50 Websites Migration from Drupal 7 to 8

A Complete Digital Transformation for an FMCG Corporation

multisite-website-windows-layers

Key takeaways


The corporation achieved a digital leap by upgrading to a platform that enabled effortless management and rapid creation of multilingual multisites. The websites are 100% mobile-friendly, GDPR-compliant, and SEO-friendly, with centralized development managed through a single core at Headquarters.

Content for each site is managed by local teams, and any developed module, including the AI engine, can be reused across all sites. This AI engine recommends articles, products, tools, and services to site users, leading to an increased average visitor time on the website and improved conversions.

About the client and their digital assets:

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The client is a division of an international FMCG Corporation and a large player in the baby nutrition market. The company produces a new generation of foods for infants in the first months of life after birth.

The corporation operates across 50 markets, each representing a specific region or country with unique demands, languages, and laws that their websites must accommodate.

As a result, they had to manage 50 distinct websites built on Drupal 7, leading to numerous challenges including costly maintenance & support, facing local corruption, and limited website functionality on mobile devices.

Key results

Challenge puzzle
  • 50 websites were successfully migrated to Drupal 8, with their new design aligned with brand visual standards.
  • 100% GDPR, mobile- and SEO-friendly.
  • Headquarters now manages the development of all sites through a single core.
  • Local teams can now effortlessly add and edit localized content through the admin panel.
  • 50x functional scalability was achieved, as each developed module can be reused.
  • 3x increase in the speed of feature delivery (from 6 to 2 months).
  • 10x faster time-to-market for new websites, thanks to the single core (Super Platform for creating multilingual multisite systems).
  • 10x decrease in the number of bugs, thanks to Shift Left Testing and autotesting.
  • 96% of cases now pass the security scan on the first attempt when releasing new features.
  • $8 million in annual cost savings on hosting is expected after all corporation branches migrate.

Challenges

Key results
  • Migrate all 50 websites from Drupal 7 to 8 due to the impending end-of-life of Drupal 7.
  • Streamline the management and development of the websites.
  • Redesign the sites to align their visual identity with the brand.
  • Reduce the costs of technical support.
  • Eliminate the influence of local corruption on site development.
  • Enable easy management of localized content by local editorial teams.
  • Enhance mobile compatibility of the brand and incorporate necessary features to execute a new marketing strategy targeting young people as the core audience.

Digital Transformation: Solutions for Implementing the New Marketing Strategy

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Mobile-First Design

The company realized that mobile phones have revolutionized how their target audience interacts with the brand — customers now prefer to visit websites, search for products, and make purchases via their phones. Indeed, while previously the company had to vie for the best shelf space, it now competes for digital presence on customer mobile device screens.

Therefore, when developing the new website design, we followed the mobile-first design strategy. Designing for mobile devices took precedence over desktops. Only after the mobile layouts were approved did we proceed to develop the desktop versions.

The mobile version's design has been so meticulously crafted that the company's mobile app will completely copy it.

Mobile-First Design

AI Engine Development

One of the most challenging tasks was the development of the AI engine. To tackle this task, the Attico team conducted numerous meetings with the company's representatives. We learned how the company defines the target audience and what marketing forecasts and hypotheses they had put forth.

We created seven distinct AI algorithms and presented them to the company. Following the setup phase, we launched a pilot project utilizing the selected algorithm in one of the Asian markets.

AI engine application

The algorithm is applied in the 'Related Articles', 'Related Products', and 'Related Tools & Services' sections. AI recommendations increase the likelihood that a user, after reading a particular article, will explore the proposed ones and learn about the most suitable products for them.

It also extends the average time a visitor spends on the website. And keeping customers on the site for longer leads to improved conversions.

The AI engine is also utilized in the user's personal account in the 'Best Match for You' section. Based on user behavior, our algorithm identifies their interests and suggests articles on topics they may want to read and subscribe to. The key goal is to increase the likelihood of users clicking on the recommended articles.

AI engine application

Ways to Retain Users on the Website

1 - Content:

The company's websites contain a lot of useful content, including articles on nutrition, growth, development, recommendations, expert opinions, videos, etc. These resources aim to provide parents with explanations and information on healthy feeding and nutrition for children. Consistency plays a crucial role in establishing user habits of repeatedly visiting the website to read content, find answers to questions, or ask for advice.

2 - Related Tools & Services:

The company's target audience often searches the internet for tools such as pregnancy calendars or due date calculators. To cater to these needs, the FMCG Corporation developed such products and services, which our team incorporated into the 'Related Tools & Services' section. The main purpose of these tools is to return users to the website.

