Technical support and live site migration Marinestore: The online chandlery

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1 Technical support and live site migration Marinestore: The online chandlery 1ST EASY CASE STUDY JULY 2010 James Burns, 1st Easy Limited What is this document about? Marinestore sought an experienced host to manage the migration of their busy online store from the US to the UK, improve site speed and solve the problem of timedelayed technical support. This document explores the challenges that Marinestore faced, and how 1st Easy were able to ensure a smooth host to host transition. 1st Easy Limited Your Internet Resource Partner [email protected] SaaS deployment Dedicated Servers Colocation Web hosting Remote Backups filtering

2 Marinestore: The award winning, modern day, traditional chandlery Established in 1994, family owned business Marinestore is a thriving "bricks and mortar" chandlery (a term used traditionally to describe an establishment that sold nautical equipment) supported by a successful online ordering service. With four establishments serving the south of England and one in Lanzarote, Marinestore's award winning retail outlets provide a choice of over 24,000 items, drawing most of their custom from the UK and Europe. Introduction Marinestore's online presence was established in 1998, consisting of an online store hosted in the United States by a well respected dedicated hosting partner. The standard of service had been very satisfactory, as John Lodge, owner and Managing Director of Marinestore explains: We were happy with our existing hosting company who looked after us really well - they were reliable and had helped us to build a successful online operation. We were reluctant to leave them, but as the importance of our website increased as a way of supporting our customers and in terms of revenue contribution, we needed to find ways in which we could secure and improve the experience of our customers further, and add to the success of the store. John Lodge Owner, Marinestore 2

3 Why migrate? The following factors were the primary motivators in the decision to migrate Marinestore's hosting to the UK: 1. Technical support delay: Whilst the existing host provided knowledgeable and effective support, the six hour time difference with the US prevented the fastest possible resolution of serious technical issues. Marinestore wanted to take advantage of the reduced support response times that would be available from a domestic (UK based) hosting company. Why migrate? 2. Site speed: Considering their predominently UK customer base, Marinestore wanted to improve the website experience for their visitors by providing the most responsive site possible (a recent study* examines the relationship between website response times and customer satisfaction). By serving the site physically from within the UK as opposed to the US, response times (known as latency) would be significantly reduced. 3. Search engine rankings: The geographical location of a server is widely considered to be part of Google's ranking algorithms for generating country and region specific results. By hosting in the UK, Marinestore stood to improve their organic search engine results (SERPs) and gain an increase in relevant traffic from customers within their primary market. 3

4 Finding a host that could deliver Further to meeting these key factors, Marinestore wanted a host that could demonstrate experience of working with ecommerce software, and manage a complex live site migration to avoid customer disruption. Stephen Bell, Managing Director of 1st Easy outlined why the company was well qualified to take responsibility for Marinestore's hosting: Over ten years experience of ecommerce hosting set us on the path to where we are today as a company, with a hosting and support infrastructure that is tuned to online application hosting. We were also pleased to offer Marinestore the assurance of a support team that's well drilled in taking control of the technical and management considerations involved in bringing large sites across from other providers without service interruptions. Finding a host to deliver A practical understanding of hosted applications and repeated experience of migrating sites from other hosts meant that Marinestore could be confident in the ability of 1st Easy to provide a proven home for their online store, as John Lodge relates: What has impressed me greatly is the support response, honesty and willingness to resolve problems quickly. The support staff have been straight talking and to the point. Further, as one of our prime motivators for the move, the response times for our site are noticeably faster since the migration, as is the throughput. John Lodge Owner, Marinestore 4

5 Find out more If you are interested finding out how 1st Easy's support team and hosting environment can improve the performance of your online applications, please call (free from a UK landline) for a free consultation and assessment of your requirements. Marinestore Online Chandlery Further information about Marinestore is available at: Global reach, Find out local more support 5