Moved one of the UK's best-loved music retailers off IBM WebSphere with organic traffic protected
Andertons ran on a legacy IBM WebSphere Commerce estate that was holding the business back. I worked alongside the Head of Technology and Lee Anderton on the 14-month replatforming programme to BigCommerce, with one objective above all others: keep the search traffic that a retailer of this profile lives on.
At a glance
- Client
- Andertons Music Co, Guildford, one of the UK's largest independent music retailers
- Role
- Senior technology consultant, on site, June 2023 to July 2024
- Scope
- Replatforming programme, IBM WebSphere Commerce to BigCommerce, supporting the Head of Technology and Lee Anderton
- Also
- Mentoring a senior technology lead for a larger role
- Result
- Organic traffic consistent after launch, delivered on time and within budget
- Website
- andertons.co.uk
The situation
Andertons is not a normal retailer. It has one of the largest music retail audiences on YouTube, a loyal customer base and a search footprint built up over more than a decade. All of that sat on an ageing IBM WebSphere Commerce platform that was expensive to run, slow to change and increasingly hard to support. The business needed a modern platform. The risk was the migration itself. For a retailer whose organic search visibility is a core commercial asset, a replatform that loses rankings is a failure regardless of how good the new site is.
What I did
Supported the replatforming programme end to end. Worked directly with Lee Anderton and the Head of Technology across platform selection, architecture, partner management, migration planning, integrations with stock and back-office systems, and go-live. My role was senior technical counsel and extra capacity for the people who owned the decision, not to take the programme off them.
Made organic protection the governing constraint. URL mapping and redirects, structured data, category and product page templates, performance and indexation were treated as launch criteria, not post-launch fixes.
Developed the in-house technology lead. Worked alongside one of the most capable technology professionals I have met, supporting his development and readiness for a larger role in the organisation. The aim was that the business would not need me after I left.
What made the difference
Treating SEO as an engineering constraint from day one. Most replatforms lose traffic because the redirects and templates are done last by whoever is left. Putting organic protection at the top of the acceptance criteria changes the order in which everything else gets built.