Data Collection Methods:

1 - User's Personal Account

A personal account serves as the user's individual space for creating and editing their profile, indicating interests and preferences, and subscribing to topics. In this personal section, the user receives newly-published articles on their subscription topics, as well as product recommendations based on their shopping cart analysis.

2 - Analytics

Attico experts utilize analytics to monitor customer engagement. We transform data into information, and information into insights. The use of tools and services leaves digital footprints from users. For example, if a customer uses the pregnancy calculator, the system infers that they are expecting a baby, calculates the due date, and recommends relevant content.

Additionally, the system analyzes the information provided in the user's personal account. For instance, based on the current age of the child, the system can predict what the parent may be interested in the near future.

Data Collection Methods

GDPR:

Collecting and storing user data to provide them personalized content, we understand the importance of GDPR, especially since children's personal data requires special protection.

All of the company's websites are fully GDPR-compliant, thanks to the SAP CIAM (Customer Identity and Access Management) platform. This tool is recognized across Europe as a standard for storing user data.

Brand Corners:

Each brand within the company has its own section on the website dedicated to presenting products. These sections also include textual content, promotional blocks, filters, and user reviews. Additionally, every section features a brand story video, which is one of the most effective methods to increase the conversion rate.

Managing their sections, each brand can integrate with privileged online or offline stores. The 'Find Store' section provides information about leftover in-store inventory.

The section also includes a 'Recipes' block featuring healthy baby recipes and meal ideas based on the brand's products. The objective of this block is to introduce the brand's products, encourage consumers to take action, educate them on how to use the brand's product line, and boost conversion.

GPDR

Technical Solutions: Enhancing Open Source CMS Features

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Website builder

The FMCG Corporation division assigned us the task to make the website administration as user-friendly as possible for non-technical managers. Hence, we developed the website's features and functionalities to be incredibly manager-friendly.

To this end, we developed an intuitive and extremely convenient website builder that allows the creation of individual webpages without requiring any technical skills. Creatin pages, managers simply need to insert text and images, and check the required fields.

Website builder

Marketing Tools Integration

We implemented essential marketing tool integrations tailored to each local market. For instance, MailChimp is preferred for email marketing in some markets, while the Adobe advertising platform is popular in others. Our team ensured that each local website had a user-friendly interface and effective marketing tools.

Customizable Out-of-the-Box Solutions

The company's websites are content-rich, demanding robust and reliable functionality. To this end, we provided an out-of-the-box solution that includes all essentials for SEO, all required tools, services, and AI algorithms.

Simultaneously, the solution allows the company to highly customize the website functionality to meet the unique business goals in each local market, and to prioritize content and products according to the specific needs of their local customers.

Customizable Out-of-the-Box Solutions

Technical Challenges

This project was quite demanding. On the one hand, we needed to accomplish the assigned tasks promptly and launch a pilot project in one of the markets within six months. On the other hand, we were tasked with creating a tool that could effectively scale across 50 local markets.

Creating the correct software architecture was the most challenging aspect. When developing each feature, we meticulously evaluated how it would function across 50 websites and how we would provide technical support across three time zones.

While developing new functionality, we provided the necessary technical capabilities to ensure its smooth running on 50 websites. Each newly developed module can be reused on all websites, providing 50x functional scalability and dramatically reducing both development and support costs.

Hosting

The cloud hosting of the Open Source CMS platform is designed to locate the servers as close as possible to the target markets. This reduces hosting costs and simultaneously increases delivery speed.

Hosting

Result

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In addition to successfully migrating 50 websites from Drupal 7 to 8, the corporation underwent a complete digital transformation by transitioning to a Super Platform. The platform empowered the team to effortlessly manage and rapidly create multilingual multisite, including for other brands.

The websites are 100% mobile-, GDPR-, and SEO-friendly, with centralized development through a single core at Headquarters.

Each developed module can be reused across all sites, dramatically reducing development and support costs and increasing functional scalability by 50 times.

The company successfully employed the new marketing strategy targeted at their core audience—young customers. Content for each site is tailored for local market specifics and managed by local teams. Any developed module or tool, including the AI engine, can be reused across all sites. This AI engine recommends articles, products, tools, and services to site users, leading to an increase in the average visitor time spent on the website and improved conversions.

$8 million in annual cost savings on hosting is expected after all corporation branches migrate.

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