Case Study: e-Commerce Platform Consolidation & MSP Transition for a Global Apparel & Accessories Brand

A global leader in apparel and accessories — operating multiple brands across direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels — had accumulated a fragmented e-commerce technology estate over years of brand acquisitions and organic growth. Each brand was running its own platform, its own integrations, and its own support model.

The result was exactly what you'd expect: duplicated costs, inconsistent customer experiences across brands, a technology team stretched thin managing multiple vendor relationships, and no unified view of customer behavior across the portfolio.

Leadership had identified the problem. What they needed was a credible path to consolidate — and a partner who could manage the full process from strategy through execution.

We began with a clear-eyed assessment of the existing platform landscape — mapping each brand's current state, integration dependencies, and the true total cost of the fragmented model. The business case for consolidation was straightforward once the full cost picture was visible.

We designed the consolidation architecture around a single Shopify platform — standardizing the technology stack across brands while preserving the brand-specific customer experiences that drove loyalty. The design addressed the full scope: platform migration, Salesforce CRM integration, order management, ADA compliance, payments, fraud management, and post-go-live support.

Rather than defaulting to a known vendor, we designed and ran a rigorous RFI/RFP process to identify the right MSP partner for both the consolidation and the ongoing platform management.

We brought three vendors of varying size and capability into the process — a boutique US-based e-commerce MSP with deep Shopify migration experience and strong cultural fit; a large global MSP with the broadest service capabilities, lowest cost structure, and SLA-driven delivery model; and a mid-to-large MSP with specialized DTC e-commerce capabilities and a well-structured onshore/nearshore model.

We managed the full vendor process: scope definition, RFP distribution, MSP briefings to ensure vendors understood the requirements, executive presentation management, and final proposal review.

We applied a weighted scoring methodology across twelve critical categories — including cost, pricing structure, flexibility, capabilities, approach, demonstrated understanding, ability to deliver, partner/culture fit, relevant experience, quality of proposal, future capabilities, and company stability.

Our recommendation was the large global MSP, with the boutique firm retained as a secondary vendor through contract negotiations.

The rationale: while pricing and e-commerce capabilities were close across all three vendors, the recommended partner offered the broadest scope of services including customer support and call center capabilities, the lowest and most predictable cost structure with flexibility to amortize one-time costs, a proven SLA-driven delivery model, and the ability to provide future services — including a potential in-house OMS — at a low cost to serve. Their scale and resource model also provided the flexibility the client would need as the business grew.

The boutique firm's deep Shopify migration expertise and cultural fit made them a valuable secondary option — particularly for the migration phase where their platform-specific knowledge was most relevant.

We managed the full consolidation program from design through go-live — coordinating the client team, the MSP, Shopify, and Salesforce across a complex multi-brand, multi-workstream program.

This included:

• Migration planning and execution across all brand storefronts
• Salesforce licensing negotiation and extension support
• Shopify licensing optimization
• ADA compliance and payments/fraud management design
• Staging environment setup and UAT coordination
• Post-go-live hypercare and transition to steady-state MSP management

• $1M+ in annual savings — achieved through platform consolidation, vendor rationalization, and the shift to a single MSP operating model under a 5-year contract
• Single unified Shopify platform across the brand portfolio — replacing multiple disconnected systems with one standardized, maintainable technology stack
• Materially improved customer experience — consistent brand experiences, faster site performance, and unified customer data across the portfolio
• SLA-driven MSP partnership in place — replacing reactive, fragmented support with proactive managed services and defined service levels
• Salesforce integration optimized — CRM licensing renegotiated and platform extended to support the consolidated e-commerce model

Running a real process. The temptation in vendor selection is to validate a predetermined choice. We ran a genuine competitive process — three vendors, rigorous scoring, honest assessment of strengths and risks — and the recommendation reflected the data. That credibility was essential when presenting to a leadership team that had strong vendor preferences going in.

Keeping the boutique firm in play. The scorecard pointed to the global MSP as the primary recommendation, but the boutique firm's Shopify migration depth was genuinely differentiated. Recommending them as a secondary vendor through contract negotiations gave the client leverage and preserved optionality — a nuance that a less rigorous process would have missed.

Managing the full program, not just the strategy. We didn't hand off a recommendation and leave. We managed the consolidation from design through go-live, which meant the $1M in savings and the improved customer experience were actually realized — not just modelled.

This case study has been anonymized to protect client confidentiality. Results are representative of actual engagement outcomes.