Thanks to all of you for the effort that got us to where we are. It serves as a great example of thoughtful planning, communication, and diligence in pursuit of a very important milestone in our journey to deliver a best-in-class eCommerce experience.

John Noone
Director of Information Technology at Scouting America

About

Scouting America is a cornerstone of youth development, supported by over 628,000 volunteers nationwide, providing programs that have impacted 130+ million young people since its founding in 1910. Through its online store, scoutshop.org, the organization offers a wide range of uniforms, badges, and official gear for scouts and their families.

As their eCommerce platform aged, so did their ability to offer a seamless online shopping experience. The existing platform faced critical performance issues and a growing demand for modern functionality.

With scandiweb, Scouting America had a successful migration from its old Luma-based platform to a high-performing, mobile-optimized storefront built with Hyvä and hosted on Readymage, resulting in an eCommerce experience that improved speed, user engagement, and conversion rates across the site and devices.

Project goals

The core objectives of this project were centered around enhancing the user experience through improved site performance, while ensuring a transition from the legacy platform.

• Improve site performance as the primary goal to enhance the mobile user experience and optimize performance across all devices
• Enable scalability without compromising performance because of the large user base and high seasonal traffic
• Increase user engagement by redesigning the storefront and enhancing the shopping experience
• Ensure robust security and compliance as part of the migration, providing a stable foundation for secure transactions
• Lay a strong foundation for future iterations, including search optimization, checkout redesign, and further enhancements to continuously improve the customer experience.

Problem

The main pain points identified were:

• Slow frontend & poor mobile performance – the legacy Luma setup was not optimized for performance, particularly on mobile devices (and over 70% of users were coming from mobile)
• The previous infrastructure was self-hosted and required significant resources to maintain, with long delays
• Outdated tech – the Luma-based setup and the frontend was hard to scale; the platform was built on an older version of Magento, which limited the ability to implement new features or optimize the user experience efficiently
• Infrastructure compliance & security – Scouting America required PCI DSS compliance, not delivered in their existing hosting setup
• The Hyvä redesign and ReadyMage transition had to be executed in parallel, requiring intensive communication and alignment across multiple teams, ongoing stakeholder meetings to ensure client confidence, and infrastructure readiness under strict compliance requirements.

Solution

The project aligned infrastructure transformation and frontend modernization into one coordinated launch.

Frontend redesign with Hyvä

The entire storefront was rebuilt using Hyvä’s base combined with scandiweb’s library for consistency and scalability. We fully revamped the homepage with dynamic product sliders, SEO-rich content blocks, and a modern design system that catered to desktop and mobile users. Product pages were optimized with a clean layout and easy navigation.

Hyvä’s optimized frontend allowed for faster loading times and a more stable and responsive experience for users.

Given the high volume of mobile traffic, the entire site was designed with mobile performance in mind, including: 

• Dynamic content and product sliders were optimized for quick loading
• Enhanced mobile navigation ensured that users could easily browse categories, search for products, and view their carts.

Infrastructure migration to ReadyMage

Simultaneously, the backend migration to ReadyMage addressed security and future-proofing. ReadyMage provided a robust hosting environment designed to handle high-traffic volumes while maintaining fast performance and compliance.

One of the major infrastructure requirements was PCI DSS compliance for secure transactions. ReadyMage ensured that the platform met these stringent security standards, providing secure payment gateways and data protection. Beyond PCI compliance, Readymage improved site security, reducing the vulnerability of the system to attacks and breaches and providing a more controlled environment for data handling and security management.

ReadyMage offers scalable cloud hosting that allows Scouting America’s eCommerce store to grow without the need for major infrastructure changes.

Performance and technical SEO

The redesign also included technical SEO improvements:

• Implementing SEO-friendly URL structures, optimized metadata, and improved site architecture for better crawling and indexing
• Optimizing for mobile to improve visibility in search results.

Results

ReadyMage’s infrastructure provided the security and scalability Scouting America needed to support their growth, and frontend optimization with Hyvä showed transformative results early:

• +6.2% YoY mobile revenue
• +27.3% YoY AOV
• +5.6% sessions started
• +15.5% PDP views
• +23.9% checkout starts
• +5.6% purchases

Core Web Vitals improvements

• LCP improved by 12–13% on mobile and desktop
• Significant improvements in CLS and FCP, providing a more responsive user experience
• More stable overall rendering performance.

Looking to modernize eCommerce infrastructure and improve site performance? Contact us today to discuss how we can help you deliver a faster, more engaging experience for your customers.

The post Scouting America’s Hyvä Transformation Improves Performance, Conversions, and AOV appeared first on scandiweb.

At some point, every growing Magento store becomes more complex to manage. When migrating to Magento 2, integrating complex systems, or optimizing your online store, a skilled partner can make all the difference. 

A strong Magento partner guides you through the strategic decisions to benefit the future of your online business. But with so many options out there, how do you find the right fit? In this article, I will walk you through the key factors to consider when selecting between Magento consulting companies. The goal is to ensure you find a partner who meets your current needs and can also support your long-term growth and success.

Why you need a strategic partner

At first, building and launching a site can seem like the biggest hurdle, but as you scale, new challenges emerge, such as handling increased traffic, integrating with third-party systems, optimizing site performance, and ensuring your technology aligns with business goals. At this stage, a Magento strategy and consulting partner becomes invaluable.

They help you develop a holistic strategy, guiding every decision from platform selection to growth planning, tailoring their approach to meet your specific needs and ensure your Magento store operates at peak performance.

Signs you need Magento consulting

While it’s clear that every business can benefit from a Magento strategy partner, there are certain moments when consulting becomes essential to avoid roadblocks:

1. Pre-project consultation

If you’re unsure where to start or whether Magento is the right platform for your business, consulting with a partner early on can save time, money, and headaches. They’ll help you evaluate whether Magento Open Source, Adobe Commerce, or another platform is the best choice, and provide recommendations on the right architecture for your goals.

2. Struggling with growth

Once your site begins attracting more customers, you may experience performance issues or bottlenecks in your backend processes. A Magento consultant will perform technical audits to identify weak points and develop a plan to optimize the platform.

3. Complex integrations

If you’re integrating Magento with other systems like ERP, PIM, or CRM, a consultant is essential. Their expertise ensures seamless platform integration, reducing manual errors.

4. Re-platforming or migrating

Moving from another eCommerce platform to Magento, or upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2, is no small task. Consulting with an expert ensures the migration process is smooth, with minimal downtime and a strategic plan to ensure a successful transition.

5. Post-launch optimization

Launching your Magento store is only the beginning. Ongoing optimization is needed to keep up with customer expectations and market trends regarding tech and growth strategies. A Magento consultant helps you with continuous performance improvements, like fine-tuning SEO, enhancing UX, or adding advanced features.

Additionally, you likely need strategic guidance if:

• Commerce operations span several markets, and coordinating platform decisions is becoming increasingly challenging.
• The business is moving away from a legacy platform, where existing integrations and customization history may influence future scalability.
• The product roadmap is beginning to include structural initiatives, such as exploring composable architecture or implementing AI-driven functionality.
• Platform ownership and decision-making are increasingly distributed across teams or regions, making architectural alignment harder to maintain over time.
• Upgrade cycles require more planning and risk assessment than routine technical updates.

I’ve learned that when Magento is at the heart of your revenue, you can’t skip long-term planning. The best consulting partners are always thinking two or three steps ahead, looking at what happens after the development team is done.

What a Magento strategy partner does

In practice, a good partner does much more than manage development tasks or troubleshoot technical issues. They act as a strategic advisor, helping businesses make smarter decisions about how to use Magento to support growth and create better backend and frontend experiences. 

They typically start by understanding the bigger picture – learning about your business model, revenue goals, internal workflows, customer expectations, and existing technology stack. From there, they translate those needs into a practical Magento strategy that aligns technology with business priorities.

Strategic planning and roadmap

One of the most valuable consulting services a Magento partner provides is strategic direction. Rather than jumping straight into development, they help define a roadmap based on your goals, budget, and growth stage, which may include prioritizing features or identifying the best path for expansion.

They also help answer broader strategic questions about platform choice, tech stack, whether a headless setup makes sense, and whether your current platform architecture can support future growth.

Technical discovery and architecture

From my experience, Magento projects often become complex quickly, especially when multiple systems need to work together. A consulting partner evaluates your current setup and recommends the right technical architecture by reviewing your hosting environment, extensions, custom code, third-party integrations, and overall site health. Their role is to identify technical problems and also prevent them.

Integration and operational planning

For many, Magento is only one part of a larger commerce ecosystem, in need to connect with ERP, CRM, PIM, shipping, inventory, payment, or marketing automation systems. A Magento strategy partner helps plan these integrations carefully so that data flows smoothly and business processes become more efficient.

This is especially important for companies with complex product catalogs, multi-store operations, B2B requirements, or omnichannel sales strategies. In these cases, a Magento enterprise partner helps as much with improving internal operations as with improving the storefront itself.

Performance, UX, and conversion optimization

A Magento consulting partner also helps improve how the store performs for customers by:

• Optimizing site speed
• Refining navigation
• Improving mobile usability
• Simplifying checkout
• Identifying friction points that hurt conversions. 

A good partner ties these tasks back to measurable business outcomes, such as revenue, average order value, or customer retention, rather than treating them in isolation. They may also recommend changes based on user behavior and other analytics data, helping ensure the store supports marketing and sales goals.

Also read:
How a Dedicated eCommerce Manager Can Help Your Online Business

Ongoing consulting and support

Many Magento businesses continue to work with strategy partners after go-live to support ongoing optimization and long-term growth. The consulting partner helps reassess priorities, respond to new challenges, and make sure the platform continues to deliver value. In that sense, this partner becomes an extension of your team, bringing technical expertise, strategic thinking, a growth mindset, and a long-term perspective to every stage of your eCommerce journey.

Key factors to consider

Choosing who to work with on your Magento store is about finding a team that can reduce risk, support the business as it grows, and ultimately help you make better decisions. The strongest agencies bring a mix of technical depth and practical delivery experience. Here’s what to consider.

Relevant experience

Magento experience alone is not enough. Check if the agency has handled projects that look like yours in terms of complexity, scale, and business model. A partner that has worked on simple brochure-style commerce builds may not be the right fit for a multi-store, integration-heavy environment.

Look for evidence that they have managed projects involving migrations, custom workflows, large catalogs, international expansion, or high-traffic trading periods. If your business operates across multiple regions or relies on several backend systems, you need a team that has already worked with that level of complexity and knows where problems typically arise.

With more than 2,100 completed digital experience projects and 700+ clients worldwide, scandiweb has seen enough complexity to recognize patterns before they become production issues. We helped PUMA launch four markets in 95 days, supported BUFF’s Adobe Commerce rollout across 44 stores in 59 countries, and worked with brands like JYSK in demanding international eCommerce environments. Experienced teams tend to spot upgrade risks, performance bottlenecks, and other challenges early, which is often what separates a stable Magento program from an expensive one to maintain.

Technical depth and certifications

Certifications should be treated as one signal rather than the whole story. It is worth checking whether the agency holds Adobe certifications, but it is even more important to ask how many certified engineers will actually be assigned to your project. In other words, do not stop at the badges on the website. Find out who is doing the work and whether the team has the depth to handle architecture, integrations, performance, and ongoing support. 

Worth noting here, scandiweb has the largest Adobe-certified developer team in the world, with 890+ Adobe certifications across the team.  

Strategic fit

A good Magento partner should understand that your website is part of a larger business system. In addition to features and development hours, they should be able to talk about customer experience, operational efficiency, platform scalability, and long-term priorities.

The right agency will ask smart questions about your roadmap, internal processes, customer segments, and growth plans, challenge assumptions, explain trade-offs, and help you prioritize what matters most. If they immediately agree with every idea, that is not always a good sign. 

At scandiweb, we see a Magento build as part of a wider commerce operation that needs the right architecture, user experience, and performance foundations to support growth over time.

Case studies with measurable outcomes

Look for case studies that go beyond surface-level claims. Anyone can say they delivered a successful Magento project – what matters is whether they can show what success actually looked like. Did they help increase conversion rates? Improve performance under load? Support revenue growth after launch? Reduce operational friction through better integrations? Handle upgrades without creating instability over time? The more clearly an agency can connect its work to business outcomes, the more confidence you can have in its approach.

