Skip to content
+1 512 206 4220

CLIENT OVERVIEW

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  • Significant technical debt has accumulated from years of patches, customizations, and outdated infrastructure.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.

Visit Website

Project Objective

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  • Infrastructure Modernization: Replace outdated architecture with scalable, future-ready solutions that support business growth.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.

OUR ROLE: DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION APPROACH

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: Building specialized connectors and custom logic for unique business requirements.
    • API Development: Creating custom API interfaces between disparate systems to facilitate real-time communication and data consistency.

  • Data Architecture Planning: Designed and implemented a clear data architecture plan, ensuring seamless information flow across all platforms and preserving data integrity.
  • Technical Quality Assurance: Performed rigorous QA throughout the development process, validating brand consistency within development constraints and ensuring all new integrations functioned flawlessly.
  • Infrastructure Automation: Implemented modern DevOps practices, including a well-structured GitLab CI/CD pipeline for automated testing, building, and deployment across AWS and BigCommerce. This fostered faster, more reliable updates and consistent performance.
  • Performance Optimization: Modernized slow legacy processes and optimized the BigCommerce platform for speed and efficiency, delivering a superior user experience.

Challenges

The project presented significant enterprise-level complexities, primarily driven by the deep entanglement of Ricki's legacy systems and the imperative for minimal disruption during the transition.

  • Legacy Data Architecture: Untangling decades of custom database structures and ensuring the accurate migration of vast amounts of historical customer and transaction data was a monumental task, demanding meticulous planning and execution.
  • System Dependencies: Managing interconnected legacy applications and ensuring seamless communication between old and new systems posed a significant challenge, requiring intricate mapping and custom integration solutions.
  • Integration Complexity: Connecting Ricki's established, often proprietary, systems to the modern BigCommerce platform involved overcoming numerous technical hurdles and addressing incompatibilities with existing third-party tools (e.g., merchant gateway issues that necessitated a custom checkout solution).
  • Data Integrity: Ensuring the absolute accuracy and integrity of critical business data during the migration process was paramount, given the volume and historical nature of Ricki's information.
  • Minimal Downtime Requirements: Maintaining continuous business operations throughout the technical transition was a critical constraint, requiring careful staging, phased deployments, and proactive communication to prevent fulfilment disruptions.

Results

Ricki's successfully relaunched on a modern, scalable BigCommerce website, fully integrated into Northern Reflections’ digital ecosystem.

This project achieved significant outcomes in digital infrastructure modernization and operational excellence:

  • Seamless Technical Integration: Legacy systems were successfully connected to the modern BigCommerce platform, creating a unified and efficient digital ecosystem.
  • Data Preservation: Complete customer and business data migration was achieved, preserving decades of valuable information without loss or corruption.
  • Infrastructure Modernization: Ricki's outdated technical stack was replaced with scalable solutions, positioning the brand for future growth and innovation.
  • Operational Continuity: Business operations were maintained throughout the transition, with minimal downtime and proactive management of potential disruptions.
  • Future-Ready Platform: A robust foundation was built for continued technical evolution, allowing for easier updates, new feature implementations, and long-term maintainability.
  • Cost Avoidance: Proactive solutions like the custom checkout prevented ongoing licensing fees and costly missteps associated with hard-coded solutions and manual deployments.

What We Loved About This Project

This project was a prime example of our expertise in enterprise-level legacy systems integration and digital infrastructure modernization. We thrived on the challenge of transforming Ricki's complex, decades-old digital foundation into a streamlined, high-performing e-commerce platform.

Our ability to map intricate legacy systems, develop custom integrations, and implement robust DevOps practices while ensuring brand continuity truly highlighted Fahrenheit Marketing's unique value as a strategic partner for heritage brands, streamlining for a digital future.

We are proud to have delivered a scalable and maintainable solution that saved valuable time and money for the client.

COME WORK WITH US

Like what you see?
Contact us to discuss your project. We’re ready to help.

Contact Us

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.