How Kathmandu Pulled Off a Four-Month Shopify Migration Mid Flash Sale | #637

Craig Mildenhall did not start in ecommerce. Years at Loyalty New Zealand, then global loyalty and consumer engagement at adidas in Europe, then GM of Digital at Kathmandu, where he has spent two years rebuilding one of Australia and New Zealand's most loved outdoor brands from the platform up. New site, new loyalty program, new way of working, and a four-month Shopify migration he launched right in the middle of a flash sale. We had Craig on because almost every operator either has a replatform on the horizon or is quietly avoiding one, and his story shows what it actually takes when you stop avoiding it.

Key moments

02:14 - From Loyalty NZ and adidas Europe to GM of Digital at Kathmandu
06:48 - "The data tells you what happened. The customer tells you why."
11:30 - Why the four-month Shopify migration timeline was non-negotiable
17:05 - Launching mid flash sale and what that actually looked like in the war room
23:22 - The single email that made millions, and the insight behind it
29:10 - Moving CRM from Salesforce Marketing Cloud to Klaviyo, and the team change that came with it
34:48 - Rebuilding the loyalty program from scratch around the new platform
41:15 - The store of the future and what "getting people outdoors" looks like as a digital brief

What was your biggest takeaway from this episode?