Read about Magento projects by scandiweb across different industries:

• Magento for eCommerce Growth: Custom Solutions for the Apparel & Fashion Industry
• Tailored Magento Development: Success Stories from the Beauty Industry
• Magento Development: Digital Solutions for Brands in the Food & Beverage Industry
• Magento Development: eCommerce Solutions for the DIY & Hardware Industry

Communication, transparency, and delivery process

Magento projects are rarely simple, which makes communication and process especially important. You want a partner who can explain how they work. You should also know how they handle risk when things go wrong.

Transparency matters at every stage – timelines, assumptions, responsibilities, dependencies, and cost drivers should all be discussed openly. If an agency avoids specifics early on, that lack of clarity usually becomes more painful once the project is underway.

Long-term support potential

Stores evolve, business priorities shift, integrations change, and customer expectations keep changing, too. I always suggest choosing a partner that can support more than the initial build.

Some businesses need a strategic advisor for roadmap planning and architecture decisions; others need ongoing optimization, release support, or help managing technical debt. Either way, it is worth asking whether the agency can support the business after launch or whether their model is built mainly around one-time project delivery.

How to pressure-test a potential partner

This is where the evaluation gets real. On paper, many agencies look similar; they all talk about transformation, growth, and seamless customer experiences, but the difference usually shows up when you start asking detailed questions about how they have handled real-world complexity.

I would start by asking how many genuinely complex Magento projects they have handled: 

Have you managed multi-country launches?

What about high-traffic migrations?

Do you know how to handle integration-heavy builds that involve ERP, CRM, PIM, or custom middleware? 

What metrics do you focus on and why?

Can you explain how the platform was maintained and upgraded over time? 

From there, it helps to ask more operational questions that only experienced teams can answer clearly:

What happened when the ERP sync failed during a campaign? 

How did you handle data lag when order volume spiked? 

Did API limits ever force you to rethink the architecture? 

What did peak production traffic actually look like, and how did the platform behave under that pressure?

It is also worth watching where they try to steer the conversation. If you are asking about systems, scale, release risk, and business continuity, but they keep pulling the discussion back to design, branding, or creative direction, that usually tells you where their real strengths are. That does not make them a bad agency, but it may make them the wrong consulting partner for a technically demanding Magento project.

Comparison of Magento consulting agencies

Wrapping up

Choosing a partner to support your Magento store is certainly a growth decision. The right agency should help you reduce risk, make smarter platform decisions, and build a Magento ecosystem that can support the business as it grows.

Experience matters, but so do strategic thinking, technical depth, transparent delivery, and the ability to challenge assumptions when needed. In complex Magento environments, the best partner is the one that understands the trade-offs, asks better questions, and helps you move forward with confidence. Magento is powerful, but it takes the right partner to turn that power into long-term business value.

Frequently asked questions

How can a partner help my store grow and scale over time?

A Magento strategy partner steps in before development begins.

They map out your architecture, plan how integrations will roll out, set up upgrade routines, and think through how you’ll scale over time. They make sure every feature actually makes sense for your business.

They challenge assumptions, help you fine-tune your scope, and stop you from making choices that seem smart now but turn into technical debt later.

How much does Magento consulting typically cost?

The costs vary according to scope and complexity.

For mid-sized businesses, consulting might start with an architecture audit or a roadmap workshop. Bigger enterprise projects, like integration modeling, performance tuning, or planning for multiple countries, will naturally cost more.

The more connected your commerce stack becomes, the more you need someone to keep an eye on the big picture.

Which agencies offer Magento strategy and consulting services?

Several established agencies operate in this space, including:

• scandiweb
• SmartOSC
• Synolia
• Krish Technolabs
• Classy Llama
• Vaimo
• Bounteous
• Atwix
• Brainvire
• Valtech
• Corra

Each of them has different strengths, ranging from enterprise transformation programs to engineering-focused modernization initiatives. The right partner depends on how complex your setup is, how many markets you’re in, how closely your systems interact, and just how ambitious your plans are.

Is Magento (Adobe Commerce) still a strong platform for growth?

Magento remains one of the most flexible commerce platforms. It supports deep customization, complex integrations, headless architectures, and multi-market expansion.

Magento works best when you pair it with smart architecture, careful upgrade planning, and performance oversight.

Are you evaluating Magento consulting support? At scandiweb, we combine global Adobe Commerce expertise with hands-on experience across strategy, architecture, UX, CRO, analytics, and performance engineering. Talk to our team to discuss your goals and map out the right next step.

The post Guide to Choosing the Right Magento Strategy and Consulting Partner appeared first on scandiweb.

We just published a post on best practices for product listing pages. Now let’s take a step further in the shopping funnel and have a look at product detail pages (PDP).

The product detail page is where you provide details about a product. It usually includes several photos, a description, the price, and most importantly, a CTA (call to action) to add the product to the shopping bag. It sounds fairly simple to put together, yes. However, if best practices are not taken into account, the user experience on product details pages can quickly go wrong.

Today, PDPs also need to work for three audiences at once: the shopper, search engines, and AI shopping tools that increasingly surface product results directly. Getting the page right matters more than it used to.

So here are the best practices to follow on product detail pages.

How to create the best product detail page

1. Add product photos that leave a good impression

Good product photos could be the key element that convinces a user to add a product to their shopping bag. If done right, product photos can inspire the user’s imagination and evoke positive emotions about the product. If done wrong, they either do nothing at all to add to the user experience or negatively impacts it in the worst case scenario. Here are the main things to remember when adding photos to the product detail page:

• There should be multiple photos and thumbnails that showcase each one of them

• At least one photo should show the product in use

• Zoom functionality should be available

• Short product videos — even 15 to 30 seconds — consistently outperform static images on mobile, where most shoppers now browse. If budget allows, this is one of the higher-return investments on a PDP
• 360-degree views work especially well for products where shape and detail matter: footwear, bags, electronics, furniture

• AR and virtual try-on have moved from novelty to expectation in categories like beauty, eyewear, and home decor. If your platform supports it and your category fits, it’s worth implementing
• UGC (customer-submitted photos) displayed on the PDP itself adds a layer of social proof that brand photography can’t replicate — shoppers trust other shoppers

2. Draw attention to your CTAs

It should be reiterated that the CTA is the most important element on the product detail page. It is what takes the user to the next step of the shopping journey, moving them closer to conversion. Here’s what you need to keep in mind when working with CTAs:

• The primary CTA should stand out in terms of visual hierarchy
• Alternative CTAs should be available (e.g., Wishlist, Compare)

• An option to receive an email notification when an out-of-stock item becomes available again should be offered

• If the product detail page is long (3 – 4 folds), the add-to-cart button should be a sticky

Also a small but effective pattern worth adopting: place a benefit-driven line directly above the CTA — something like “Free returns · Ships in 24h · 4.8 stars from 2,400 reviews.” It answers the last-second doubt without requiring the user to scroll anywhere.

3. Handle variant selection clearly

Variant selectors — size, color, material — are one of the most friction-prone parts of any PDP. A few things that consistently help:

• Use color swatches instead of dropdown menus where possible. Swatches are faster to scan and more visual
• Update the product image automatically when a variant is selected — users should see exactly what they’re buying
• If a variant is out of stock, show it as greyed out rather than hiding it. Hiding options creates confusion; greying them out manages expectations without frustrating the user
• For complex products, live configurators that update price and imagery in real time reduce back-and-forth and hesitation.

4. Be creative and informative in your write-up

Another major part of a good product detail page is the actual content of the page. Some users might depend solely on product photos and reviews; however, there are users who like to read and get into those details accurately. Here’s what’s important:

• Unique selling points are present

• A rich and creative product description is crafted

• Information about delivery and return is available

One practical consideration for larger catalogs: AI-assisted product descriptions have become a viable tool for maintaining quality at scale. The key is treating AI output as a first draft — the copy should still reflect the brand’s voice and include the specific details (materials, dimensions, use cases) that generic descriptions tend to miss.

5. Nudge users to buy

This is the part which users are often not aware of but is very important for conversion. The small nudges that you add to the product detail page can go a long way in encouraging more people to click on that “Add to cart” button!

• Social proof is leveraged

Customer-submitted photos displayed on the PDP itself add a layer of social proof that brand photography can’t replicate. Shoppers trust other shoppers — seeing a product worn, used, or set up in a real home removes the uncertainty that polished studio shots leave behind.

• Scarcity is used

When stock is genuinely low, say so plainly. “Only 4 left” is more credible than vague urgency copy. Manufactured scarcity is easy for shoppers to spot, and it damages trust more than it helps conversion — so only use it when it’s true.

• Upsells / Cross-sells are offered

• Recently viewed items are visible

Static “you might also like” blocks are largely a legacy pattern. Today, AI-driven recommendations that pull from the user’s browsing behavior and current session context tend to perform better — because the suggestion feels relevant to that specific shopper, not like a generic afterthought served to everyone.

6. Make it accessible

Accessibility on PDPs is no longer optional — it affects a wide user segment, carries legal implications in several markets, and is a factor in search performance. The basics:

• Include descriptive alt text on all product images
• Ensure variant selectors and CTAs are keyboard-navigable
• Use readable font sizes on mobile — especially for product specs and fine print
• Check color contrast on CTA buttons, especially against light backgrounds

Great layout examples

Layout also plays a major role in great product detail pages. We want to highlight the different layout approaches we’ve seen in eCommerce stores out there that make UX interesting and more effective.

1. Sticky photos + scrollable product information

If the product is visual and the photos are its strong point, this is a great layout option. Users don’t lose sight of the photos while scrolling the rest of the page.

2. Sticky main info and CTA + scrollable photos and other info

This is the opposite of the first one. If you want users to focus on the main product description and have the CTA in front of them at all times, this is the perfect layout.

3. Photos and CTA in the first fold, other info down the page

This one is not common and actually quite unusual, but it works if emphasizing the photos and the CTA is your goal. In a way, it combines the first two practices—you have both the photos and main CTA at the top and all other info is below the fold. 

4. Photo gallery full display

Another layout that focuses on the photos is where the gallery is on full display. There is no need to click on thumbnails to browse through the photos. Users can smoothly scroll through everything while viewing the main description and all of the other product details.

5. Out-of-the-box experiences

Lastly, there are layouts that just don’t follow any rules. There is so much happening that it truly creates a unique experience. However, one must wonder how good such layouts are for conversion as a lot of the page elements can be actually distracting for the users. 

Final thoughts

When it comes to designing your product detail pages, you can follow no rules at all or create your own that others can model their practice after. There are really no strictly established rules. Nevertheless, there are certain practices that are proven to work and others that have been observed to bring about negative results. If you’re not yet familiar enough with what works and what doesn’t, we suggest you hold off breaking the rules and follow these best practices instead. But if you know the game you’re playing and willing to put in the effort to test out different approaches, being the innovative one in the industry can be good for your brand.

The stores that consistently convert well on PDPs tend to share a few things: their pages load fast, the visuals do the heavy lifting, and there’s nothing standing between the user and the buy button. Everything else is refinement on top of that.

If you want help improving your product detail pages, scandiweb’s team has delivered UX and CRO work across 2,100+ eCommerce projects — including global brands like Puma, Adidas, and Samsung. We’re the world’s #1 most certified Adobe Commerce agency, and our CRO program has delivered an average +48% conversion rate improvement across client stores.

Whether the issue is UX, technical implementation, or identifying where your PDPs are losing people, we can help. Get in touch for a free consultation and we’ll take a look at what’s actually happening on your pages.

The post Best Practices for Product Detail Pages in 2026 appeared first on scandiweb.

Switching email platforms is rarely just about sending better emails. For Sportland, it was the starting point for a broader transformation in how customer data gets used across marketing.

As the leading sportswear retailer in the Baltics, Sportland required a setup that could handle multiple markets, separate store views, and siloed customer data. Rather than move to another standalone email service provider, we helped Sportland rethink the foundation.

About

Sportland is the leading sportswear retailer in the Baltics, known for its award-winning in-store experience and broad omnichannel presence. The business operates across multiple countries, with distinct store views and marketing teams in each market.

