Case Study · Migration + Redesign

From Magento 2 to Shopify-
designed to celebrate
the Land of Enchantment.

Made in New Mexico is a beloved destination for authentic New Mexico-made products green chile sauces, artisan food, Native American crafts, handmade jewellery, and regional gifts. We migrated their entire operation from Magento 2 to Shopify and built a new store that finally does justice to the story behind every product they sell.

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Magento 2
→ Shopify
Regional
Artisan brand
NM
New Mexico made
Full
Redesign
Live Store Preview

The finished store, live on Shopify

A warm, editorial storefront that brings New Mexico's culture to every page built to convert for gifting, food, and artisan craft shoppers on any device.

Visit madeinnewmexico.com
Made in New Mexico desktop
Made in New Mexico mobile
About the brand

More than a store - a celebration of New Mexico

Made in New Mexico is more than a retail store it is a celebration of the people, culture, and craft traditions of New Mexico. The brand curates products that are authentically sourced from New Mexico makers: the fiery green chile sauces and red chile products that define New Mexico's culinary identity, handwoven textiles and pottery from indigenous artisans, turquoise jewellery, woodwork, and regional gifts that carry genuine provenance and story.

Operating as both a physical destination store and an online retailer, Made in New Mexico's digital presence needed to match the warmth, authenticity, and cultural richness of the brand and to serve both loyal New Mexico natives ordering from out of state and national audiences discovering New Mexico culture for the first time.

The opportunity was clear: migrate from a platform that was holding the brand back, and build a storefront that truly tells the story behind every product it sells.

Made in New Mexico screenshot Homepage - madeinnewmexico.com
What makes the brand

Understanding the project — four key facts

Before building anything, we needed to fully understand what Made in New Mexico was its audiences, its product complexity, and what an authentic digital expression of the brand needed to achieve.

01
Authentic New Mexico provenance is the product
Unlike conventional retail, Made in New Mexico's value proposition is fundamentally about where products come from and who made them. The new store needed to surface maker stories, regional origin, and cultural context as prominently as the products themselves.
02
A complex, multi-category artisan catalogue
Food products (chile, salsa, spices, sweets), handmade crafts (jewellery, pottery, textiles), art and prints, apparel, and home goods — each category with different product requirements, content needs, and compliance considerations, particularly for food shipping.
03
A customer base split between locals and national discovery buyers
Long-time fans of New Mexico who moved away and now order to satisfy their homesickness. First-time visitors discovering New Mexico culture. Gift buyers purchasing for Southwest lovers. Three distinct audiences, each needing a different discovery path.
04
Food product compliance and shipping requirements
New Mexico chile and food products have specific shipping requirements temperature sensitivity, shelf life, and certain regulated items. The new store needed accurate shipping restriction logic and transparent food product descriptions that met online food retail standards.
The challenge

A brand with a great story, held back by the wrong platform

Made in New Mexico had the products, the provenance, and the loyal customer base. The platform and the storefront were falling short. These were the four core problems we were brought in to solve.

Platform
Magento 2 was limiting the brand's storytelling
Magento 2's architecture made it difficult to build the kind of editorial, story-rich product pages that artisan and regional brands need. The platform required developer involvement for every content change making it expensive to keep the site's cultural content fresh and current.
Story
Artisan provenance not surfacing on product pages
The most powerful differentiator Made in New Mexico had the stories of the makers, the cultural context of the craft traditions, the specific geographic origin of the chile was buried in product descriptions rather than presented with the visual prominence and editorial quality it deserved.
Discovery
Multi-category navigation without clear wayfinding
A catalogue spanning food, crafts, jewellery, apparel, and home goods across dozens of makers and collections needed a navigation and filtering architecture that made it easy for different types of shoppers to find what they came for or discover something they didn't know they wanted.
SEO
Existing organic search presence at risk during migration
Years of organic search authority built on Magento 2 URL structures. A platform migration without proper 301 redirect management would hand those rankings and the organic traffic they drove to competitors in the New Mexico gifts and regional food space.
Our approach

Migrated to Shopify, designed to tell the story

We started from a clear brief migrate everything safely, preserve the organic search equity, and build a new store that puts New Mexico's artisan culture at the heart of the shopping experience. Every decision followed that principle.

