Background
Following its acquisition by JJ Roofing Supplies, Sterlingbuild, a multi-million turnover business, faced the immediate challenge of modernising its existing website. Launched in 2014, the legacy, bespoke .NET platform had become increasingly unstable and difficult to manage. Years of inconsistent in-house developer contributions had resulted in a disorganised backend with thousands of tables and a complex product catalogue.
This lack of internal understanding and control over the site’s intricacies meant that even routine management and updates were a significant hurdle. David Mayo, E-commerce Manager at Sterlingbuild, explained: “The old website was a challenge: with multiple in-house web developers coming and going, regulating and quantifying the quality of backend work became very difficult and unstable.”
Challenge
The primary challenge was to migrate Sterlingbuild’s extensive and complex product catalogue (40,000 SKUs with intricate parent-child relationships) onto JJ Roofing Supplies’ existing Adobe Commerce Cloud instance. This migration needed to occur without disrupting the live JJ Roofing Supplies environment, while maintaining data integrity and ensuring distinct brand experiences for both entities. Furthermore, crucial integrations with existing payment gateways, marketing email platforms and their ERP system were required.
Another key objective was to empower Sterlingbuild’s internal team to become more self-sufficient in managing their e-commerce operations, moving away from a reliance on external developers for every task. David explained: “Upgrading our 10-year-old website to an off-the-shelf platform, Adobe Commerce, was essential. This would finally allow us to influence our design and products through its established framework.”
Solution
Objectsource implemented a comprehensive data transformation and migration strategy, meticulously planning the import of all 40,000 SKUs and their complex relationships into Adobe Commerce. This process involved careful export and import to the live database, protecting existing JJ Roofing Supplies’ data.
The front end of the Sterlingbuild site was completely redesigned and deployed as a separate entity within the existing Adobe Commerce Cloud instance, ensuring no impact on the live JJ Roofing Supplies site. Objectsource facilitated seamless integrations with Sterlingbuild’s existing payment systems and marketing platforms. A critical aspect of the solution was the integration with Sterlingbuild’s existing ERP system. Objectsource created an API integration that ensured efficient and accurate data flow for stock updates, new products, pricing and orders, while maintaining strict data segregation between JJ Roofing Supplies and Sterlingbuild.
Objectsource applied a highly adaptable and collaborative way of working throughout the project. Their flexible communication via Slack and Teams calls, coupled with a knowledgeable and efficient team, made the migration process smooth and problem free. David explained: “The relaxed way the objectsource team operates is excellent. We treated them as extended staff members, communicating openly via Slack, and they responded quickly, keeping things moving forward. This adaptability built immense confidence and reassurance.”
Results
Objectsource successfully migrated Sterlingbuild to Adobe Commerce Cloud, leveraging JJ Roofing Supplies’ existing infrastructure. This resulted in two distinct, high-performance websites operating within a single Adobe Commerce Cloud instance, leading to significant cost efficiencies through shared infrastructure and consolidated development resources.
Sterlingbuild now benefits from a modern and scalable e-commerce platform that allows for enhanced team autonomy and upskilling. David said: “One of our goals was to grow our e-commerce business without simply expanding our team’s size. Instead, this build has enhanced our existing team’s skills, now enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks rather than routine maintenance.”
The seamless integration with the ERP has streamlined internal processes, and the team can now focus on future growth and innovation. David added: “Having two websites managed by the same team, operating with the same backend, is a huge benefit. We can test and learn on one site, and if it’s successful, we can quickly implement the same strategy on the JJ Roofing Supplies site.”
The new platform’s flexible payment options and enhanced site stability are already benefitting customers, and the planned B2B account area promises even greater self-service capabilities.
David concluded: “This migration to Adobe Commerce Cloud has truly transformed Sterlingbuild. We’ve moved from a legacy, developer-dependent platform to a future-ready online business, enabling us to ‘dream the possible.’ What could have been a painful nightmare was made seamless by objectsource. They weren’t just an agency; they were an extension of our team, delivering a high-impact migration that’s fundamentally enhanced our e-commerce capabilities.”
Considering a migration to Adobe Commerce Cloud? Reach out today for a chat about how our approach to e-commerce can transform your business growth strategy.