While they had already made strides in building a strong data foundation, marketing activation was still tied to costly tools, which were limited in terms of the email marketing automations Sportland wanted to implement.

Sportland required a solution capable of supporting multiple markets, distinct store views with different languages and product assortments, and siloed customer data. Even before the project began, this complexity presented a significant challenge, as any prospective platform needed robust configuration options to manage user consent data, customer accounts, and product catalogs effectively for campaign execution.

Project goals

To fix fragmented customer data and disconnected marketing touchpoints, we implemented a customer data platform (CDP). The decision to move away from a standalone email marketing platform opened the door to a broader transformation in how Sportland manages and uses customer data in multiple markets with distinct store views and separate customer data handling.

A properly implemented CDP enables:

• Centralized collection of data from eCommerce, ERP, POS, email, SMS, support, and more
• A 360-degree customer view built on resolved identities and real-time data updates
• Advanced audience segmentation using predictive metrics and behavioral insights
• Multi-channel campaign delivery with unified messaging across email, ads, and website content.

Project goals for Sportland’s CDP integration included:

• Migrate the whole email marketing setup from Klaviyo to Bloomreach
• Consolidate fragmented customer data across markets into a unified CDP framework
• Implement tracking for user behavior across the whole customer journey using the Bloomreach SDK
• Integrate backend purchase and refund data via Google BigQuery
• Build robust email automation flows, improving upon and expanding what was possible in Klaviyo
• Enable A/B testing, predictive segmentation, and automated product recommendations
• Sync audiences with Meta and Google Ads for personalized paid marketing
• Establish privacy-compliant consent management
• Ensure performance is measurable through reporting dashboards in Bloomreach and Looker Studio.

Also read/watch our webinar:
How to Increase Your eCommerce Revenue 2-3x with CDPs

Approach

Sportland knew they had outgrown Klaviyo, but the alternative needed to support more than just email. We assisted in the selection process by comparing capabilities and costs across several CDP solutions. After a series of discovery sessions and technical deep-dives, Bloomreach was chosen for its ability to unify data across channels and support scalable marketing automation.

Why Bloomreach

An often-overlooked factor in marketing platform comparisons is the management and execution perspective – how intuitive it is for teams to build templates, manage dynamic content, and launch campaigns on a day-to-day basis. For marketing teams, tool usability can be just as critical as technical capabilities.

Klaviyo was perceived as limited in terms of advanced personalization and automation capabilities. While functional, its personalization options and journey-building features did not scale well for more complex use cases.

Bloomreach, in contrast, offered a smoother content creation experience, particularly through its drag-and-drop editor, which made assembling emails faster and more efficient. More importantly, it integrated email, CDP, product recommendations, and on-site personalization into a single system, enabling a unified, 360-degree view of the customer and a stronger omnichannel strategy.

Klaviyo remains a strong option for smaller Shopify merchants, but Sportland’s growth and channel complexity called for a more advanced, unified solution.

About Bloomreach

Initially focused on site search and recommendations, Bloomreach has expanded its capabilities into marketing automation and CDP solutions. Bloomreach’s Composable Personalization Cloud combines data ingestion, AI-driven segmentation, identity resolution features, and delivery through native integrations in one place, enabling the collection and unification of customer data while delivering personalized experiences and messaging to brand customers. 

CDP setup for a multi-market business

Sportland operates across multiple countries, each with its own store view and customer database. A central question was whether to consolidate all markets into one project or split them by country. While a unified project promised simplicity, overlapping data and conflicting user IDs made that approach impractical. Based on our recommendation, we implemented a market-specific structure to preserve data integrity and avoid downstream issues.

We then began tailoring the Bloomreach setup to Sportland’s data ecosystem:

• Defined tracking requirements across the entire user journey
• Implemented the Bloomreach Web SDK to capture on-site behavior
• Structured product catalog attributes and configured the data pipelines
• Integrated backend customer, order, and refund data from Google BigQuery with regular syncs into Bloomreach.

Because Bloomreach pricing is tied to the volume of events processed and stored, it was essential to estimate yearly traffic and optimize tracking from the start. We disabled non-essential auto-tracked events and fine-tuned the implementation to retain key data points without overspending.

To ensure user privacy, we implemented proper consent logic for event tracking. This was integrated with existing frontend controls so that marketing data collection respects user preferences in all markets.

Campaign setup and automation

We redefined and significantly expanded email automation flows compared to their Klaviyo setup. These flows were tailored per market, taking into account local behavior and store-specific logic:

• Browse abandonment flows
• Post-purchase product recommendations
• Multi-step cart abandonment
• Welcome series variations
• Targeted outlet campaigns.

PPC strategy

We connected Bloomreach to Google and Meta Ads, enabling audience syncing, including predictive segments based on AI-driven purchase likelihood and RFM models.

Product recommendations were also migrated from Clerk.io to Bloomreach, requiring extensive QA and catalog mapping to ensure consistent logic across web and backend data layers. Our internal feed management tool played a key role in syncing enriched product data with Bloomreach.

To support decision-making outside marketing teams and provide more accessible performance insights, we built reporting views in Bloomreach and Looker Studio. It enables internal stakeholders to monitor and optimize campaigns without needing to navigate the CDP backend.

Results

Within just a few months of launching the new CDP, Sportland saw improvements in email marketing and paid media. The ability to unify backend data with behavioral signals enabled more relevant, better-timed communications, while automation and audience targeting became significantly more advanced compared to the previous setup.

Email marketing

• +20.6% orders
• +11.3% placed order rate
• +10.4% revenue

Paid media performance

• +39.1% ROAS
• +9.5% revenue
• +25.1% average order value

– all while marketing spend was reduced by 21.3%.

Project outcomes

• Market-specific CDP setup in place to reflect Sportland’s multi-store structure
• Sync between frontend and backend customer data
• Fully redesigned email automation flows
• Consolidated campaign performance reporting in Bloomreach and Looker Studio
• Seamless transition from Clerk.io to Bloomreach for product recommendations.

A CDP is a way to align your data, teams, and channels around what your customers actually need. Request a free consultation with our Analytics team, and let’s build a system that works seamlessly and delivers measurable results.

The post CDP Case Study: Multi-Market Personalization for the Biggest Baltics Sportswear Retailer appeared first on scandiweb.

Magento redesign is often treated as a visual update, but in practice, it usually begins when teams struggle to implement changes as the business grows.

Conversion rates stall, so marketing asks for frontend changes and gets told it’s “complicated.” Developers keep patching around legacy decisions made five years ago. Over time, this limits the team’s ability to make changes, test improvements, and support growth.

In many Magento redesign projects, I’ve noticed that the first conversations tend to focus on the storefront interface. However, frontend performance is directly tied to architectural decisions that affect how quickly the business can implement changes.

A Magento redesign, therefore, evaluates how customer experience, SEO structure, integrations, performance, and upgrade strategy interact within the same platform. When redesign decisions ignore system architecture, new operational issues often appear after launch.

The results depend entirely on the agency you choose.

When a redesign is necessary

Not every store needs it.

Sometimes leadership asks for a redesign when optimization would have solved the problem. I have seen businesses initially consider a rebuild, only to discover the real bottleneck was checkout flow or specific UX friction points.

Redesign usually becomes necessary when limitations are structural rather than cosmetic. You will recognize it through patterns like these:

• Traffic grows, but conversion does not improve
• Users drop off even after incremental fixes
• User journeys frustrate buyers
• New feature development slows because it affects fragile custom code.

When several of these patterns appear together, redesign becomes the logical next step.

What enterprise redesign involves

Enterprise Magento redesign changes multiple layers of the commerce stack.

UX, performance, integrations, SEO, analytics, accessibility, and upgrade strategy all need to align under one roadmap. Changes in one layer affect others, especially in complex Adobe Commerce setups with custom extensions and third-party integrations.

A common mistake is treating UX as only a visual upgrade. Yes, navigation improves, and product pages look better, but if structural changes are not planned, ERP sync can slow, checkout logic can break under traffic, and SEO visibility can drop.

Redesign affects every layer of the system. If you adjust the frontend without checking integrations, friction appears. If you modernize the UI but ignore release workflows, deployment slows. Without architectural planning, surface improvements can introduce new technical problems.

That’s why redesign must start with diagnosis. It requires user journey analysis, conversion research, performance auditing, integration mapping, and technical debt review. Once those foundations are clear, UI becomes strategic.

A well-executed redesign should strengthen:

• Conversion rates
• Mobile performance
• Release and deployment speed
• Integration durability
• Upgrade stability
• Content and merchandising flexibility

When the redesign focuses primarily on interface changes, it doesn’t solve the real problem. And that misalignment only increases long-term cost and reduces ROI.

How to evaluate a Magento redesign agency

It is natural to look at design portfolios when choosing a redesign agency. Visual quality is easy to compare and shapes first impressions. But in Magento projects, success depends more on engineering and data analysis behind the interface.

When assessing a redesign partner, focus on how they approach platform architecture and conversion optimization. Agencies with Magento engineers, CRO specialists, and UX researchers are more likely to improve conversion and performance.

1. What happens before design begins

The first signal is how the agency approaches discovery.

If the process starts with moodboards and homepage inspiration, that’s a creative agency approach. If it starts with customer journey mapping, analytics review, performance diagnostics, and integration analysis, it shows structural discipline.

Ask them what they audit before the redesign. A comprehensive discovery phase typically includes:

• Core Web Vitals and frontend performance
• Conversion funnel analysis
• SEO architecture review
• Custom module risk assessment
• Integration dependency mapping

2. Data-driven UX

The second signal is how they talk about UX.

Strong Magento UX removes friction. I would suggest paying attention to whether they mention usability testing, heuristic evaluation, and measurable A/B validation, or if they focus only on ‘modern feel’ and ‘clean aesthetics.’

The way an agency discusses UX methodology indicates whether design decisions are guided by measurement and experimentation, or primarily by visual direction.

3. Architecture behind the interface

Engineering depth determines whether a Magento redesign remains stable over time.

Frontend changes affect deployment workflows, cache behavior, indexing, extension compatibility, and upgrade paths. Decisions at the template or rendering layer influence how easily the platform can evolve in future versions.

A capable partner understands themes like Hyvä, headless architecture, deployment pipelines, and upgrade compatibility. They should also explain how interface decisions affect release speed and long-term stability.

4. Decision discipline

Experience shows in how an agency manages trade-offs.

Magento redesign involves decisions that affect performance, upgrade compatibility, integrations, and long-term maintenance, so pay attention to whether a team is willing to thoughtfully push back. If a change introduces risk, the agency should explain it clearly and be comfortable saying no.

In several redesigns I’ve seen, a layout change that looked harmless in a design mockup later affected caching behavior, indexing, extension compatibility, or release processes.

The best redesign partners consider second- and third-order effects before implementation, because once a redesign goes live, consequences add up.

Magento redesign agencies to know

Magento redesign projects require a mix of design expertise, technical depth, and platform experience. The agencies listed below are known for delivering Magento store redesigns across different industries and project sizes, each with different strengths.

scandiweb

Best fit for: large, enterprise brands on Magento running commerce in multiple markets.

At scandiweb, Magento redesign projects bring together Magento engineers, UX researchers, and CRO specialists to analyze how the platform performs under real business conditions. Many projects begin when platform complexity slows development or limits conversion improvements.

With more than 20 years of Adobe Commerce experience, they help enterprise merchants run complex Magento stores with multiple integrations, multi-store setups, and high traffic. This hands-on experience shapes how redesigns are planned, ensuring the platform architecture supports stability and future growth.

scandiweb has completed over 2,100 Magento projects and works with more than 700 Magento clients worldwide. The team includes over 600+ commerce specialists with 900+ Adobe Commerce certifications.

Headquarters: Riga, Latvia

Client locations: Global

Focus: Magento performance optimization and business growth

Notable clients: PUMA, Läderach, Jaguar, Levi’s

Vaimo

Best fit for: Adobe Commerce environments with established enterprise processes.

Vaimo typically works with large Adobe Commerce environments that require coordination between multiple teams and integrated business systems. Their projects run within existing processes without interrupting day-to-day operations.

Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden

Client locations: Global

Focus: Enterprise Adobe Commerce environments

Notable clients: Helly Hansen, Bauhaus, Xiaomi

Bounteous

Best fit for: companies that use analytics and customer data to guide design decisions.

Bounteous is often involved in Magento projects where personalization and analytics guide design decisions. They typically work with organizations that closely track and analyze customer behavior and use those insights to refine the storefront experience.

Headquarters: Frisco, USA

Client locations: Global

Focus: Data-driven commerce environments

Typical work: Personalization initiatives and analytics-led redesign programs

Notable clients: Coca-Cola, Caesars Entertainment, Mars

Atwix

Best fit for: Magento installations with heavy customization that need careful modernization.

Atwix approaches Magento from an engineering perspective. They often work on stores that have been heavily customized and need to be updated without breaking existing functionality. Their work includes resolving extension conflicts and stabilizing complex checkout implementations.

Headquarters: Bratislava, Slovakia

Client locations: Global

Focus: Magento engineering and platform maintenance

Typical work: Upgrades, extension troubleshooting, complex checkout systems

Notable clients: Coyuchi, Cabinets.com, Wyze

Brainvire

Best fit for: Magento environments closely connected to ERP or CRM systems.

Brainvire is commonly selected for Magento projects that involve complex ERP and CRM integrations. In these setups, storefront updates must remain consistent with business logic handled by those systems.

Headquarters: Irving, USA

Client locations: Global

Focus: ERP and CRM integrations

Typical work: Integration-heavy commerce platforms and B2B Magento systems

Notable clients: Walt Disney, Krispy Kreme, FOX Sports

Valtech

Best fit for: global companies running Magento in multiple markets.

Valtech usually participates in large digital programs that combine commerce platforms with brand and customer experience initiatives. These programs often span multiple regions and business units.

Headquarters: London, UK

Client locations: Global

Focus: Enterprise commerce programs

Typical work: Multi-market commerce platforms and global digital initiatives

Notable clients: Audi, Carrefour

How we approach Magento redesign at scandiweb

Our Magento redesigns begin with understanding how the current experience performs. We start with a structured CX audit that combines expert UX review, real customer testing, performance data, and benchmarking against modern eCommerce standards. This helps identify where the actual customer journey diverges from the brand’s intended experience.

Findings are then organized into three layers:

• Quick wins – small UX improvements that can be implemented quickly
• Experience misalignments – design patterns that create friction or confusion
• Structural gaps – deeper issues related to architecture, integrations, or platform logic

This process produces a prioritized roadmap that guides redesign decisions. From there, our team moves into updated wireframes, UI design, and frontend development, followed by ongoing experimentation and conversion optimization once the new experience goes live.

Award-winning Magento redesign projects by scandiweb

Läderach Magento storefront redesign

scandiweb redesigned the Läderach Adobe Commerce storefront to better reflect the brand’s premium retail experience while improving performance and conversion.

The project began with a CRO and UX audit to identify drop-off points and usability friction across key pages. Based on these insights, we redesigned transactional flows, restructured homepage and product page layouts, and introduced clearer content hierarchy to guide users toward purchase.

Alongside the design changes, the platform was upgraded to the latest Magento 2 version and the frontend was rebuilt using Hyvä, significantly improving site performance and responsiveness.

The redesign delivered measurable improvements:

• +47.8% conversion rate
• +39% revenue
• +25.5% engagement time
• 93–99 PageSpeed scores across key pages
• The project received the Design Curve Award at Meet Magento New York 2023 for its performance-driven design approach. 

Airthings Magento redesign and Hyvä migration

scandiweb redesigned the Airthings Magento storefront to unify the brand’s digital experience and shift the site from a product-centric catalog to a customer-focused educational platform.

The project merged multiple subdomains into a single experience and restructured navigation around use-case journeys, helping customers understand how Airthings products solve real indoor air quality problems. Key pages were redesigned to improve product discovery, integrate educational content, and guide users from learning about air quality to selecting the right device.

The frontend was rebuilt using Hyvä, and the platform integrated with HubSpot to combine Magento’s eCommerce functionality with content-driven customer journeys. This enabled a unified domain experience with faster performance and more flexible content management.

The redesign resulted in strong improvements in engagement and revenue:

• +56% engagement rate
• +17.1% views per user
• +103.4% transactions
• +105.5% revenue
• The project received the Design Pioneer Award at Meet Magento New York 2024 for its customer-centric design and innovative user journey.

Umniah’s Magento storefront modernization

scandiweb redesigned the Umniah eCommerce store to modernize the telecom provider’s digital experience and support a growing portfolio of services and devices. The project rebuilt the storefront on Magento 2 with Hyvä, introducing a faster, mobile-optimized interface aligned with modern UX standards.

The redesign began with a UX audit and benchmarking against leading telecom and eCommerce sites. Major updates included redesigned product listing and product detail pages for devices and service plans, clearer pricing structures, improved bundle configuration, and a mobile-first homepage highlighting key offers and categories. The Hyvä frontend enabled faster performance and flexible content blocks while supporting integrations with systems such as Oracle ERP, Hyperpay, Insider personalization, and other internal services.

Outcomes of the redesign included:

• +86.0% cart-to-view rate
• +71.2% purchase-to-view rate
• +41.1% items purchased
• +72.1% increase in site sessions
• The project received the Design Pioneer Award at Meet Magento New York 2025 for its user-centered telecom eCommerce design.

What ultimately determines redesign success

Magento redesign projects rarely fail because of visual design, but when architecture, integrations, and performance are not considered early enough in the process. 

The agencies listed above each bring different strengths – some specialize in UX and design systems, others in enterprise Adobe Commerce builds or platform modernization. The key is choosing a partner that understands how the platform needs to function long after the redesign is launched, including integrations, performance under load, and the flexibility to support future growth.

If you’re evaluating a Magento storefront redesign, the first step is understanding where the current experience creates friction for users and limitations for the business. scandiweb helps enterprise brands redesign and modernize Adobe Commerce storefronts and implement a new UX strategy. Talk to our team to explore your Magento redesign options.

The post Magento Store Redesign: Which Agency Should You Choose? appeared first on scandiweb.

For the past decade, most companies building AI systems have relied on the same infrastructure stack: American cloud providers, globally distributed data centers, and proprietary foundation models hosted outside Europe. That architecture is increasingly colliding with a new reality.

Across the European Union, regulation, geopolitics, and procurement requirements are converging around a single idea. Digital sovereignty. The ability to control where data is processed, who operates the infrastructure, and which jurisdictions govern the technology stack is becoming a strategic concern for governments and enterprises alike.

In modern businesses, where AI increasingly processes customer data, internal analytics, operational workflows, and decision-making tools, this shift has direct implications. The critical question is where AI runs and who ultimately controls the infrastructure behind it.

Europe is building a sovereign AI ecosystem

Digital sovereignty has become a central goal of EU technology policy. The concept refers to Europe’s ability to develop and operate digital infrastructure, such as cloud platforms and AI systems, without relying entirely on external providers.

Initiatives include:

• Large-scale investments in European AI infrastructure
• New regulatory frameworks governing data and algorithms
• Policies encouraging the development of European AI ecosystems.

For example, the EU’s broader AI strategy includes significant investment programs designed to expand compute infrastructure and support domestic AI innovation. At the same time, European organizations are placing greater emphasis on control over data and infrastructure, accelerating demand for sovereign AI solutions.

This movement reflects practical concerns about:

• Data protection obligations
• Cross-border data transfers
• Supply chain dependency
• Resilience of critical digital infrastructure.

AI infrastructure choices under EU regulation

Europe’s regulatory environment is often discussed in isolation – GDPR here, the AI Act there, but the real shift emerges when these frameworks are considered together. Several key regulations impact how AI systems can operate in Europe.

GDPR – sovereignty over personal data

The General Data Protection Regulation governs the collection, processing, and transfer of personal data. Its extraterritorial scope means companies operating in the EU must ensure lawful processing and adequate protection even when data moves across borders.

For AI systems trained on customer behavior, product interactions, or marketing analytics, this has direct implications for where training and inference workloads can occur.

The EU AI Act – sovereignty over algorithms

The AI Act introduces a risk-based framework for AI systems. AI applications are categorized by risk level, ranging from minimal to unacceptable, with higher-risk systems subject to strict requirements around transparency, monitoring, and governance. Companies deploying AI within the EU must ensure that models and systems comply with these obligations regardless of where the technology originates.

Also read:
EU AI Act for eCommerce: 10 Questions Every Business Is Asking Right Now

The Data Act – sovereignty over data flows

Additional regulations, including the Data Act and the Data Governance Act, address how data can be accessed, shared, and transferred across jurisdictions.

Together, these policies reflect a broader strategy of ensuring that European data and algorithms operate under European legal control.

What this means for eCommerce

If you are responsible for technology in an eCommerce business, AI has likely already become part of your platform architecture.

You may be using AI for:

• Product recommendations and personalization
• Pricing optimization
• Demand forecasting
• Fraud detection
• Customer support automation
• Marketing segmentation and targeting.

All of these systems process large volumes of customer and behavioral data, often continuously. 

If your AI stack relies on external providers, you may need to consider several risks:

• Customer data leaving EU jurisdiction
• Dependency on external cloud providers
• Unclear regulatory exposure when models are trained or hosted outside Europe
• Additional scrutiny when working with enterprise or public-sector clients.

These concerns are becoming particularly relevant if your company sells to regulated industries or works with government organizations. In those environments, AI infrastructure decisions are increasingly evaluated through the lens of data residency, security, and regulatory compliance. More companies are beginning to assess where those AI systems run and who controls the underlying infrastructure.

Sovereign AI is becoming a procurement requirement

If you are selling to enterprise clients, regulated industries, or the public sector, AI infrastructure is starting to appear in procurement reviews. In addition to performance and features, buyers increasingly ask vendors to demonstrate:

• EU data residency
• Transparent AI governance
• Infrastructure independence from foreign jurisdictions
• Secure and controlled deployment environments.

This means AI architecture decisions can affect whether your company is eligible for certain contracts in the first place. Organizations that cannot clearly demonstrate where their AI runs, how customer data is handled, and which jurisdiction governs the infrastructure may face additional scrutiny during vendor evaluation or be excluded from procurement processes altogether. As a result, more companies are beginning to explore sovereign AI architectures that keep data, models, and infrastructure within European control.

Three deployment models for sovereign AI

Organizations approaching AI sovereignty typically adopt one of three architectural models (they differ primarily in how data moves and where processing occurs).

1. Edge AI: processing on-device

In edge deployments, AI models run directly on devices or local systems. Examples include:

• Recommendation models in commerce platforms
• Fraud detection systems in payments or financial systems
• AI assistants embedded into internal business tools.

The data never leaves the local environment, there are minimal external dependencies, and strong privacy guarantees. However, edge deployments often require smaller models and limited compute resources.

2. EU-hosted AI infrastructure

A second approach involves hosting AI workloads in European data centers operated within EU jurisdiction, balancing scalability and regulatory compliance while preserving access to larger models and compute capacity. In this model:

• Data processing occurs within EU-hosted cloud environments
• Infrastructure providers comply with European data protection frameworks
• Cross-border data transfers can be minimized or eliminated.

3. Air-gapped sovereign AI

The most secure architecture involves air-gapped AI systems commonly used in government systems, defense and critical infrastructure, and financial services and regulated industries. While more complex to implement, this architecture provides the highest level of control over data residency and system integrity:

• Infrastructure operates in a completely isolated network
• Systems are disconnected from public internet access
• Models and data remain fully contained within the organization’s environment.

Implementing sovereign AI in practice

Building sovereign AI systems requires a combination of infrastructure design, compliance expertise, and model engineering. 

Typical implementation components include:

• EU-hosted compute infrastructure
• Open-source or locally deployed LLMs
• Secure data pipelines and storage
• Audit and monitoring frameworks
• Integration with existing digital systems, including eCommerce platforms, analytics environments, and internal business tools.

How scandiweb supports sovereign AI deployments

As AI becomes a core layer of digital commerce infrastructure, you need a partner who understands AI architecture and regulatory constraints, allowing you to adopt AI capabilities while maintaining full control over customer data, infrastructure, and compliance obligations.

scandiweb works with organizations to design and deploy sovereign AI environments tailored to their requirements, including:

• EU-hosted AI infrastructure for data-residency compliance
• Private LLM deployments integrated with eCommerce platforms
• Air-gapped AI systems for highly regulated environments
• AI-powered commerce tools running within controlled infrastructure.

