--- title: "E-Commerce Platform Redesign Magento Enterprise Edition (Fleurance Nature)" description: "Full redesign of fleurancenature.fr on Magento Enterprise Edition - multi-site architecture with 60 custom modules across 3 websites." locale: "en" canonical: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/refonte-ecommerce-magento-fleurancenature" source: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/refonte-ecommerce-magento-fleurancenature.md" html_source: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/refonte-ecommerce-magento-fleurancenature" author: "José DA COSTA" date: "2017" type: "achievement" slug: "refonte-ecommerce-magento-fleurancenature" tags: ["PHP 5.3", "Magento EE 1.10", "ElasticSearch", "Zend Framework", "MySQL", "Varnish", "Apache", "WordPress", "Solr", "LXC", "***", "Git"] generated_at: "2026-04-24T08:30:09.867Z" --- # E-Commerce Platform Redesign Magento Enterprise Edition (Fleurance Nature) Full redesign of fleurancenature.fr on Magento Enterprise Edition - multi-site architecture with 60 custom modules across 3 websites. **Date:** July 2017 - September 2017 **Duration:** 3 months **Role:** Senior Software Engineer - Full-Stack **Technologies:** PHP 5.3, Magento EE 1.10, ElasticSearch, Zend Framework, MySQL, Varnish, Apache, WordPress, Solr, LXC, ***, Git ### Key Metrics - Custom Modules: **-** - Magento custom modules - PHP Files: **-** - Modified or created - Websites: **-** - FR, International, Mincifine - Environments: **-** - From local to production ## Presentation _Project scope and business context_ ### Domain B2C e-commerce - natural and organic products (health, beauty, food supplements) ### Target Users End consumers (France and international) purchasing natural products online. Back-office users managing catalog, orders, and promotions. - Autocomplete search and faceted navigation with ElasticSearch - Mobile-responsive redesign and international storefront with localized pricing - Complex pricing rules (4 customer groups x 3 websites) - ERP bidirectional data flows **Fleurance Nature** is a French company founded in 1972, specialized in natural and organic products (health, beauty, food supplements). The company sold through its website fleurancenature.fr, running on Magento Enterprise Edition 1.10. The project was a full redesign of the e-commerce platform, carried out at Smile (Open Source Solutions agency). The scope covered 3 websites (Fleurance Nature France, International, Mincifine) and an overhaul of ERP data flows. **The existing codebase was heavily customized with 60 Magento modules, 1040 PHP files, and complex pricing rules involving 4 customer groups across 3 storefronts. The B2C business model targeted consumers looking for natural health and beauty products.** A significant part of the work involved Magento's **EAV (Entity-Attribute-Value) database architecture** - a schema design where product attributes were stored as rows in separate tables rather than columns in a single table. This approach gave maximum flexibility for adding custom product attributes (like "natural actives", "min/max weight", "virtual category identifiers") without altering the database schema. The trade-off was **query complexity: a simple product read can require JOINs across 6+ tables** (one per attribute type: varchar, int, decimal, text, datetime, and the main entity table). Magento's **XML configuration and class override system** let the 60 custom modules rewrite core behavior (models, blocks, controllers, helpers) without changing a single line of core code, through XML declarations merged at bootstrap. ### Functional Scope ## Objectives, Context & Key Considerations _Strategic goals and constraints_ ### Context The platform ran on **Magento Enterprise Edition 1.10**, **the state of the art for enterprise e-commerce at the start of the project**. The codebase had accumulated **60 custom modules** over the years, a natural reflection of a platform actively maintained in production. Pricing was particularly complex: **4 customer groups** (anonymous, general, loyalty subscribers, company committees) each had different price catalogs across **3 websites**. This created a **matrix of 12 pricing combinations**, each with its own set of rules and promotions. The specifications went through **7 versions over 2 months** (from v1.0 at 30 pages to v1.6 at 50 pages), reflecting the progressive discovery of edge cases and business rules encapsulated in the existing code. ### Backward Compatibility 60 accumulated custom modules: each change required regression testing across all 3 websites. ### Performance Thresholds Live production site: no performance degradation