From PrestaShop to Shopify for a handmade fine jeweller

Where they started

Robert Bicknell makes fine jewellery by hand in a workshop in Chislehurst. Much of the work is bespoke: engagement rings, wedding bands and commissions designed with each customer. The online shop had been built on PrestaShop, an open-source ecommerce platform that the business had outgrown.

PrestaShop can be a capable platform, but it asks a lot of the people running it. The shop needed its own hosting, and the core software, theme and add-on modules all needed regular updates, each with the risk of something breaking. Taking payments relied on separate payment modules that had to be kept up to date and compatible. Small changes needed a developer, and the time spent keeping the platform running was time not spent on the jewellery.

Three things mattered most for the new shop:

• Better visibility in search, so more people looking for handmade and bespoke jewellery would find the workshop
• Appointment booking, so customers could arrange a consultation for a bespoke piece without back-and-forth emails
• A simpler payment set-up that would be easier to maintain and wouldn’t depend on third-party modules

Why Shopify

We recommended moving to Shopify. Shopify runs the hosting, security, updates and checkout, so there’s no server to manage and no software to patch. That removes most of the maintenance burden in one step, and it gives the business a platform that is easy to run day to day without technical help.

Our guide to Shopify vs WooCommerce explains the trade-offs in more detail, but for a maker who wants to focus on making, Shopify was the clear fit.

Better foundations for SEO

The move was also a chance to fix the site’s foundations for search:

• A clean, consistent structure for collections and products, so Google can understand what the shop sells and how it fits together
• Fast pages on Shopify’s global infrastructure, which matters for both rankings and for customers browsing on their phones
• Structured product data, helping search engines show richer listings
• Workshop and maker story pages that give the craft behind each piece a home of its own, and give Google more useful content to rank

When a shop moves platform, its web addresses usually change. Redirecting old addresses to their new equivalents protects the rankings and links the old site had built up, so the move doesn’t start from zero.

Appointment booking

Bespoke jewellery usually starts with a conversation. We added appointment booking so customers can choose a time for a consultation directly from the site, rather than trading emails to find a slot that works. It turns interest into a booked appointment while the customer is still on the page.

Alongside booking, the bespoke design enquiry flow and the ring builder help customers explore options and share what they have in mind before they visit, so consultations start from a clearer brief.

A payment set-up that looks after itself

Payments now run through Shopify’s built-in checkout instead of separate PrestaShop payment modules. That means:

• One place to see orders, payments, refunds and payouts
• No payment modules to update or keep compatible with the rest of the shop
• A fast, familiar checkout that customers trust, with card and wallet payments handled for them

For a small team, it’s one less system to look after, and one less thing that can go wrong at the moment a customer is ready to buy.

The result

Robert Bicknell now has a shop that’s easier to run, easier to find and easier to buy from. There’s no platform to maintain, booking a consultation takes a few clicks, and payments are handled in one dependable place, leaving more time for the work in the workshop.

Thinking about moving your shop to a new platform? Our e-commerce service covers migrations from start to finish, and our SEO service makes sure your rankings come with you.