The future of AI infrastructure in Europe

Europe is defining an AI model built around transparency and governance. AI infrastructure decisions are becoming strategic, encompassing sovereignty, compliance, and long-term market access.

Organizations that adapt their architecture early will be better positioned to work with enterprise clients and regulated industries as the sovereign AI processes continue to grow.

If you are evaluating how to deploy AI, scandiweb can help design and implement sovereign AI solutions tailored to your business architecture. Contact our AI consultants to learn more about sovereign AI and EU-hosted LLM solutions.

The post Why EU Digital Sovereignty Is the Next Big Shift in AI Infrastructure appeared first on scandiweb.

A smooth checkout can make or break a sale, yet many Magento store owners overlook how crucial the right payment gateway is. The right Magento 2 payment gateway provider ensures seamless integration with your platform, reliable service, and a hassle-free checkout. Without it, you risk limited payment options, errors, and security issues—problems that hurt trust and cost sales.

Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce) offers payment gateways for businesses of all sizes. The right choice can streamline operations, build customer confidence, and boost revenue. This guide breaks down the top options, their features, and how to find the best fit for your store.

What is a payment gateway in eCommerce?

A payment gateway in eCommerce is the bridge between your Magento store and payment processors, enabling secure and smooth online transactions. It handles credit cards, digital wallets, and other payment methods, ensuring your customers have a hassle-free checkout experience. Some payment gateways can function as a payment processor, validating transactions and ensuring secure money transfers to merchant accounts.

Magento supports a variety of payment gateways tailored to different business needs, offering features like multi-currency support, real-time processing, and PCI compliance. Modern Magento stores increasingly rely on gateways that support digital wallets, local payment methods, and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) required by PSD2 regulations. Most gateways today also support Apple Pay, Google Pay, and region-specific payment methods that improve checkout conversion.

Tools like Magento payment plugins and gateway extensions make it simple to expand your payment options and streamline tasks like credit card processing. The right Magento payment gateway integration helps you build trust, reduce cart abandonment, and keep your operations running smoothly.

Key features to look for in Magento payment gateways

We get it—cost is often the first thing you think about when choosing a payment gateway for your Magento store. After all, every fee adds up, and it’s crucial to find a solution that fits your budget without compromising on quality.

Start by checking the transaction fees to ensure they align with the features you’re getting. Consider the costs for different types of transactions, such as credit card payments and recurring payments. Keep in mind that some payment gateways charge monthly fees in addition to transaction fees. Make sure the gateway supports various payment methods, including credit and debit cards, and local payment methods, to cater to different customer preferences. If you offer subscriptions, pick a gateway with recurring billing to keep things simple.

To summarize, look for:

• Support for global currencies and seamless conversion for international stores, as well as local payment methods relevant to your markets
• Transparent pricing to manage transaction fees
• Scalability to handle increasing volumes
• Reporting tools for insights and decision-making
• Fraud detection to protect your revenue
• Integration with a merchant account for secure deposits
• Secure online payments to ensure authorization and transfer of funds with encryption and fraud protection
• Support for 3D Secure authentication and advanced fraud detection tools
• Compatibility with custom checkout implementations or headless storefronts
• Encryption and PCI compliance to protect your customers’ data.

9 top Magento payment gateways

1. Checkout.com

Checkout.com is a global payment platform that makes online commerce simple and efficient. Checkout.com is known for its flexibility and ease of use, besides these features:

• Fast and secure transactions with fraud prevention tools
• Support for over 150 currencies and localized payment options
• Customizable checkout to match your brand
• Single API for in-country acquiring and data insights
• Easy integration with an intuitive interface.

Pros and cons of using Checkout.com payment gateway

Pros of Checkout.com:

• Strong focus on global commerce and multi-currency processing
• Reliable and secure payment infrastructure
• Highly customizable for unique business requirements
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics tools
• Dedicated account management with 24/7 support.

Cons of Checkout.com:

• Limited presence in North America compared to competitors
• Fewer pre-built integrations, requiring more development effort
• Inconsistent customer support experiences without an assigned account manager
• Some users find back-office functionalities lacking.

2. Stripe

Stripe is a leading payment platform known for its versatility and developer-friendly tools, making it a great fit for Magento merchants. Key features of Stripe are:

• Support for 135+ currencies for smooth international payments
• Advanced fraud prevention tools like Stripe Radar
• Seamless integration with Magento and other eCommerce platforms
• Transparent pricing with detailed cost breakdowns
• Developer-friendly APIs for customization and scalability
• Comprehensive reporting tools for revenue, refunds, and transaction insights.

Pros and cons of using Stripe payment gateway

Pros of Stripe:

• Intuitive interface and easy integration with Magento
• Extensive global currency and payment method support
• Robust fraud detection powered by machine learning
• Transparent pricing structure with competitive fees
• Strong focus on eCommerce and flexible payment workflows.

Cons of Stripe:

• Some advanced features may require technical expertise
• Limited support for high-risk industries and in-person transactions
• Reports of account holds and inconsistent customer support
• Dependence on the platform could pose challenges during outages or disputes.

3. Adyen

Adyen is a global payment platform known for its seamless omnichannel payment capabilities, making it ideal for Magento merchants handling online, mobile, and in-store transactions. Besides that, key features include:

• Support for a wide range of payment methods, including mobile wallets and local options
• Advanced fraud detection using machine learning algorithms
• Detailed reporting and analytics to optimize payment performance
• Easy integration with Magento and other platforms.

Pros and cons of using Adyen payment gateway

Pros of Adyen:

• Global reach with support for multiple currencies and regions
• Unified platform for managing all payment channels
• Strong fraud prevention tools for secure transactions
• User-friendly interface with powerful reporting capabilities
• Dedicated customer success team for personalized support.

Cons of Adyen:

• Customer support response times can be slow for urgent issues
• Limited payment terminal options for in-person transactions
• Platform complexity may be challenging for non-technical users
• Potential for high fees and hidden costs.

4. PayPal

PayPal is a globally recognized payment gateway, making it a trusted choice for businesses of all sizes. Key features of PayPal are:

• Support for multiple payment methods like cards, bank transfers, and PayPal balances
• Operates in over 200 countries with support for multiple currencies and currency conversion
• Strong security measures, including fraud protection and encryption
• PayPal also interacts with the customer’s bank account to verify funds and implement fraud protection measures before completing the transaction.
• Buyer protection feature to encourage trust and enhance customer experience
• Point-of-sale systems for in-person transactions.

Pros and cons of using PayPal payment gateway

Pros of PayPal:

• Easy to set up and use, with a user-friendly interface
• Widely accepted and integrated with most eCommerce platforms, including Magento
• Global reach and multi-currency support simplify international transactions
• Versatile payment options, including bank transfers and PayPal balances
• Security features like fraud and buyer protection boost trust.

Cons of PayPal:

• High transaction fees, especially for international and business payments
• Potential for account holds and restrictions without warning
• Challenges in resolving disputes through customer support
• Limited flexibility for some businesses, with restrictions on multiple activities
• Risk of dependency on a single payment provider.

5. 2Checkout (Verifone)

2Checkout (now Verifone) is a global payment gateway known for its all-in-one platform, combining payment processing with tools like subscription management and tax compliance. Besides, 2Checkout is known for:

• Support for multiple currencies and payment methods, including PayPal and credit cards
• Merchant of Record services for handling tax compliance and local regulations
• Advanced subscription management tools for recurring billing
• Fraud protection to secure transactions and mitigate risks
• Easy integration with Magento and other shopping carts.

Pros and cons of using 2Checkout payment gateway

Pros of 2Checkout:

• Competitive transaction discount rates (TDR) compared to competitors
• Robust APIs for customization and integration
• Reliable platform for subscription management and cart functionality
• Global reach simplifying international sales
• User-friendly interface and easy implementation process.

Cons of 2Checkout:

• Occasional downtimes and technical glitches, though improved over time
• Risk of account suspension due to policy complexities
• Delays in implementing customization requests
• Currency conversion fees for local payouts, adding unexpected costs
• Lack of live chat support, relying on email for assistance.

6. Klarna

Klarna is a Swedish fintech known for its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service, letting customers split purchases into interest-free installments while boosting sales for merchants. Klarna is also known for:

• Support for various payment methods in one platform
• Simplified administration by consolidating payment providers
• Wide acceptance across numerous online retailers
• Potential to increase sales and customer loyalty with flexible payment options.

Pros and cons of using Klarna payment gateway

Pros of Klarna:

• Drives higher sales and average order values through BNPL options
• Offers convenience and flexibility for customers managing payments
• Simplifies operations by supporting multiple payment methods in one platform
• Enhances customer loyalty through flexible payment terms
• Widely recognized and accepted across a large number of retailers.

Cons of Klarna:

• Poor customer support for merchants, with slow response times and limited resolution options
• Challenges with merchant approval and inconsistent identity verification processes
• Potential for customer financial strain, with risks of late fees and negative credit impacts
• Reports of technical glitches and a laggy app experience
• Lack of transparency and flexibility in payment terms, such as limited options for early payments or single, one-time payments in advance.

7. Mondu

Mondu is a unique payment gateway focusing exclusively on B2B payments, specializing in BNPL solutions for B2B transactions that offer flexible payment terms to improve cash flow and reduce default risks. Besides this standout feature, Mondu is also known for:

• Seamless integration with online checkouts, telesales, and field sales
• Real-time credit and fraud checks using machine learning
• Merchants receive upfront payment while Mondu assumes default risk
• Administrative support for collections and dunning processes.

Pros and cons of using Mondu payment gateway

Pros of Mondu:

• Tailored for B2B commerce with flexible payment options
• Improves cash flow by paying merchants upfront
• Increases sales and average order values by offering payment flexibility
• Reduces administrative burdens, allowing businesses to focus on operations
• Simple integration with multichannel sales environments.

Cons of Mondu:

• Stringent account approval process may exclude some businesses
• Limited compatibility with certain suppliers, creating potential friction
• Slow customer support response times can delay issue resolution
• Insufficient transparency on payment structure and merchant fees
• Limited insights into broader payment gateway functionalities.

8. Planet

Planet is a financial services provider known for combining payment solutions with VAT refund services and integrated technologies, tailored for industries like retail and hospitality.

Key features:

• Multi-currency payment processing for global commerce
• Credit card processing and integrated financial services
• Cloud software solutions for retail and hospitality sectors
• Presence in 120+ markets, supporting international transactions
• VAT refund services tailored for the tourism industry.

Pros and cons of using Planet payment gateway

Pros of Planet:

• Strong global presence, ideal for businesses with international operations.
• Comprehensive approach, combining payments with software and technology solutions.
• Industry focus, particularly retail and hospitality, with tailored offerings.
• Decades of experience in financial services, enhancing reliability.
• Emphasis on positive customer experiences and digital innovation.

Cons of Planet:

• Limited information on core payment gateway functionality compared to leading competitors.
• Primary focus on VAT refunds, potentially sidelining traditional payment features.
• Unclear details on integration, pricing, and security measures.
• Unverified suitability for small to medium-sized businesses outside its target industries.

9. Bolt

Bolt is a checkout platform known for its “One-Click Checkout,” simplifying payments and reducing cart abandonment for Magento merchants.

Key features:

• One-Click Checkout for faster, frictionless payments
• Fraud Chargeback Guarantee to protect against financial losses
• Bolt Network to connect retailers with millions of shoppers
• Seamless integration with eCommerce platforms like Magento
• Mobile-friendly checkout design for improved user experiences.

Pros and cons of using Bolt payment gateway

Pros of Bolt:

• Optimized checkout experience increases conversion rates
• Strong fraud protection ensures peace of mind for merchants
• Easy integration with Magento and other platforms minimizes technical challenges
• Access to the Bolt Network may expand the customer base
• Excellent customer support, praised for responsiveness and helpfulness.

Cons of Bolt:

• Limited details on payment gateway features like supported methods and fees
• Potentially higher fees compared to other gateways, which may deter cost-sensitive businesses
• Occasional bugs and issues with the platform could disrupt checkout
• Security concerns when used on shared devices, posing risks in certain retail settings.

