The Byre Gallery
Moving From WooCommerce to Shopify
“The new Byre Gallery website immediately transformed the business. Before I had Shopify my old WordPress site was clunky, difficult to update and not suited to my business. Elliot took me through all the ‘back end’ and made sure I knew what I was doing - though he’s always on hand if anything goes wrong! Online sales are now a key part of the gallery’s business as we sell work to clients all over the world.
I have recommended Elliot to many people over the years, and many of them have become his clients - for the simple reasons that he is always reliable, competitively priced (with absolutely no hidden ’surprises’), and is very easy to work with. We also kept each other's spirits up when we both got puppies around the same time three years ago… and that kind of support is priceless!” – Elaine Dye (Owner of the Byre Gallery)
The Project
I was introduced to Elaine at The Byre Gallery by a valued existing customer. We hit it off straight away and scoped out a new Shopify website, migrating the business from WordPress and WooCommerce.
The website build itself was quite complex – partly because of how the original site had been set up, the significant amount of existing blog content (not always straightforward to migrate), and partly due to the integration of the Own Art application into the new site.
Own Art is a government-backed scheme offering clients an interest-free loan, spread over 10 months, to purchase a piece of art or contemporary craft priced between £100 and £2,000. This integration experienced several changes by the app developers during the build, as they worked to meet Shopify’s stringent requirements around financial transactions. As Elaine said in her full testimonial:
“Integrating the finance software was not straightforward, but Elliot took the Own Art ‘experts’ to task on one or two occasions – and we got there.”
This is common with most website builds. The core functionality usually provides about 90% of what’s needed to deliver the user experience the client wants – but it’s those final, integrated elements that take the most work. I spoke to the app developers numerous times during the project to ensure the set-up was correct before going live.
Since launching The Byre Gallery website, I’ve continued to work with Elaine regularly on several projects – most recently on her new training site, elainedye.com. This features her course An Insider’s Guide to Gallery Success, which offers a clear, step-by-step roadmap for artists on how to develop a relationship with a gallery owner and get their work featured.
I’ve been fortunate to work with hundreds of artists and makers over the years. One of the joys of working with gallery owners (I’ve built a number of gallery websites now) is being surrounded by inspiring artwork throughout the entire process – from many incredible artists.
Thank you, Elaine, for asking me to take on that Shopify project, and for being such a supporter of Business Think over the years.
PS. Oh, and Elaine’s right – we did get puppies at the same time and have shared many of the trials and tribulations along the way. I still think my Cocker Spaniel, Honey, is naughtier than her dog Sydney… but only just!