central European retail.
Keep at It!
Launching these stores was just the beginning of a new era. Thanks to the migration to Shopify, okay no longer had to pay anything to maintain the store, and could instead invest in new features and push the boundaries of what most people consider a closed commerce platform. While we built a login-protected version of the site for their sales reps to boost in-store sales, okay — on our recommendation — partnered with Porta to integrate Shopify with PIM Core.
This was the final piece of the puzzle needed for okay to start operating on an international level! Without any help from us, they were able to easily create a German version of their store and begin exploring new horizons: https://www.okaymoebel.de/
Enough with the Status Quo
It's time to stop believing in the old paradigm. Most companies still believe there will come a time when they must spend hundreds of thousands — if not millions — to build a custom solution the old-fashioned way, tailored to their every need. Not only is this expensive, but it also opens the door to the terrifying reality of vendor lock-in. It's time to understand that with Shopify and Shopify Plus, you can achieve anything you desire, and then some. What's more, you can do it with great autonomy, a small internal team, and by collaborating with the right experts.
agency in CZ and SK