Magento payment gateway comparison

How to integrate a payment gateway in Magento 2

Installing a payment gateway in Magento 2 is not a complicated process. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you through it.

1. Once you’ve chosen a payment gateway that fits you the best, you’ll need to sign up for a merchant account with your payment gateway provider. Your merchant account will give you the login credentials you need to connect the payment gateway to your Magento store.
2. From the Magento Marketplace or your payment gateway provider’s website, download the payment gateway extension. Follow the instructions to install it. Many modern gateways also provide Composer-based modules or API integrations for custom checkout implementations.
3. Once the extension is installed, you’ll need to configure the settings in your Magento store. Enter your merchant account info, select your payment methods, and customize any additional features, such as recurring billing and subscriptions.
4. Finally, test your payment gateway by making a test transaction. This will ensure payments are processing correctly and updating your Magento orders.

Integrating a payment gateway is straightforward, but if you want to ensure everything is set up correctly and tailored to your Magento store, a professional Magento developer can handle it seamlessly for you. Partnering with an expert guarantees a smooth integration process and optimized functionality.

Conclusion: Choosing the right payment gateway for your Magento store

Your payment gateway isn’t just a back-end tool—it’s the final step in your customers’ shopping journey. A poor choice can lead to abandoned carts, lost sales, and frustrated customers.

Every hiccup at checkout risks breaking customer trust. In today’s competitive market, a smooth and secure checkout isn’t optional—it’s essential. Businesses that prioritize the right payment gateway see fewer abandoned carts, happier customers, and sustainable growth.

Your customers deserve a seamless checkout. Choose a payment gateway that aligns with your goals and ensures your Magento store thrives!

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of the Magento payment gateways are the best?

The right payment gateway for Magento depends on your business needs. Some of the most popular options include PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, Klarna, and Adyen. Each of these gateways offers robust security, multi-currency support, and seamless Magento 2 integration, but their specific features and transaction fees will determine whether it is the best fit for you.

What is a Magento payment gateway?

A Magento payment gateway is a secure way for online transactions to communicate between your eCommerce store and payment processors. It allows you to accept credit cards, digital wallets, and other payment methods while meeting the highest security standards.

How do I set payment methods in Magento?

Access the Magento 2 Admin Panel and navigate to Stores > Configuration > Sales > Payment Methods. Here, you can enable or disable payment methods, configure their settings, and save your changes to update your store. Then, select your desired gateway, configure its settings, and enable it for your store.

How much does Magento payment gateway cost?

The cost of a Magento payment gateway varies by provider. Most gateways charge a transaction fee, which typically falls between 2.6% and 4% of the total sale amount. Some gateways also charge a flat fee per transaction, such as $0.30. Additionally, some providers may charge monthly fees or setup costs. However, actual fees depend on region, payment method, and negotiated merchant rates. Be sure to explore each gateway’s pricing structure to get an accurate picture of the total costs involved.

What are Magento 2 payment restrictions?

Magento 2 payment restrictions allow you to control which payment methods are available to customers based on a range of conditions. These conditions might include shipping methods, customer groups, product attributes, order totals, or geographic locations. By applying payment restrictions, you can tailor the payment options available at checkout to fit your business policies and customer expectations.

Do Magento payment gateways support digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay?

Yes. Most modern Magento payment gateways support digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. These payment methods reduce checkout friction and improve mobile conversion rates, especially when combined with express checkout functionality.

Ready to upgrade your Magento store’s checkout experience? Reach out to us, and we’ll help you choose the best payment gateway and install it in your Magento store!

About scandiweb

scandiweb is a leading eCommerce agency, specializing in Magento development, payment gateway integrations, and end-to-end digital services. With a proven track record of delivering tailored solutions for global brands, scandiweb combines technical expertise with a client-first approach to help more than 600 businesses thrive online.

The post Top 9 Best Magento Payment Gateways for Your Online Store in 2026 appeared first on scandiweb.

If your eCommerce store uses AI – product recommendations, chatbots, pricing tools, fraud detection – the EU AI Act likely applies to some part of your technology stack.

The regulation entered into force in 2024, with rules rolling out between 2025 and 2027. Companies using AI in the EU will need to understand how their systems are classified and what obligations come with them.

You’re probably asking: “How does the EU AI Act actually affect my store?”

We’re here to answer the key questions about this regulatory act and explain what it means for your business.

How the EU AI Act classifies AI systems

To begin with, it helps to understand how the EU AI Act classifies AI systems. The regulation uses a risk-based model, meaning not all AI is regulated in the same way. Instead, AI systems are grouped into four categories:

1. prohibited AI
2. high-risk AI
3. limited-risk AI
4. minimal-risk AI.

Most retail AI tools – recommendation engines, AI search, demand forecasting, and merchandising algorithms – fall into the limited-risk or minimal-risk categories. That means businesses can continue using them, though certain transparency or documentation requirements may apply.

Still, there are grey areas. Dynamic pricing, customer profiling, and AI chatbots are all common features in modern online stores, and each of them interacts with the regulation in slightly different ways.

Below are ten questions eCommerce teams ask most often when trying to understand how the EU AI Act affects their business.

EU AI Act for eCommerce: 10 key questions answered

Does the EU AI Act apply to my Shopify or Magento store?

The EU AI Act applies to companies that use AI systems affecting customers in the EU. That includes eCommerce stores running AI-powered tools.

For a Shopify or Magento (Adobe Commerce) store, the Act becomes relevant when the store uses AI features such as:

• product recommendation engines
• AI-powered search
• chatbots or virtual assistants
• fraud detection systems
• dynamic pricing tools
• personalization algorithms.

In these cases, your business is responsible for how the AI system is used, even if the technology comes from a SaaS vendor.

The good news is that many of these AI eCommerce tools fall into low regulatory categories. In practice, this usually means basic transparency or documentation, not heavy compliance procedures. To understand what compliance may be required, ask these quick questions about each AI tool used in your store:

1. Does the AI interact directly with customers?
2. Does it make automated decisions about people?
3. Does it rely on personal data?

If the answer to any of these is no, it will usually fall into a low-risk category and require little additional compliance.

Is my AI-powered recommendation engine classified as high-risk?

In most cases, no. Recommendation engines used in eCommerce are typically not considered high-risk AI under the EU AI Act.

High-risk systems mainly involve areas where automated decisions can significantly affect people’s rights or opportunities. For example, hiring decisions, credit scoring, biometrical identification etc.

Typical retail personalization tools do not fall into these categories.

However, there are a few situations worth reviewing. Regulators may look more closely if an algorithm:

• excludes certain groups from seeing offers
• targets vulnerable users with manipulative recommendations
• makes significant automated decisions without oversight.

Even then, these issues usually fall under consumer protection rules or GDPR profiling requirements, not the high-risk AI category itself.

Can I still use AI for dynamic pricing in the EU?

Yes. The EU AI Act does not prohibit dynamic pricing.

Under the EU AI Act, most dynamic pricing systems fall into the minimal-risk AI category. That means retailers can continue using algorithms that adjust prices based on demand, inventory, or customer behavior.

Regulators focus on how the pricing algorithm affects customers, not the fact that prices change.

Problems may arise if an algorithm:

• targets individuals with higher prices based on sensitive personal data
• pressures users to buy through manipulative behavioral signals
• hides discriminatory pricing practices.

These situations can trigger scrutiny under consumer protection law or GDPR.

What does “profiling clients” mean under the Act, and why is it prohibited?

In simple terms, profiling means using personal data to predict or evaluate a customer’s behavior.

In eCommerce this happens all the time. Stores analyze browsing history, past purchases, and engagement signals to personalize recommendations or marketing messages.

This type of profiling is not automatically prohibited under the EU AI Act.

Regulators become concerned when AI systems manipulate users or exploit vulnerabilities. Examples include systems that:

• target vulnerable users based on age, disability, or financial situation
• push people toward decisions they would not otherwise make
• rank or score individuals based on behavior.

The key difference lies in intent and impact. Personalization that helps customers discover relevant products is generally acceptable. Systems designed to manipulate behavior or discriminate against certain groups can trigger regulatory scrutiny.

Do I need to disclose when customers are talking to a chatbot?

Yes. The EU AI Act requires disclosure when customers interact with an AI chatbot.

If users could reasonably assume they are speaking with a human, the system must clearly indicate that the interaction is automated.

Compared with other parts of the EU AI Act, this obligation is relatively light. A compliant implementation for AI chatbots and virtual assistants is usually simple:

• label the assistant clearly as an AI chatbot
• show a short disclosure when the conversation starts
• mention AI usage in the help center or privacy notice.

This rule applies regardless of whether the chatbot is built internally or provided by a third-party vendor. If your store deploys the chatbot, your business is responsible for the disclosure.

What are the actual penalties for non-compliance?

The EU AI Act penalties are similar in scale to GDPR and depend on the type of violation.

The maximum fines are:

• Up to €35 million or 7% of global annual revenue for prohibited AI systems
• Up to €15 million or 3% of global annual revenue for violations involving high-risk AI systems
• Up to €7.5 million or 1.5% of global annual revenue for providing incorrect information to regulators.
  

Regulators apply the higher of the fixed fine or the revenue percentage.

The good news is that most eCommerce AI tools typically fall into minimal-risk or limited-risk AI. In these cases, compliance mainly involves transparency and responsible data use. However, the bigger risk is not the fine itself. It is not knowing which AI systems are running in the business and how they fit into the EU AI Act risk categories.

How does the Act affect my use of US-based AI tools like OpenAI or Google?

Using AI tools from US vendors like OpenAI is still allowed. What matters is whether the AI system is used in the European market.

That means that you are responsible for how the AI tool is used in your store, even if the technology comes from a third-party vendor.

When using external AI tools, it is worth checking:

• what data the AI system processes
• how the system generates outputs
• whether any transparency or disclosure obligations apply

Many major vendors are already preparing documentation for EU AI Act compliance. Retailers should still confirm how their providers handle data sources, model behavior, and transparency requirements.

What is a “chain of custody” for data, and do I need one?

In simple terms, chain of custody means knowing where the data used by an AI system comes from and how it moves through the system.

This usually involves tracking:

• where the input or training data originates
• how the data is processed by the AI model
• who has access to the data
• how outputs are generated and stored.

Under the EU AI Act, these traceability requirements mainly apply to high-risk AI systems. For most eCommerce use cases, the requirement is relatively light. Retail AI tools typically rely on store data that businesses already control.

The practical step is to keep basic documentation of:

• which AI systems are used in the store
• what data feeds those systems
• which vendors provide the technology
• how the AI outputs affect customer interactions.

Many companies already maintain similar documentation through GDPR compliance and vendor reviews.

My AI is purely internal with no personal data – am I still affected?

Usually no. Internal AI systems typically fall into the minimal-risk category under the EU AI Act.

These are use cases such as:

• demand forecasting
• inventory optimization
• warehouse routing
• supply chain predictions
• internal analytics models.

Because these tools support internal decision-making and do not directly influence customers, they are generally considered minimal-risk AI. These are largely unregulated under the EU AI Act. Businesses can continue using them without certification or strict transparency requirements.

That said, companies should still keep a basic record of where AI is used internally. Internal systems sometimes evolve into customer-facing features, such as automated pricing or product recommendations, which can change the regulatory requirements.

Where do I start if I want to become compliant?

Start by mapping the AI systems used in your eCommerce stack. Typical places to check include:

• recommendation engines and personalization tools
• search and merchandising algorithms
• AI chatbots or support assistants
• fraud detection systems
• dynamic pricing tools
• marketing automation platforms using predictive models.

Once these systems are identified, classify them according to the EU AI Act risk categories: prohibited, high-risk, limited-risk, and minimal-risk.

Most retail AI tools fall into limited-risk or minimal-risk, which usually require transparency or documentation rather than strict regulation.

After classification, review three areas:

• Transparency – customers should know when they interact with AI
• Data usage – understand what data feeds the system
• Vendor responsibilities – confirm how third-party AI tools handle compliance.

Final thoughts

The EU AI Act does not aim to stop companies from using AI in eCommerce. They want companies to understand where AI influences people and to be transparent about it.

