Better performance for doodah: Hyvä, Magento and maxcluster create a stable foundation for cross-channel commerce

doodah’s Magento shop was technically outdated, slow and not always reliable in operation. At the same time, the online business needed to be closely integrated with the high-street shops – including branch stock levels, in-store collection and ERP integration. Working with insign, the shop was switched to Hyvä and migrated to a hosting infrastructure provided by maxcluster. The result: PageSpeed Insights in the green zone instead of deep red, a sales increase of around 17 per cent and significantly fewer customer complaints about performance.

doodah is a Swiss retailer of streetwear, snow and skate products with a rapidly expanding network of high-street stores. In addition to its online shop, the company operates several high-street stores in Switzerland, including in Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Lucerne, Zug and Zurich. For customers, this means that products should not only be available online, but also visible in-store, bookable and available for collection.

The online shop is therefore far more than just an additional sales channel. It brings together the product range, the brand experience and the in-store experience – and must reliably manage a wide range of processes on a day-to-day basis. Anyone searching online for trainers, streetwear, snowboard equipment or skate gear expects up-to-date product information, reliable stock availability and a fast, intuitive user experience – regardless of whether the order is delivered to their home or collected later from a branch.

To further develop the shop, doodah collaborated with the Swiss digital agency insign. insign brings many years of experience in implementing bespoke e-commerce solutions and was already well acquainted with the technical specifics of the Magento shop. This was a crucial foundation, as the project required not only design adjustments but also a robust technical decision: which front-end platform could support the existing processes, significantly improve performance and ensure the shop remains maintainable in the long term?

The technical modernisation involved several areas simultaneously. Firstly, the existing Luma front-end was to be replaced, as it no longer met doodah’s performance requirements. Previous experience with ScandiTheme had not yielded the desired results. insign therefore began by conducting a proof of concept to assess which front-end platform might be viable for the shop in the long term.

In the process, Hyvä emerged as a potential alternative. For insign, doodah was also their first project using the Hyvä theme. The team therefore had to assess very carefully whether the existing requirements could be implemented smoothly – from custom features and extensions from established providers such as Amasty and Mageplaza right through to the system’s future maintainability.

The checkout process also had to be reassessed in this context. As the Hyvä checkout was not yet available at that time, the project team needed an alternative solution that would be technically compatible with the new setup whilst reliably supporting the existing payment processes. To achieve this, insign opted for a React checkout; two payment plugins had to be adapted accordingly.

In addition, we had to prepare features developed specifically for doodah, such as the blog for Hyvä. On top of that, there was a tight timeframe: the new shop had to go live before Black Friday. For a project involving a front-end change, checkout customisations and bespoke features, this was a challenging deadline – and required a clear technical assessment, thorough planning and an experienced team.

Following the proof of concept, insign opted for Hyvä as its new front-end platform. The decisive factors were its streamlined technical approach, the significantly improved performance prospects and the opportunity to make the Magento shop easier to maintain in the long term. The fact that the team was already very familiar with the shop was a key advantage: The developers knew which processes were business-critical for doodah, where the technical risks lay, and which functions needed to work reliably for day-to-day operations in both the online and high-street shops.

The focus was on replacing the old Luma front-end with Hyvä. This laid the foundation for significantly faster loading times, a leaner technical structure and a modern user experience. The new shop guides customers clearly through brand and category sections, presents product variants in a clear and organised manner, and integrates in-store availability directly on the product detail page. The shopping basket has also been streamlined and designed for functionality, ensuring the path to purchase remains as clear as possible.

At the same time, existing customisations were adapted. The blog and other project-specific functions were prepared for Hyvä, the payment plugins were integrated with React Checkout, and the import and ERP processes were incorporated into the new setup. As a result, the shop not only became more efficient but also operationally interoperable: products can still be created via CSV imports, orders can be exported to the ERP system, and branch stock levels can be taken into account in the shop.

To ensure the system went live before Black Friday, insign planned its resources meticulously and made targeted use of existing project knowledge. Rather than focusing on basic induction, the emphasis was on concentrated implementation – with clear priorities, frequent coordination and a focus on a stable go-live.

The migration to maxcluster went smoothly. For insign, this was the first project to be migrated within this framework. It was therefore particularly important to have a hosting partner who could provide structured support throughout the process and respond quickly to any queries.

maxcluster provided reliable support to the project team, allowing insign to focus on implementing the Hyvä customisations, the checkout process, the bespoke features and ensuring timely completion. The new infrastructure provided a stable foundation for the go-live – and for a shop that must function reliably even during seasonal peaks.

The value of e-commerce specialisation becomes particularly apparent during day-to-day operations. maxcluster proactively monitors relevant parameters, can provide support with performance issues at both shop and infrastructure level, and offers scalable resources for periods of higher demand. This is a key safety net for a fashion and lifestyle shop like doodah, particularly around Black Friday, seasonal campaigns or product ranges that attract high traffic.

Following the relaunch and migration, the key performance indicators improved significantly. PageSpeed Insights scores are now in the green – previously they were deep red. As a result, what was a noticeably slow online shop has been transformed into a platform that responds much more quickly and offers customers a better user experience.

The project also had a positive financial impact: doodah recorded a rise in turnover of around 17 per cent. In addition, customer complaints about performance issues fell sharply or virtually ceased altogether. For a shop with strong brand loyalty and many returning customers, this is a key factor: performance is not only measured by tools, but also perceived in everyday use.

Stability has also improved. According to project feedback, there is virtually no downtime – and when it does occur, it is only very brief. The new setup thus fulfils a key requirement for cross-channel commerce: the shop must be reliably available when customers wish to browse products, check branch stock or order items for collection.

The doodah project demonstrates how effectively front-end modernisation, a clean Magento implementation and specialised hosting work together. Hyvä provided the necessary performance foundation, insign implemented the complex requirements relating to checkout, in-store collection, product import and ERP integration, and maxcluster ensured a stable, high-performance hosting infrastructure.

Particularly noteworthy is the successful go-live ahead of Black Friday. Despite technical complexity, bespoke customisations and a tight deadline, the result is a shop that loads faster, runs more stably and achieves measurably better results. This has created a modern foundation for doodah, enabling its online and brick-and-mortar businesses to work more closely together.