Ricki's, an established Canadian fashion retailer, was recently acquired by Northern Reflections as part of a strategic consolidation of retail brands under one corporate umbrella. This acquisition brought to light Ricki's deep legacy system dependencies, characterized by:
Complex data architecture built over decades, encompassing customer, inventory, and transaction histories.
Multiple vendor relationships and custom integrations that had evolved organically.
Significant technical debt has accumulated from years of patches, customizations, and outdated infrastructure.
This created a complex environment requiring expert alignment across platforms, vendors, and teams.
Fahrenheit Marketing was engaged to help rebuild Ricki's website on BigCommerce, specifically focusing on streamlining backend operations and providing strategic consulting for this critical digital transition.
This project was not a traditional website redesign, but an enterprise-grade rebuild driven by a critical business consolidation and the imperative to modernize Ricki's digital foundation.
With minimal lead time of three months, where typical enterprise rebuilds take six to nine months, the core objective was to:
Legacy System Integration: Connect decades-old data systems to a modern BigCommerce platform, ensuring seamless information flow.
Infrastructure Modernization: Replace outdated architecture with scalable, future-ready solutions that support business growth.
Data Migration Management: Meticulously preserve and accurately migrate all critical customer, inventory, and transaction history.
Vendor Ecosystem Optimization: Streamline and modernize third-party integrations, reducing friction and improving efficiency.
Technical Debt Resolution: Clean up accumulated system inefficiencies and complexities, providing a cleaner, more maintainable digital environment.
We didn’t just build a website—we became the connective tissue between IT, Marketing, and Operations, specializing in complex legacy system integration and digital transformation.
As Northern Reflections merged Ricki's into a single digital and logistical system, our team provided stability, structure, and actionable guidance through:
Legacy System Mapping: Conducted a deep analysis of Ricki's existing technical infrastructure, identifying key data flows, integration points, and areas of technical debt.
Custom Integration Development: Built robust, custom bridges between Ricki's old systems and the new BigCommerce platform, ensuring seamless data exchange and operational continuity. This included:
ERP Integration Complexity: Addressing specific challenges with Ricki's legacy data formats to ensure accurate inventory, order, and customer data synchronization.
Custom Middleware Development:
Proactive Problem Solving: Our philosophy of flexible, reusable code ensured faster, more reliable deployments with fewer manual errors. By implementing an automated deployment pipeline, we provided the client with the stability and speed needed for quick updates and consistent performance.
Key challenges
This project presented significant enterprise-level complexities that we navigated with strategic oversight and technical expertise.
Complex Systems Integration: The most significant challenge was integrating a shared ERP and a complex loyalty program middleware. Our DevOps and cloud architecture expertise allowed us to replicate and fine-tune the middleware, creating a secure, isolated environment for Cleo that maintained data integrity and functionality.
Managing Vendor & System Conflicts: We proactively managed issues with third-party vendors, such as delays with SearchSpring and initial incompatibilities with the payment gateway. We provided hands-on problem-solving, including developing a custom checkout solution to ensure full functionality and business continuity.
Meeting Tight Deadlines: The project was under a compressed timeline due to high costs on the previous platform. We provided critical change management support by communicating potential order delays during warehouse transitions and implementing continuity measures to ensure a smooth launch.
Results
We successfully relaunched Cleo on BigCommerce in approximately 90 days — significantly faster than the typical six months for a similar enterprise-grade project.
Accelerated Time to Value: An enterprise-grade site launched in under 90 days, reinforcing momentum post-acquisition and avoiding the high costs of their previous platform.
Reduced Operational Overhead: Our work resulted in unified systems and vendors, leading to significant cost savings and improved fulfillment efficiency through a streamlined workflow.
Strategic Partnership: Fahrenheit Marketing became a trusted partner, providing crucial consulting that helped Northern Reflections navigate a major digital transition with confidence and avoid costly missteps.
Enhanced Customer Experience: Updates to the custom checkout and loyalty modules improved functionality, encouraged account creation, and enabled in-store pickup resolutions.
Fit Guide Updates: HTML and image updates implemented, resolving mobile formatting issues and adjusting size labels.
What We Loved about this Project
This project was a powerful showcase of our ability to deliver complex enterprise-level e-commerce solutions.
We excelled at being the "connective tissue," enabling Northern Reflections to seamlessly integrate Cleo into its unified digital ecosystem. The ability to deliver complex custom solutions, manage challenging integrations, and navigate tight deadlines while ensuring brand consistency truly highlighted our team's capabilities and commitment to long-term client success.
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