For most retailers, the real work is not removing AI tools or slowing innovation. It is knowing which systems you run, what data they rely on, and where automated decisions affect customers. Once that visibility exists, compliance becomes part of normal governance – much like GDPR did a few years ago.

If you want a quick review of how the EU AI Act applies to your eCommerce AI tools, talk to our AI consultants. Contact us, and our team can map your AI systems and flag the areas that may require attention.

The post EU AI Act for eCommerce: 10 Questions Every Business Is Asking Right Now appeared first on scandiweb.

Managing millions of records across thousands of institutions introduces requirements that extend beyond traditional eCommerce infrastructure. 

For organizations operating in regulated environments, legacy systems often carry invisible pressure points such as hardcoded logic no one wants to touch, fragile workflows patched over time, insecure data exchanges, asset storage scattered across outdated file systems, and compliance requirements that the current platform simply cannot meet.

Modernizing such a system requires replacing its backbone without disrupting daily operations or compromising sensitive data. 

Read how scandiweb delivered a Pimcore-based Experience Portal and Master Data foundation within six months, structured to address critical security gaps, support ST4S compliance, and establish the groundwork for centralized Master Data Management (MDM). 

About

Advanced Life is one of Australia’s leading school photography providers, serving thousands of schools nationwide. The company manages large volumes of sensitive student and staff data, as well as portraits, identification materials, and related services.

Data security, compliance, asset management, and workflow efficiency directly impact schools, administrators, and families. As regulatory requirements tightened and their legacy system aged, modernization became strategically critical.

Project goals

Advanced Life’s custom-built school portal had reached a point where security exposure, regulatory pressure, and architectural limitations could no longer be ignored. Serving thousands of schools and managing millions of student and staff records had made system fragility a business risk. We aimed to:

• Replace a vulnerable custom-built legacy portal with a secure, modern platform
• Eliminate critical security risks and implement SSO-enabled access control
• Enable alignment with ST4S regulatory requirements
• Improve how sensitive student data and portrait assets are managed and accessed
• Replace manual, email-based workflows with secure portal-based processes
• Introduce structured data modeling through Pimcore while keeping the existing client database intact during the MVP phase
• Deliver a scalable architecture that could evolve into a centralized MDM system
• Future-proof the infrastructure.

The main objective was to eliminate critical vulnerabilities, align with new compliance standards, and establish a foundation for future ecosystem growth, marking the first step in Advanced Life’s broader digital transformation.

Problem

Security exposure and fragile architecture

The legacy portal was custom-built and no longer aligned with modern security standards. Vulnerabilities that might be manageable in smaller systems became significant risk factors for Advanced Life.

With thousands of schools and millions of student and staff records, any breach scenario would carry serious consequences. The existing platform lacked structured access control, modern SSO capabilities, and best-practice security architecture. At the same time, new Australian regulations required ST4S compliance, something the legacy system could not support.

Advanced Life’s custom-built system had accumulated hardcoded features and tightly coupled logic, making enhancements difficult to implement and introducing risks with any changes. The platform was not maintainable, flexible, or future-proof.

Inefficient asset management

Student portraits and related assets were stored in inefficient file systems without centralized governance, creating structural weakness for an organization managing millions of image assets:

• Operational friction
• Limited visibility
• Increased security exposure
• Difficulty scaling workflows.

Due to limitations in the underlying data structure, some schools transmitted sensitive student data via email attachments. This workaround exposed a deeper issue: the system architecture did not adequately support secure, structured data exchange.

Modernizing without rewriting the database

Perhaps the most significant constraint was that the client’s existing database could not be altered during the MVP phase. The new platform had to be layered intelligently on top of the existing data source, with mapped data modeling inside Pimcore, introducing structure without destabilizing the system.

Approach

Our priority was risk elimination, alignment with compliance, and architectural control, delivered without disrupting live school operations or rewriting the client’s core database.

First, we needed clarity on three things:

• Where the real security risks sat
• Which workflows were structurally fragile
• What could be modernized safely without destabilizing the ecosystem.

The legacy portal was custom-built and deeply intertwined with the client’s existing database, so the strategic decision was to avoid a destructive rewrite and instead introduce a controlled modernization layer that could gradually evolve into a centralized Master Data backbone.

From kickoff to production go-live, the entire transformation was delivered in six months. The timeline included:

• Discovery and architecture planning
• Data mapping and model structuring
• Portal development
• Security implementation.

Layered architecture with Pimcore

One of the most important architectural constraints was that the client’s existing database could not be modified during the MVP phase. Instead of attempting to clean, restructure, or migrate millions of records upfront, we:

• Mounted the existing client database directly to Pimcore
• Carefully mapped existing data elements
• Designed a structured and manageable target data model within Pimcore.

In practice, this meant building a new architectural layer capable of interpreting inconsistent legacy data and presenting it in a structured format.

We intentionally designed the platform as the first phase of a broader MDM strategy. Pimcore was implemented as a structured data modeling layer and a future-ready data governance system that can absorb future integrations, enhancements, and model modernization.

Eliminating security risks

Advanced Life’s legacy system lacked modern best-practice security architecture and could not meet ST4S compliance requirements. To eliminate exposure and align with regulatory standards, we implemented:

• Entra ID for secure admin authentication
• AWS Cognito for school user authentication
• Single Sign-On capabilities
• VPN whitelisting for the admin panel
• Australian IP restrictions for school portal access.

These measures introduced structured identity management and tightened access control without creating friction for end users. Notably, the chosen tools were compatible with the system architecture and aligned with the client’s budget considerations, ensuring compliance without unnecessary cost escalation.

Replacing fragile workflows

The new Pimcore Experience Portal replaced workarounds of email-based transmission of sensitive student data with safe, scalable processes:

• Secure batch downloading capabilities
• Controlled image uploads
• Structured data editing interfaces
• Custom export logic with tailored file naming conventions
• Integrated ID card ordering workflows.

Previously, student portraits and related assets were stored in inefficient, fragmented file systems without centralized oversight. We introduced a structured asset management layer within Pimcore that centralized image governance, reduced reliance on insecure file storage, and prepared the system for long-term scalability.

The MVP was designed as a proof point, demonstrating that Advanced Life could transition from fragile custom infrastructure to secure, structured architecture. With the new platform in place, security risk is controlled, compliance alignment is enabled, data modeling is structured, and infrastructure is future-proofed. The foundation now exists to evolve toward complete Master Data centralization in the upcoming phases.

Results

Within only a few months, Advanced Life replaced a vulnerable custom-built legacy portal with a secure platform designed for national scale.

The transformation was delivered without modifying the existing client database during the MVP phase and without disrupting live operations across thousands of schools.

Immediate impact – the elimination of critical security risks. The new architecture introduced modern SSO-enabled authentication, structured access control, and controlled admin governance, resolving exposure points that previously left the system vulnerable. At the same time, the platform now supports alignment with ST4S regulatory requirements, removing a major compliance barrier.

Asset management moved from inefficient and fragmented file systems to a centralized layer within Pimcore. Manual and fragile workflows were replaced with secure, portal-based processes. Schools no longer rely on informal or insecure data exchange methods. Instead, structured uploads, downloads, and data editing capabilities provide predictable, governed interaction within a controlled environment. 

Strategically, the new platform positions Advanced Life as a market leader, with the project setting a benchmark for modernizing sensitive, high-volume ecosystems.

If your organization is operating on fragile custom infrastructure, waiting increases risk. scandiweb helps B2B organizations and B2C omnichannel retailers modernize digital ecosystems in controlled, measurable phases. Let’s discuss your transformation roadmap.

The post Securing Millions of Student Records in a Future-Ready Pimcore MDM Foundation appeared first on scandiweb.

Need the best digital marketing agencies to boost your online presence? This article introduces the top 10 agencies excelling in various fields like SEO, CRO, and social media. Find out which agency can effectively transform your digital strategy.

Overview

• Digital marketing agencies serve as strategic partners for businesses and play a crucial role in enhancing online presence and customer engagement.
• Key criteria for selecting a digital marketing agency include industry expertise, reputation through client reviews, and clear communication about goals and expectations.
• Emerging trends in digital marketing technologies, such as AI, voice search optimization, and video marketing, are shaping how agencies engage with consumers and tailor strategies.

Recommended digital marketing companies in 2026

scandiweb

scandiweb is a full-stack web development agency with a deep focus on creating robust eCommerce solutions. Known for the largest team of Magento-certified developers in the world, scandiweb supports businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, offering comprehensive services that include Magento builds, migrations, and strategic eCommerce growth planning. 

Backed by 900+ Adobe Commerce and Magento certifications and 600+ in-house specialists focused exclusively on commerce delivery, scandiweb is widely recognized as the largest and #1 most certified Adobe Commerce agency globally.

Their prowess in Magento, Shopify, and other leading platforms has established them as a preferred partner for many prominent brands globally, such as The New York Times, Puma, and The MET Museum, delivering over 2100 projects across various industries. 

Unlike many agencies that rely on regional visibility or directory rankings, scandiweb’s leadership position is grounded in objective ecosystem scale: delivery volume, certification depth, enterprise portfolio, and long-term specialization in commerce since 2003.

Beyond development, scandiweb provides integrated digital marketing services tailored specifically for eCommerce growth. These include Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), SEO for complex catalogs and international stores, paid media management, analytics, and performance benchmarking – all executed by integrated teams working alongside platform engineers.

This full-stack commerce model allows brands to align technology, UX, data, and traffic acquisition under one accountable partner, rather than splitting responsibility across multiple vendors.

scandiweb is an Adobe Commerce Gold Partner, Pimcore Platinum Partner, Google Premier Partner, and Hyvä Platinum Partner, reinforcing its standing within the global commerce ecosystem.

The agency’s work has also been recognized through multiple international awards, including a Webby Award win, three consecutive Design Excellence awards, Best eCommerce Store in Estonia 2026 (awarded separately to Sportland and Weekend), Läderach – MMNYC Design Curve Award 2023, Airthings – MMNYC Design Pioneer Award 2024, and Umniah – MMNYC Design Pioneer Award 2025.

Conversion95

Conversion95 specializes in conversion rate optimization, helping businesses increase the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts through data-driven strategies. Their services focus on improving user experience and maximizing ROI from existing traffic rather than merely increasing visitor numbers. 

Conversion95 employs advanced analytics, A/B testing, and custom strategy development to ensure that each touchpoint on a customer’s journey is optimized for higher conversions. This approach helps brands transform their digital platforms into high-performing assets that contribute significantly to their overall success.

TrafficDog

TrafficDog offers digital marketing services with a special emphasis on increasing website traffic and improving lead conversion rates. Their strategy involves a mix of SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and content marketing tailored to the specific needs of their clients. TrafficDog’s team prides itself on innovative solutions and a responsive service model that keeps pace with the changing trends of digital marketing, ensuring that their clients receive the most effective and timely interventions to boost their online visibility and engagement.

First Page Sage

First Page Sage is an SEO and thought leadership marketing agency that helps companies generate leads and build brand authority through expert-driven content.

First Page Sage focuses on content that elevates the authority and brand presence of its clients. By producing high-quality, keyword-optimized content, they ensure their clients provide substantial value to their audience, which in turn drives organic traffic and leads.

The company’s expertise covers complex industries and serves a mix of B2B and B2C clients, including The company’s expertise covers complex industries, serving a mix of B2B and B2C clients, including global brands such as Salesforce, Microsoft, US Bank, Logitech, and Verisign, as well as many midsized businesses.

Amasty

Amasty is a Magento-focused digital agency that specializes in developing custom eCommerce solutions designed to improve store performance and online visibility. The agency provides a range of services for Magento-based businesses, including custom development, theme design, extension development, and performance optimization.

Amasty works with merchants to enhance the functionality and scalability of their online stores through tailored technical solutions. Their approach focuses on optimizing the Magento ecosystem, helping businesses improve user experience and streamline store operations.

AMP Agency

AMP Agency excels in video marketing and interactive experiences, enhancing customer engagement through creative storytelling and technologically advanced solutions. Their approach involves using video content to forge a deeper connection with audiences, thereby increasing brand loyalty and customer interaction rates.