Phase 01
Discovery, Content Audit & Migration Planning
A thorough review of the Magento 2 store: full product catalogue, maker and provenance data, CMS content, URL architecture, and organic search position. Alongside the technical migration plan, a content strategy was developed to surface artisan stories and regional provenance more prominently in the new store.
Phase 02
Story-First Design Direction
A warm, editorial design direction that reflected the colours, textures, and cultural identity of New Mexico terracotta, turquoise, desert tones, and hand-crafted typography. Wireframes established the information hierarchy for story-rich product pages that balance commerce with cultural context.
Phase 03
Shopify 2.0 Theme Development
A custom Shopify 2.0 theme with maker story content blocks on product pages, curated collection landing pages (Chile Shop, Jewellery, Crafts, Gift Guides), a regional provenance badge system, and gift wrap and personalised message functionality for the large gifting customer base.
Phase 04
Data Migration & Provenance Architecture
Products, customers, and order history migrated cleanly from Magento 2. Maker story content was structured using Shopify metaobjects to create a consistent provenance presentation across all artisan products. Food product shipping restrictions and compliance content were built into the product template architecture.
Phase 05
301 Redirects, SEO & Gifting Features
Complete 301 redirect map built from the Magento 2 URL crawl. Gift guide collection pages built as editorial landing pages. Gift card functionality enabled and configured. Email marketing integration with Klaviyo configured around the gifting calendar holiday, green chile harvest season, and cultural celebration campaigns.
Phase 06
QA, Launch & Post-Launch Support
Pre-launch QA covering product data accuracy, food shipping restriction logic, gift functionality, and cross-device performance. Launch managed as a low-disruption cutover. Post-launch support covered the first season of live trading, including the green chile harvest season rush.
Key highlights

Four things that made the biggest difference

The new store gave Made in New Mexico a digital presence that finally matches the warmth and authenticity of the brand it represents. Here are the four areas that drove the most meaningful change.

01 - Story
Artisan provenance at the heart of every product
Maker story content blocks, regional provenance badges, and cultural context sections built into the product page template turning browsing into a genuine exploration of New Mexico's craft traditions.
02 - Migration
Clean Magento 2 to Shopify transfer
Every product, customer record, and order history migrated without data loss. All Magento 2 URLs redirected to their Shopify equivalents, preserving the organic search equity built over years of trading.
03 - Design
New Mexico's culture expressed through the store
Terracotta warmth, turquoise accents, and editorial photography placement a visual language that carries the cultural identity of New Mexico into every page of the store.
04 - Gifting
Built for New Mexico's national gifting audience
Gift guide landing pages, gift wrapping and message functionality, and curated collection pages built around gifting occasions capturing the large national audience buying New Mexico gifts for family, friends, and former residents.
Magento 2→ Shopify
Zero-data-loss migration
100%
SEO URL continuity via 301 redirects
Multi
Multi-category artisan catalogue re-architected
Gift
Gift wrapping & message functionality
Store screenshots

Click any screenshot to enlarge. Replace the placeholder images with your own page screenshots homepage, product page with maker story, or gift guide collection page.

Made in New Mexico full view Homepage — Full view
Product Page — Maker Story Product Page — Maker Story
Collection / Gift Guide Collection / Gift Guide
Mobile View Mobile View
Technology used

Built on the right foundation

Every technology decision was made to serve the brand's story-first mission - giving the Made in New Mexico team the tools to keep their cultural content fresh, their gifting experience seamless, and their food compliance watertight.

Shopify
Replaced Magento 2 with Shopify's content-management-friendly platform giving the Made in New Mexico team the ability to update product stories, add new makers, and publish seasonal content without developer involvement.
Shopify 2.0 Custom Theme
Bespoke theme with New Mexico's cultural visual language warm editorial layouts, maker story content blocks, regional provenance badge system, and gift guide collection page templates.
Metaobjects for Maker Profiles
Shopify metaobjects used to build structured maker profiles name, location, craft tradition, cultural background, and photography linked to all products from that maker for consistent provenance presentation.
Gift Functionality
Shopify native gift card setup, gift wrap add-on, and personalised message at checkout configured and styled for the large gifting customer base that forms a significant proportion of Made in New Mexico's sales.
Klaviyo Email Marketing
Klaviyo configured around New Mexico's seasonal calendar green chile harvest season, holiday gifting, and cultural celebration campaigns with segmentation for local customers, out-of-state New Mexico natives, and first-time gifting buyers.
Food Shipping Compliance
Product-level shipping restriction logic for temperature-sensitive and regulated food products, transparent delivery timeframe display for perishable items, and compliance-aware product description templates for all food and beverage SKUs.
Client Reviews

What our clients say about working with us

View all on Shopify
★★★★★

"Axis Web Art developed our website. They are easy to work with, thorough, and responsive. We have been very happy with their service."

GL
Garrett Leather
Roberta Sand, Marketing Director
★★★★★

"Great work, they know how to change your theme effectively without any issues. Fixed a few tiny issues moments after identifying them. Always a pleasure to work with this team of highly skilled players."

TC
Timothy
Founder, Timothy De Clue Collection
★★★★★

"We crafted a soothing online shopping experience for Bubbaroo, a leading Australian baby sleep bag brand. Our Shopify store design and development focused on safety, comfort, and parent peace of mind."

BU
Bubbaroo
Nicole Cassey, Founder
★★★★★
5.0 / 5.0 on Shopify Partner Directory 37 verified reviews
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02
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03
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