Since the update concerned a long-established online store that had undergone multiple custom modifications over the years, I decided to make the necessary changes to the existing store rather than building a new one from scratch.
The first step was to implement the required changes for the wholesale store using the Wholesale Suite Prices Premium plugin. As the shop had never been available for consumer use, all product prices had been set as retail prices. Therefore, the prices had to be transferred to a separate column, and visibility settings were needed to determine which products would be shown to consumers. Only a small percentage of the total products are publicly visible; behind login credentials lies a much broader catalog with numerous departments and content restricted to professionals only. I was able to define the rules for price and product visibility with a single batch upload using a purpose-built import file.
Next, I built the new design and site structure in a development environment. Once complete, I scheduled a temporary closure of the webshop, switched the site’s theme, and transferred the layout created in the development environment to the live store. Thanks to the Kadence theme and its built-in tools, the process was relatively straightforward.
As a result of the webshop revamp, consumer sales have increased, while wholesale customers continue to easily find everything they need.
The brand identity—including the website design and logo—was created by Eveliina Hosionaho from Eanamedia.
Our import company’s webshop was transformed from a completely closed wholesale store into one that now serves two distinct customer groups: both consumers and wholesale clients.
The project required not only technical expertise but also a complete overhaul of the visual appearance. The new store was developed while the old one remained fully operational, and the switch to the new version only required a few hours of downtime. Since its launch, our renewed webshop has been running like a dream.