Background
Tony’s Chocolonely is a mission-driven chocolate company dedicated to creating a fairer cocoa industry. For years, the brand ran its e-commerce operations on a custom-built Sofia CMS platform. While functional, Sofia became increasingly restrictive:
High maintenance costs for updates and new features
Limited scalability for global expansion
Complex content management that required developer support
Inconsistent customer experience across regions
As Tony’s international presence grew, the business needed a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective commerce platform that could empower local teams, reduce technical debt, and support global growth.
The Project Goal
Migrate Tony’s Chocolonely’s online stores from Sofia CMS to Shopify Plus across 7 regions (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK, US, Austria, and Global), while:
Maintaining brand identity and storytelling across all markets
Empowering local teams with autonomy over content and campaigns
Enabling growth through integrated tools for marketing, fulfilment, and personalisation
Reducing reliance on heavy development cycles and lowering platform costs
My Role
Our founder Philip worked internally at Tony’s Chocolonely and alongside multiple specialist partners to deliver this complex migration. Acting as both product manager and solution architect, I bridged business, design, and technology needs to ensure a smooth transition to Shopify Plus.
I coordinated across Tony’s internal teams (IT, e-commerce, retail, design, and operations) while managing external partners including AskPhill (Shopify experts), Wolfpack (OMS and ERP integration specialists) DokOnline (SEO), and Bitfactory (Custom wrapper creator).
My responsibilities included:
Driving the overall migration roadmap and aligning stakeholders from executives to local market managers
Gathering regional requirements to meet tax, shipping, and language regulations
Designing the global commerce architecture and selecting/integrating apps for B2B, subscriptions, and personalisation
Overseeing content and catalogue migration while safeguarding SEO equity
Managing rollout risks, training, and handover to local teams
Through this role, I ensured the project not only met technical and operational requirements but also empowered local markets to grow autonomously while staying true to Tony’s global brand mission.
Key Actions & Deliverables
Platform Audit & Requirements Gathering – Defined must-have vs. nice-to-have features for Shopify Plus
Multi-Market Strategy Design – Built a global theme with localised storefronts for 7 regions
Content & Data Migration – Migrated product catalogues, mapped content, and preserved SEO equity with redirects and structured data
Checkout & Payment Localisation – Configured tax rules, shipping rates, and payment options per region
Integration Ecosystem Build – Connected Shopify Plus with ERP, fulfilment partners, Klaviyo, subscriptions, and loyalty tools
B2B Enablement – Delivered a framework for wholesale, corporate gifting, and bulk orders
Training & Handover – Produced documentation and ran workshops to upskill local teams
Challenges & Solutions
Seasonal Disruption Risk – Phased rollouts avoided peak periods like Valentine’s Day and Christmas, with parallel runs and fallback plans.
Brand Storytelling vs. Local Needs – Designed a flexible content system that kept core brand elements consistent while enabling localisation.
Regulatory Complexity Across Regions – Used Shopify Plus scripts and tailored checkout flows to meet tax, legal, and fulfilment needs.
The Results
🌍 7 markets launched on Shopify Plus within 7 months
⏳ 30% faster time-to-market for campaigns and product launches
💰 Lower maintenance costs with reduced reliance on custom development
🛠 Improved local autonomy – teams can now launch promotions and update content independently
🚀 Foundation for future growth – supporting expansion into new regions, B2B, subscriptions, and collaborations
Conclusion
The migration to Shopify Plus transformed Tony’s Chocolonely’s global e-commerce operations. By moving away from a rigid, developer-heavy platform, Tony’s gained agility, scalability, and cost efficiency—empowering local teams to tell their story and support the brand’s mission of making 100% slave-free chocolate the norm across the world.