Illicado E-Commerce & App Upgrade
Illicado, the French market leader in multi-brand gift cards, partnered with Cyclad to upgrade their e-commerce platform and develop a new native app. The goal was to increase performance, improve security for cash-value products, and expand into the B2B market with bulk purchasing capabilities.
- Client
- Illicado
- Service
- Migration, Integration, Web & App Development
- Industry
- E-commerce · Web Application
- Location
- France
Challenge
Illicado's existing e-commerce platform was built on Magento 1 and was struggling to meet the growing demands of both B2C and emerging B2B customers. The brand needed a comprehensive technology partner to modernize their digital presence, migrate complex data to Magento 2, and build a native mobile experience that would allow customers to locate physical stores and validate gift cards on the go. Given that gift cards carry real cash value, security enhancements were non-negotiable throughout every layer of the stack.
- UI and UX upgrade of Illicado's existing e-commerce website and native app
- Migrate the entire e-commerce backend from Magento 1 to Magento 2 without data loss
- Develop bulk purchasing features to enable B2B clients to buy large quantities of gift cards
- Integrate external platforms like Amazon for expanded marketplace reach
- Build a native app with geolocation of physical stores and a barcode scanner for gift card validation
- Increase security for both the website and app, given the cash value of gift cards sold
Solution
Cyclad took on the full scope of Illicado's digital transformation — from backend migration to front-end redesign and native app development. Despite the complexity of the technology stack and the volume of data involved, our team successfully migrated the entire e-commerce backend from Magento 1 to Magento 2. This migration significantly improved performance, code quality, and scalability.
On top of the platform migration, Cyclad upgraded the UI and UX design of both the website and app to deliver a modern, intuitive experience. We enabled various API integrations and third-party payment solutions, and integrated external platforms like Amazon to expand Illicado's marketplace presence. A new bulk purchasing feature was developed to serve B2B clients, allowing them to buy large quantities of gift cards with just a few clicks via a single form.
Security was reinforced across both the website and the app to protect cash-value transactions and customer data. Cyclad also developed a native mobile app using Cordova, featuring geolocation to find the nearest physical stores and a barcode scanner to read and validate gift cards instantly.
Results
Illicado's gift card solutions received a staggering 92% customer satisfaction rating. But the core objectives were to increase platform performance and successfully expand into new markets. After the Magento 2 migration and comprehensive UI upgrade, the web application became significantly faster and more effective at converting visitors into customers.
The introduction of bulk purchasing capabilities enabled Illicado to enter the B2B market with confidence, increasing their profit margin and opening a new revenue stream. Overall sales grew by 30% after launch, validating the success of the full digital transformation.