The Skin Store
Case Study · Dermatologist-Curated Beauty Ecommerce · Shopify Migration & Maintenance · Bengaluru, India

Platform migration, Shopify rebuild and ongoing care for The Skin Store — India's original dermatologist-backed beauty store

How Aximz Technologies redesigned and rebuilt the Shopify website, executed a complete data migration from the legacy platform, and provides ongoing maintenance for The Skin Store — India’s first and most trusted dermatologist- curated online skincare destination, founded in 2008 by Dr. Mukta Sachdev in Bengaluru.

  • Client

The Skin Store

  • PLATFORM

Shopify (migrated)

  • FOUNDED

2008 by Dr. Mukta Sachdev

  • LOCATION

Bengaluru, India

  • INSTAGRAM

27K+ followers

  • ENGAGEMENT

Ongoing

  • Shopify Website Redesign
  • Shopify Development
  • Full Platform Migration
  • Data Migration
  • Product Data Migration
  • Customer Data Migration
  • Order History Migration
  • SEO Preservation
  • Ongoing Maintenance
  • Performance Monitoring
About The Skin Store

India's original dermatologist-curated skincare destination — since 2008

 The Skin Store was conceptualised in early 2008 by Dr. Mukta Sachdev — one of India’s most respected dermatologists — with a singular mission: to bring genuine dermatological skincare expertise and internationally trusted cosmeceutical products to Indian consumers through the convenience of online shopping. Long before the Indian skincare D2C boom, The Skin Store was already doing what most beauty platforms still fail at — curating, not aggregating.

Every product on The Skin Store is assessed and selected by a panel of experienced clinical dermatologists, based on efficacy for Indian skin types and conditions. All products are hypoallergenic, medically tested, and dermatologically recommended globally. This is not a marketplace of everything — it is a curated selection of the finest cosmeceutical brands, personally validated by doctors who prescribe and use them in clinical practice.

What makes The Skin Store distinct

  • Founded 2008 — early online beauty platform (pre-D2C boom)
  • Founded by a practicing clinical dermatologist (not entrepreneur)
  • Dermatologist panel curates products (no paid shelf space)
  • Cosmeceutical focus — medically tested, hypoallergenic
  • Flagship store + online + consultation service

Product Categories

Skin: Face, Body, Eye Care, Sunscreens, Hand/Nail/Foot Care, Lip Care (100+ sub-categories); Hair: Hair Care, Hair Loss (Men & Women), Hair Styling, Tools & Accessories; Makeup: Face, Lips, Eyes, Nails, Tools & Brushes; Personal Care: Bath & Body, Feminine Hygiene, Personal Care Devices; Others: Baby & Mom, Household Supplies, Health & Wellness, Supplements, Natural & Organic.

THE CHALLENGE

A legacy platform that had outgrown itself — and a migration that could not lose a single record

The Skin Store had been operating since 2008 — accumulating 16+ years of customer data, order history, product listings, collections, reviews, and brand configurations. The platform became slow, difficult to customise, visually outdated, and expensive to maintain.

Migration to Shopify was high-stakes: no data loss, no SEO loss, no broken URLs, no downtime. At the same time, the new storefront had to reflect clinical authority and curated positioning.

Website & UX challenges

  • Legacy platform outdated & inconsistent
  • 100+ sub-category navigation complexity
  • "Your Concern" (condition-based browsing) missing
  • Dermatologist authority not communicated
  • Rewards & wishlist integration needed

Migration challenges

  • 16+ years customer data transfer
  • Thousands of product listings with variants
  • 301 redirect mapping for all URLs
  • Zero downtime requirement
  • Third-party tools reconfiguration: Swym, Klaviyo, Smile.io
Platform Migration — What We Moved

16 years of data — transferred cleanly, zero loss

Aximz executed a complete migration preserving operational history and SEO authority.

Full product catalogue

SKUs, variants, images, descriptions, tags, brands

Collection & category architecture

100+ sub-categories

Customer database

Accounts, contact info, purchase history

Order history

All historical transactions preserved

Customer database

Re-associated correctly

URL redirect map

301 redirects for every legacy URL

Third-party integrations

Swym, Klaviyo, Smile.io, Enalito

Zero downtime execution

No disruption to live store

Our Approach

Audit, migrate, rebuild, stabilise — in that order

01

Full audit

Conducted a comprehensive audit of the legacy platform before touching anything: full product catalogue inventory (all SKUs, variants, imagery, collections, and brand mappings), customer database assessment, order history scope, all live URLs and their search ranking status, third-party integration inventory, and technical performance baseline. Output: a complete migration plan with data mapping specifications, a URL redirect sheet for every page on the legacy site, a prioritised list of SEO assets to preserve, and a phased migration schedule designed for zero-downtime execution.

02

Shopify website design

Conducted a comprehensive audit of the legacy platform before touching anything: full product catalogue inventory (all SKUs, variants, imagery, collections, and brand mappings), customer database assessment, order history scope, all live URLs and their search ranking status, third-party integration inventory, and technical performance baseline. Output: a complete migration plan with data mapping specifications, a URL redirect sheet for every page on the legacy site, a prioritised list of SEO assets to preserve, and a phased migration schedule designed for zero-downtime execution.

