The Start of a New Chapter
In December 2019, I joined Leedstone as a Full-Stack Web Developer, taking on the responsibility of migrating an outdated Magento 1 storefront to a new, modern system.
For years, I had worked toward landing a full-time remote position, and finally, I had succeeded. Ironically, just two months later, the entire world shifted to remote work. 🤦
At Leedstone, the challenges were vast. The company had been without a developer for some time, and the backlog of tasks—from platform migration to long-overdue Marketing requests—was overwhelming. But I thrived in the chaos. The opportunity to transform Leedstone’s online operations over the next five years was exactly the kind of challenge I relished.
Server Optimization
I began by addressing infrastructure and platform challenges. Migrating an enterprise e-commerce system isn’t just about moving data—it’s about rethinking architecture, optimizing performance, and ensuring security.
One of my first major tasks was revamping the server environment to significantly cut costs while improving performance. I moved our hosting infrastructure from RackSpace’s two dedicated servers to Nexcess (LiquidWeb), cutting costs by 50% (from $2200/month) while ensuring:
- High Availability & Redundancy
- Security Updates
- Decoupled Site/DB/Price Engine Servers
- First-Class Support
Platform Transition: Magento to WooCommerce
Migrating from Magento to WooCommerce was a monumental shift that involved restructuring every major aspect of the platform while maintaining existing business processes. The migration required the transfer of products, customers, orders, and specialized pharmaceutical functionalities, ensuring data integrity and usability. Additionally, I optimized product data, refining 14,000 products and 10,421 SKUs to remove redundancies and improve searchability. Security enhancements, performance tuning, and API integrations—such as SendGrid for transactional and marketing email management—further solidified the new platform’s stability. The result was a streamlined, scalable, and cost-effective system that dramatically improved both internal workflows and customer experience.
- Migrated products, customers, orders, lists, pet/vet records
- Cleaned up product data, ensuring 14,000 products and 10,421 unique SKUs remained properly structured
- Enhanced security and optimized system performance
- Integrated SendGrid and split marketing/transactional emails to protect domain reputation
Before and Afters
Home
Mega Menu
Simple Product
Variation Product
Wishlist
Having worked with Carl Alexander, I asked that we outsource him for several enterprise aspects. He helped us look at our testing coverage in a new aspect but found very little we could implement that I had already accounted for.
“Eric has done a great job of covering every aspect”
Special Considerations
B2B, Pharmacy, and Compliance
Leedstone’s business model required extensive customization, including: custom taxation rules, veterinarian approvals for pharmaceuticals, and an advanced B2B ordering system. I developed solutions to address each requirement, ensuring compliance while maintaining a smooth shopping experience.
- Custom tax tables with exemptions for agricultural customers
- Veterinary pharmaceutical compliance, including prescription requirements and vet approvals
- B2B solutions such as route truck ordering, extended product lines, and in-store pickup
Security Enhancements
With increasing cyber threats, I implemented Cloudflare protection, 2FA for staff, masked logins, address verification, and reCAPTCHA v3, significantly reducing fraud and improving account security.
- Cloudflare for optimized performance and protection
- Strong security headers
- 2FA login for staff
- Masked logins, lockout policies, and reCAPTCHA v3 for fraud prevention
- Address verification to reduce shipping errors
Customer Accounts & Payment Systems
Unlike a typical e-commerce store, Leedstone needed multiple customer types—route customers, in-store pickup, outside sales—all with unique pricing, taxation, and payment structures. I built a custom account system supporting house charge and multiple payment methods, ensuring seamless transactions.
- Custom user roles & division assignments
- Leedstone’s home-brewed tax system
- Multiple customer types: route customers, outside sales, in-store pickup
- Custom payment methods: House Charge & Milk Check
Shipping Optimization
Shipping presented a unique challenge, as different products required freight, hazardous, oversized, or cold chain shipping. I integrated a system to categorize shipments, verify addresses, and reduce costs while providing real-time package tracking.
- Freight, Free, Zone-Based, Route Truck, and In-Store Pickup options
- Advanced shipping categories: Oversized, Hazardous, Cold Chain, Heavy items
- Integrated shipping address verification to reduce costs
- Package tracking for customer convenience
Deployment & Automation
To streamline updates and testing, I implemented a CI/CD pipeline with automated deployments across production, staging, and sandbox environments. I also built custom WooCommerce plugins tailored to Leedstone’s business model and optimized API calls with caching mechanisms for performance.
- CI/CD pipeline to automate deployments and testing across production, staging, and sandbox environments
- Fully integrated Git workflows, allowing code approval, incremental updates, and rollback capabilities
- Developed custom WooCommerce plugins to handle unique business logic
- Built extensive caching mechanisms to optimize API calls and pricing updates
Marketing & User Experience Enhancements
A modern website is more than just a store—it’s a marketing engine. Beyond development, I worked closely with the Marketing team to optimize SEO Schema Markup, Google Analytics 4 tracking, custom reviews, and conversion-focused popups. These improvements helped boost traffic, engagement, and retention.
- SEO Schema Markup, including product, variation, and business schemas
- Google Analytics 4 integration for advanced insights
- Session tracking, email campaigns, and marketing automation with Remarkety
- Custom reviews system and enhanced forms for user engagement
- Popups, slide-ins, and dynamic content strategies to boost conversions
Gallery
Final Thoughts
Over five years, I helped transform Leedstone’s outdated e-commerce system into a high-performance, scalable WooCommerce platform. The new platform successfully launched with minimal downtime, dramatically improving security, scalability, and user experience.
This journey was one of the most rewarding of my career, combining technical problem-solving, business strategy, and digital marketing to elevate Leedstone’s online presence.
Key Accomplishments:
- Infrastructure Optimization: Reduced hosting costs by 50% while improving reliability.
- Magento to WooCommerce Migration: Successfully migrated products, customers, and data with improved performance.
- Security Overhaul: Implemented 2FA, reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare, and fraud prevention measures.
- Custom B2B & Pharmacy Solutions: Developed custom tax rules, vet approvals, and multi-tiered pricing models.
- Shipping & Order Optimization: Integrated advanced shipping logic, address verification, and tracking.
- Development Automation: Built a CI/CD pipeline and custom WooCommerce plugins.
- Marketing & SEO Enhancements: Improved schema markup, GA4 integration, and conversion tracking.
If you’re interested in similar digital transformation strategies, feel free to connect with me!