Mastertools logo zwart

30.000+ products
in a single Shopify Plus webshop

How many SKU’s fit into a Shopify Plus webshop? You would think that number is limited... but you would be wrong. Our project for Mastertools shows that the only real answer is: as many as you like, the sky is the limit! 

CLIENT

Mastertools

INDUSTRY

Technology, Lifestyle, Home

TECHNOLOGY

Shopify plus webshops

PACKAGE

Webshop migration
Header Case Mastertools

Services we provided

Migration

Store Development

E-Commerce Optimization

Internationalization

B2B

PIM

Ready for a new

scalable tech stack

Mastertools is one of the biggest sellers of tools in the Netherlands, and has a clear ambition: becoming the biggest. To achieve that the company is optimizing their whole business. In the course of 2021 they migrated from their all-in-one IT solution, an ERP system, to a dynamic and scalable set of components: Exact for financial administration and back-office, Shopify Plus for the webshop, a WMS to make their warehouse more efficient, and a PIM to keep an overview over the huge number of SKU’s. Code connected them all to each other, in a future-proof way. 

Want to know what a WMS and a PIM are? Code explains it here

Mastertools saw | Code

More control

E-commerce manager Richard Korthuis explains why Mastertools was ready for change: “In our previous system we felt trapped, we couldn’t grow. At Mastertools we like to be proactive, when we have a plan we want to make it happen right away: that wasn’t possible in the old setup. We were always dependent on our IT partner. Whenever we wanted a new function it would take months, or it never happened at all.”

It was time to take the IT up a notch. Mastertools went for a flexible, scalable setup, with different stand-alone elements that excelled at a certain task. Richard: “We found out that ‘all-in-one’ often means: Jack of all trades, master of none. We wanted a simpler setup, with fewer buttons and levers, and we wanted the option to connect new systems by ourselves.”

Mastertools Shopify Plus webshop | Code

Searching for developers that could build what Mastertools had in mind, they found Code. Richard doesn’t regret the collaboration: “Code has set up our theme, developed the frontend, connected the new tech stack with each other, and built some custom functionality. Before we started we were a bit apprehensive about the impact in terms of SEO, but thanks to some solid preparation, redirecting everything correctly and adding the right metadata straightaway, the impact was minimal. We actually didn’t notice much of a difference.”

The new website has been up and running for a while now, and the results are promising. Richard: “Average order value has gone up by 25% for instance, also because we now apply cross selling.” The results will hopefully get even better when the last hurdle in the project is tackled: replacing one of the tools in the tech stack Mastertools originally selected, because it didn’t deliver.

Want to know more about e-commerce growth? We wrote a blog post with 14 cross-sell and up-sell strategies to improve your AOV.

“We would certainly recommend Code! They do what they say, listen to your wishes, and if we wanted something they did it the way we wanted it done.” He is positive about Shopify as well: “We have no complaints! In Shopify it’s very simple to add a new product for instance, you don’t have to fill out superfluous fields. Quite nice when you have as many products as we do. And the reporting is really powerful. The nice thing about Shopify is also that they’re always working on improving the platform. It’s not cheap, but you get good value for money.”

Mastertools hammer | Code
Mastertools welding | Code

Steep learning curve

Choosing your tech stack is an important step for e-commerce businesses. If one or more of the components doesn’t fit the bill, it can have consequences for your whole ecosystem and disrupt your momentum. Sometimes it goes wrong, as Mastertools discovered first-hand. “We’re very satisfied with Shopify and Code, but we really chose the wrong WMS. Because of that we were delayed in implementing our PIM, and the project to launch a B2B webshop alongside the B2C was put on hold.”

The WMS should have been the spider in the web, but sadly enough the chosen partner 

did not have enough developers to keep up with Mastertools’ preferred pace. It’s still a source of frustration. “In the near future we will switch to another WMS. That is a drastical step, yes, but if we don’t do anything we will lose speed.”

Nonetheless, Richard is happy with where they are right now. “It’s a tricky project, but it’s moving in the right direction. When we have fixed the WMS we are ready to experiment. I think we will have made a few big steps by summer 2022, and we will definitely reach 60.000 SKU’s this year. And if there is something we can’t solve ourselves, Code is always on stand-by.”

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