03

Data Migration

Executed the migration in carefully sequenced phases to minimise risk and ensure data integrity at each step. Products first: all SKUs migrated with full variant structures, dermatologist-curated category tags, brand associations, and imagery. Then collections: the full 100+ sub-category architecture rebuilt on Shopify, matching the legacy structure while improving UX logic. Customer data: all accounts migrated with purchase history intact — customers prompted to reset passwords on the new platform (as the legacy authentication system could not transfer securely). Order history: all historical orders preserved and accessible within customer accounts. Reviews: migrated and re-associated to correct product pages. 301 redirects: every legacy URL mapped and redirected to the corresponding new Shopify URL to protect accumulated organic rankings.

04

Integrations & SEO preservation

Reconfigured all third-party integrations on the new Shopify platform: Swym for wishlist functionality, Klaviyo for email marketing flows and customer segmentation, Smile.io for the Rewards loyalty programme, and Enalito for push notifications. Each integration tested end-to-end before launch. SEO preservation: all 301 redirects validated against the legacy URL inventory, Shopify's canonical tag structure configured correctly, XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, and a post-migration crawl conducted to identify and resolve any redirect chains, broken links, or indexation issues. Core Web Vitals optimised on the new Shopify theme — image delivery via WebP, lazy loading, and minimal third-party script loading on initial page load.

05

Launch & monitoring

Coordinated a zero-downtime launch: new Shopify store prepared and tested in full on a staging environment, DNS cutover executed during off-peak hours, legacy platform kept live as a fallback for 48 hours post-launch. Immediate post-launch monitoring: crawl health, redirect resolution, search console coverage report, Core Web Vitals, and payment/checkout flow testing. 30-day post-migration monitoring report covering organic traffic retention, redirect performance, and any indexation anomalies. Customer communication managed through Klaviyo — all existing customers notified of the platform migration and prompted to reset passwords through a clear, branded email sequence.

06

Ongoing maintenance

Aximz provides ongoing Shopify maintenance for The Skin Store — ensuring the platform operates reliably as the product catalogue grows, new brands are onboarded, and the Shopify platform itself evolves. Monthly tasks: Shopify app and theme updates, third-party integration health monitoring (Swym, Klaviyo, Smile.io, Enalito), product catalogue updates, collection adjustments, and technical issue resolution. Performance monitoring: Core Web Vitals tracking, checkout conversion monitoring, and site speed audits on a scheduled basis. Security: regular security scans, Shopify platform security patches applied promptly, and payment flow security monitoring. New product and brand onboarding: as The Skin Store adds new dermatologist-curated brands to its catalogue, Aximz handles the product data setup, collection mapping, and SEO tagging for each addition.

What We Built & Maintain

A complete platform rebuild and perpetual care partner

100+

Sub-categories
migrated

16+

Years of data migrated

5

Integrations
reconfigured

0

Downtime

100%

Redirects mapped

Ongoing

Maintenance

Full Page & Feature Coverage

Homepage (Dermatologist Authority), Makeup, Brands (Landing Pages), Rewards (Smile.io), Skin Hub (Face, Brightening, Cleanser, Sunscreens, etc.), Personal Care, Your Concern (Condition-Based Navigation), Customer Accounts, Hair Hub (Hair Care, Loss, Styling), Baby & Mom, Wishlist (Swym), and Order History. Ongoing activities include Brand Onboarding, Product Updates, and SEO Tagging.

What We Built & Maintain

More visible, more trusted, more bookings

161%

Organic search traffic

4%

Bounce rate

3.7×

Consultation bookings

96

Page Speed score

38%

Page 1 rankings

2.8×

Average session duration

100+

Pages written

50+

Procedure pages

Client Voice

What the Skin Store team said

“The Skin Store has been India’s most trusted dermatologist-curated beauty destination for 16 years. The migration Aximz executed protected every year of that trust — and the new platform finally reflects the clinical authority this brand has always had.”

— The Skin Store, Bengaluru

FULL CONCEPT DELIVERABLES

Everything Aximz delivered for The Skin Store

  • Full legacy platform audit
  • Data migration plan
  • Shopify website design
  • Dual navigation system
  • 100+ sub-category rebuild
  • Order history migration
  • 301 redirect mapping
  • Klaviyo integration
  • Enalito integration
  • Sitemap generation
  • Core Web Vitals optimisation
  • QA (16 devices)
  • Product onboarding & SEO tagging
  • Security monitoring
  • Product catalogue + customer + SEO audit
  • URL redirect mapping
  • Clinical authority UX
  • Full product catalogue migration
  • Customer database migration
  • Product review migration
  • Swym integration
  • Smile.io integration
  • SEO preservation — canonical tags
  • Crawl audit
  • Zero downtime launch
  • Post-migration monitoring
  • Ongoing Shopify maintenance
  • Performance monitoring