Ecommerce consultancy sets platform for Myakka

Venture Forge, which was set up by Andy Banks, the former head of ecommerce at Matalan in 2018, beat at least two other agencies to secure the contract and has been praised by Myakka for its ‘super smooth’ handling of the build which will enable the brand to further grow their fair trade furnishings business online.

Myakka wanted to move away from its existing ecommerce platform, which was becoming a blocker to growth, and on to the Shopify Plus platform. This needed to be done seamlessly, with no customer or negative commercial impact and with no disruption to the day to day running of the business. And it all had to be completed in just five weeks.

Venture Forge CEO Andy Banks said: “With a deadline of five weeks it would have been all too easy to try and solve the challenge by throwing resource at it. But by staying true to our values of intelligent innovation and dynamic progress we took a different approach; one of focus, prioritisation and agility over one of speed.

“With an immoveable deadline and by working as one team with Myakka, we took a minimum viable product approach to the re-platform and worked iteratively across the five weeks to deliver as much value as we could together. By focusing on results and outcomes, we created a way of working that allowed us to share progress, prioritise issues and functionality and deliver what the business really needed for the transition.”

Venture Forge was brought in to deliver this initial piece of work but is now working with Myakka on a longer-term basis.

Myakka, based in Somerset, sells beautifully handcrafted, sustainably sourced furniture and home decor.