Cleverly 

Cleverly is a digital marketing agency that targets B2B companies with specialized campaigns on LinkedIn. Their approach leverages advanced targeting and content strategies designed specifically for LinkedIn’s professional network, helping clients generate leads, build brand presence, and establish strategic connections within their industry.

The Builders Agency

The Builders Agency focuses on helping businesses enhance their digital presence through a variety of specialized services. They also offer comprehensive digital marketing services that include paid advertising and social media marketing to ensure wide visibility and engagement across multiple platforms.

Sixth City Marketing 

Sixth City Marketing specializes in delivering targeted digital marketing services such as SEO, PPC, CRO, and web design to enhance online business presence and drive sales. The agency is focused on creating data-driven, customized strategies to produce measurable results and establish long-term client relationships​.

Epsilon 

Epsilon focuses on data-driven marketing solutions for enterprise clients, employing a comprehensive array of channels to craft targeted, effective campaigns. They offer clients insights that drive better business decisions and marketing outcomes.

Criteria for Selecting the Best Digital Marketing Agencies

Selecting the right digital marketing agency is a critical decision that can significantly impact your business’s success. The first criterion to consider is the agency’s experience and expertise within your specific industry. An agency with a deep understanding of your industry can create more effective digital marketing strategies. For instance, a digital marketing agency specializing in eCommerce will have different insights and tactics compared to one that focuses on B2B services.

Next, research the agency’s reputation through client reviews and testimonials. Client reviews and testimonials offer a glimpse into an agency’s reliability and past performance, helping you assess their capability to meet your marketing goals. Evaluating the skills and qualifications of the agency’s team is equally important. A team with diverse expertise in areas like search engine marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing will be better equipped to handle your marketing campaigns.

Clear and open communication is crucial. Agencies that prioritize transparency foster strong partnerships by keeping clients informed and involved. Open discussions about pricing structures ensure that the agency’s services align with your budget while delivering value. Reviewing contract terms carefully will help clarify expectations and avoid misunderstandings during the partnership.

Finally, consider the agency’s culture and values. Ensuring that the agency’s culture aligns with your values can enhance collaboration and project execution. When you find an agency that meets these criteria, you can be confident that they will deliver top-notch digital marketing solutions tailored to your business needs.

Full-service digital marketing agencies

Full-service digital marketing agencies offer a variety of services that can be customized to meet the specific goals of different businesses. These agencies typically cover aspects like SEO optimization, social media management, email marketing, and content creation. The comprehensive nature of these agencies allows businesses to manage all their digital marketing needs under one roof, streamlining their marketing efforts and ensuring consistency across all channels.

Working with a full-service digital agency can lead to significant improvements in marketing outcomes. These agencies bring together expertise in various areas, allowing for a more integrated and effective marketing strategy. Whether you’re a small business owner or managing an eCommerce site, a full-service digital marketing agency can provide the support and expertise needed to achieve your marketing objectives.

Specialized digital marketing solutions

While full-service agencies offer a broad range of services, some businesses may benefit more from specialized digital marketing solutions. Agencies specializing in search engine optimization (SEO) typically take four to six months to show significant improvements in organic search rankings. With Google’s Search Generative Engine evolving, these agencies adapt their SEO practices to provide users with more tailored and conversational search results.

Digital marketing agencies often specialize in specific areas such as influencer marketing or nonprofit sector marketing to effectively cater to diverse client needs. By choosing an agency that specializes in the area most relevant to your business, you can achieve more targeted and effective marketing outcomes.

Case studies of successful digital marketing projects

Successful digital marketing campaigns are critical for establishing a brand presence and driving sales. This section will present case studies of successful digital marketing projects, demonstrating the tangible outcomes that can be achieved by working with top agencies like scandiweb. These case studies will provide real-world examples and insights into effective digital marketing strategies.

Digital Marketing and Traffic Acquisition Strategy in Apparel & Fashion

Beauty & Cosmetics: Unique Customer Experiences for eCommerce

Apparel & Fashion Industry: How to Increase eCommerce Conversion

SEO Strategy for Beauty Brands: Reaching the Top Shelf in Search Engines

How to evaluate a digital marketing agency’s performance

Evaluating a digital marketing agency’s performance is crucial to ensure that your marketing resources are being used effectively. One of the key performance indicators (KPIs) to consider is the conversion rate, which indicates the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action on your website. Organic traffic, or sessions from search engines, measures the volume of visitors generated through unpaid search results.

Click-through rate (CTR) represents the ratio of users who click on a search result link to the number of users who viewed it. A high bounce rate, on the other hand, indicates that many visitors leave the site after viewing only one page, suggesting potential issues with content relevance or engagement. Average session duration reflects how long users stay engaged on a website, with higher durations indicating better content engagement.

Using analytics tools to track these KPIs provides insights that can refine digital marketing strategies. Many full-service agencies also offer analytics and reporting services to monitor the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Understanding how the agency measures success and reports on performance is key for assessing campaign effectiveness. Focusing on these metrics helps businesses ensure their digital marketing efforts are producing the desired outcomes.

Digital strategy and strategic planning

A strong digital strategy is the backbone of successful marketing efforts. Defining clear marketing goals and needs is crucial for selecting the right digital marketing agency. Aligning the agency’s strategic planning process with your business objectives is vital. A digital marketing strategy should clearly define the future direction and necessary investments to enhance digital marketing contributions.

Fostering a culture of feedback promotes continuous improvement and learning among team members. Celebrating team achievements boosts motivation and creates a positive work environment. Regular check-ins allow teams to discuss goals, challenges, and progress, maintaining alignment and transparency.

Social media advertising and management

Social media management enhances brand awareness by maintaining an active presence on platforms and engaging with users. Effective social media management improves customer engagement by providing direct interaction with the audience. A dedicated social media team builds customer trust with authentic content and clear communication.

Being aware of industry trends allows brands to adapt their social media strategies effectively. Social media marketing will increasingly utilize AI tools for enhancing productivity, as platforms integrate AI functionalities to improve user engagement. The rise of new social media platforms, such as Instagram Threads, indicates a shift in how brands interact with consumers, emphasizing the need for adaptive marketing strategies.

PPC advertising

PPC advertising provides immediate visibility and traffic, making it ideal for short-term marketing goals. Advertisers in PPC only pay when users click on their ads, making it a cost-effective model. PPC enables new businesses to compete effectively in the market, even if they have low organic search rankings.

Businesses can control their advertising budget in PPC by setting maximum spend limits for campaigns. PPC campaigns can be highly targeted, allowing ads to reach specific demographics based on factors like age, location, and online behavior. SEO and PPC strategies combined can maximize online visibility, driving relevant traffic and delivering long-term benefits.

Advertisers can easily test and refine their ads using performance statistics provided by PPC platforms. Remarketing ads are a cost-effective method to reconnect with users who have previously visited a business’s website.

Local SEO and reputation management

Local SEO enhances small businesses’ visibility in local search results, attracting nearby customers seeking their services. This efficient and cost-effective strategy allows small businesses to target their advertising more precisely than traditional methods. The rise in mobile usage has led to increased local searches, making it crucial for businesses to optimize for mobile devices to capture on-the-go customers.

Local SEO investment gives small businesses a competitive edge, enabling them to outperform larger competitors who may not prioritize local optimization. Frequent exposure to PPC ads boosts brand recognition among potential customers, aiding long-term reputation building. Optimizing local online presence can improve credibility, as consistent information and positive reviews across platforms foster trust with potential customers.

Emerging digital marketing trends in 2026

AI and machine learning are now baked into many marketing tools. Instead of running campaigns purely on manual rules, teams use these systems to analyze browsing behavior, predict intent, and personalize what shoppers see across websites, email, and ads.

Data analytics platforms play a big role here. They show how people move through a site, which products they explore, and where they abandon the journey. When you can see that path clearly, it becomes much easier to adjust campaigns and improve conversion rates.

Take product discovery as an example. A growing number of brands now use conversational commerce, where an AI chat interface sits directly inside the store experience or outside – in WhatsApp or SMS. Rather than clicking through categories, shoppers can ask questions the same way they would in a physical shop: “Do you have this in black?” or “Which one works for travel?”

Behind the scenes, that chat connects to the product catalog, inventory, and checkout. A customer can find a product, compare options, add it to cart, and finish the purchase inside the same conversation. The same system can later handle support questions or send reminders if someone abandons a cart, and even reengage inactive customers to help them buy at the right place and time.

Read more:

Case Study: Conversational Commerce Brings 31% of Churned Customers Back

Search is shifting as well. Many people now ask questions in AI tools instead of browsing traditional search results. That’s where Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) comes in. Instead of optimizing only for rankings, marketers structure their content so AI systems can quote it directly when generating answers. Clear explanations, well-structured pages, and reliable sources matter more than ever.

Automation hasn’t disappeared either – it’s simply becoming smarter. Most marketing teams already use automation for email flows or campaign management. The difference now is that AI systems continuously test creative variations, adjust bids, and redirect budget toward the audiences most likely to convert.

Besides, content discovery has shifted heavily toward video. Short-form video in particular has become one of the fastest ways for products to surface online. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube increasingly connect these videos directly to product pages, turning a quick demo or review into an immediate purchase opportunity. This demand for fast, high-volume creative production has also accelerated the use of AI-powered ad banners, which allow brands to generate scalable visuals for campaigns and, in some cases, achieve up to 10x return on ad spend.

Finally, marketing channels themselves are becoming harder to separate. SEO, paid media, analytics, CRO, and customer data platforms now operate as part of the same system. When these pieces work together, brands can track performance across every touchpoint, and react quickly when customer behavior changes.

How to collaborate effectively with your marketing team

Defining clear roles and responsibilities within a marketing team aligns expectations and boosts productivity. Regular communication keeps team members updated on progress and changes, vital for smooth collaboration. Collaboration tools like Slack streamline communication and task management among team members.

Utilizing diverse perspectives within the team can spark innovation and lead to more creative marketing strategies. Establishing a shared repository for documents and resources ensures that all team members have access to necessary information. Fostering an environment of open communication and collaboration enables teams to work together more effectively to achieve their marketing goals.

Fostering a culture of feedback promotes continuous improvement and learning among team members. Celebrating team achievements boosts motivation and creates a positive work environment. Regular check-ins allow teams to discuss goals, challenges, and progress, maintaining alignment and transparency.

Wrapping up

Digital marketing agencies play a crucial role in helping businesses enhance their online presence and reach their marketing objectives. By selecting the right agency, businesses can leverage diverse digital marketing services, from SEO and content marketing to social media advertising and PPC. Full-service agencies provide comprehensive solutions, while specialized agencies offer targeted expertise in specific areas.

As emerging trends in digital marketing technologies continue to evolve, staying updated and adapting to these changes is essential for maintaining a competitive edge. Collaborating effectively with your marketing team and regularly evaluating agency performance ensures that your marketing efforts are aligned with your business goals. With the right strategies and partnerships, businesses can achieve significant growth and success in the digital landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key criteria for selecting a digital marketing agency?

Selecting a digital marketing agency should focus on their experience and expertise, reputation, team skills, communication transparency, pricing structure, and cultural alignment. These criteria will ensure a successful partnership that meets your marketing objectives.

How can I evaluate a digital marketing agency’s performance?

To effectively evaluate a digital marketing agency’s performance, focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rate, organic traffic, click-through rate, bounce rate, and average session duration. These metrics provide clear insights into the agency’s effectiveness in achieving your marketing goals.

What are the benefits of working with a full-service digital marketing agency?

Working with a full-service digital marketing agency ensures consistency and efficiency by managing all your digital marketing needs in one place. This comprehensive approach allows for a cohesive strategy that can enhance your overall marketing efforts.

How do emerging trends in digital marketing technologies impact strategies?

Emerging trends in digital marketing technologies such as AI, machine learning, and voice search optimization significantly enhance strategy effectiveness by enabling more personalized consumer connections. Adapting to these technologies is essential for staying competitive in the evolving market landscape.

How can businesses effectively collaborate with their marketing teams?

Businesses can effectively collaborate with their marketing teams by establishing clear roles and responsibilities, ensuring regular communication, utilizing collaboration tools, and maintaining a shared repository for resources. Such practices foster a cohesive working environment that enhances overall marketing effectiveness.

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