MOD Lighting's Four-Phase Shopify Plus Headless Migration
MOD Lighting sells premium designer lighting across several markets. We started working together on conversion optimisation, and as the brand grew, its storefront needed to do more: ship features faster, speak to each market in its own language and pricing, and present products with far richer detail.
That meant replatforming to a headless setup on Shopify Plus. Shopify kept doing what it does best, products, checkout and trading, while a custom storefront took over how everything looks and feels.
4 phases
Plan, build, test and deploy, each checked before the next.
Gradual
Rollout to customers, with team training included.
Localized
Content, pricing and language for each market.
Four Phases, Each Checked Before the Next
A migration like this is risky if it happens all at once, so we split it into four phases:
- Plan. Review the existing systems, the storefront requirements and the scope.
- Build. Create the custom storefront and connect the content and commerce APIs.
- Test. Fix issues and check the buying journey, integrations and performance.
- Deploy. Roll the platform out gradually and train the team who would run it.
Nothing moved to the next phase until the previous one was validated.
Content and Commerce, Each in Its Place
- A CMS manages pages and content, so the team can publish without a developer.
- Shopify Plus keeps products, checkout and orders.
- A custom storefront brings them together with reusable components, so new pages and features don't start from scratch.
- Localized content lets the same storefront serve each market in the right language and pricing.
Built for products people need to see in a room
Lighting is hard to buy online. Shoppers want to understand a fixture's size, finish and how it will look in their space. The new storefront made room for much richer product views, which we cover in detail in how 3D product views help premium lighting shoppers. For the connected-lighting side of MOD, see how we built the MOD Smart app.
The honest tradeoff
Headless gives you far more freedom over the storefront, but you take on more responsibility too: integrations, release quality and ongoing engineering. It's the right call when, like MOD, you need speed, multiple markets and rich product presentation. Our native Shopify vs headless guide walks through how to decide.
What we'd tell anyone planning a headless migration
- Phase it. Plan, build, test and deploy, with a check between each step.
- Keep Shopify for commerce. Let it handle products, checkout and orders.
- Build reusable components. Every new page gets faster to make.
- Roll out gradually and train the team. A platform is only as good as the people running it.
Read the full MOD Lighting case study, or see how we approach a move to Shopify.
