Strategy · Migration · Management · Development
Six years is enough time to solve more than one problem.
Gapstow worked with ROAM Adventure Co. for approximately six years. Over that period the relationship covered advisory, a platform migration, site building, a wholesale portal, ongoing store management and development work.
The engagement recently concluded — which is a normal part of how long relationships end, not a footnote to explain away.
- Advisory
- Migration
- Site building
- Wholesale portal
- Store management
- Development
Long relationships rarely stay in one category
Almost nothing about six years of work fits on a service page. Advisory conversations led to a migration. The migration became a build. The build turned into ongoing store management. Management surfaced operational opportunities. New business requirements — wholesale among them — created development work.
None of that was a change of plan. It's what happens when a business keeps growing and the eCommerce operation has to keep up with it.
What the work included
Each phase had a different centre of gravity, and each one benefited from the context built during the last.
- 01
Advisory
Working through platform, priority and sequencing decisions before committing budget to them.
- 02
Migration
Moving the store, with the operational detail that a migration actually turns on.
- 03
Site building
Building the storefront experience on the new platform.
- 04
Wholesale portal
Supporting a second way of selling, with different buyers and different expectations.
- 05
Store management
The ongoing work of running the store well once it exists.
- 06
Development
Continued build work as requirements changed over the years.
How relationships like this end
The relationship concluded after roughly six years. Businesses change: teams grow, priorities move in-house, ownership and strategy shift. A partner who is genuinely useful for six years has usually helped build some of the capability that eventually replaces them.
ROAM also referred ENKI to Gapstow — a relationship that continues today.
Good eCommerce partners shouldn't have only one answer.
Why it matters
One partner, several kinds of problem
A strategy firm can't build the wholesale portal. A development shop won't tell you the migration should wait a quarter. Six years of ROAM's eCommerce work needed both, plus the day-to-day management that keeps a store from quietly drifting.
Where this work lives
Explore eCommerce Management
Most of the value in a long relationship comes from the unglamorous middle — the years of running, adjusting and building on what's already there.