tolerated, Varnish caching operational throughout. ### WordPress Blog Integration via RSS RSS feed parsing, consistent with 2008-2014 integration practices before REST APIs and headless CMS. 512 articles to migrate without data loss. ### ERP Data Volumetry Full catalog synchronization: any error could corrupt product data, prices or stock levels across all 3 storefronts. ### Objectives - Redesign the front-end and back-office of 3 Magento websites with a modern responsive theme - Migrate the search engine from Solr to ElasticSearch with autocomplete and faceted navigation - Integrate the WordPress blog into Magento via RSS feed synchronization - Overhaul the ERP data flows for product catalog, stock, and order synchronization - Set up the marketing platform integration (tracking, emailing, analytics) ### Key Considerations ## Implementation Phases _Chronological breakdown over 13 months_ ### Effort Distribution by Phase (days) ### Phase 1 - ERP Flux (January - July 2017) - Reverse-engineered existing ERP flows and redesigned the bidirectional sync (products, stock, orders, customers) - Implemented the marketing platform integration (tracking, email triggers) - Automated tests for flux validation before deployment ### Phase 2 - Graphic Design & Wireframing (February - June 2017) - Wireframes for all key pages and responsive layouts (mobile, tablet, desktop) - Iterative validation of visual mockups with the client - Graphic design specifications for 3 distinct website themes ### Phase 3 - Specifications & Development (July - October 2017) - Detailed functional specifications (7 versions, 30 to 50 pages) - Search engine migration Solr to ElasticSearch (autocomplete, facets, virtual categories) - WordPress blog integration via RSS and responsive front-end theme across 3 storefronts ### Phase 4 - Testing & Delivery (September 2017 - January 2018) - Internal testing at Smile + client acceptance testing with formal PV sign-off - Content contribution phase: migration of 512 blog articles and product data - Coordinated production deployment across 8 environments ### Phase 5 - Warranty (December 2017 - March 2018) - Post-launch support during the 58-day warranty period - Monitoring of ElasticSearch indexing stability and production fixes - Handover of documentation and maintenance procedures to the TMA team ## The Team & Stakeholders _Project organization and interactions_ ### Validation Process **Formal sign-off** with **PV (proces-verbal) documents** at each phase. Specifications **reviewed and approved** before development. **Client acceptance testing** with **written validation** before production deployment. - Marketing platform provider (tracking, emailing) - ERP provider - Product catalog and order synchronization - Ideematic - External partner for specific integrations - Nicolas C. - Project Manager - Planning, client relationship, budget tracking - Richard B. - Specification Author - Functional analysis, requirement gathering, spec writing - José DA COSTA - Developer - Magento development, ElasticSearch migration, module customization The project followed a structured agency workflow with **formal validation gates**. Each deliverable required a **signed acceptance document (PV - proces-verbal)** before moving to the next phase. This approach **reduced ambiguity** but **added time to each iteration cycle**. Communication happened through **weekly progress meetings**, a **shared ticketing system**, and **formal specification reviews**. The client had a dedicated project contact (**Philippe B.**) who centralized all business decisions. ### Smile Team ### External Stakeholders ### Philippe B. - Client project contact at Fleurance Nature ## Results _Skills acquired and deliverables_ ### Custom Modules Distribution ### Technology Stack Breakdown - ElasticSearch search engine with autocomplete and faceted navigation across 3 websites - Complete responsive redesign of fleurancenature.fr, international, and Mincifine storefronts - Overhauled ERP bidirectional data flows (products, stock, orders, customers) - Marketing platform integration (tracking, emailing, analytics) - Mobile-responsive theme with international storefront support - WordPress blog migration (512 articles) integrated into Magento via RSS - Mastery of Magento EAV architecture (6+ tables per attribute, optimized queries, custom attributes) - Magento XML class override: rewrites in config.xml without touching core, debug of merged configs - Hands-on ElasticSearch experience (indexing, mapping, queries, autocomplete, facets) - E-commerce pricing complexity (multi-group, multi-website, catalog and cart rules) - Agency workflow (formal specs, PV sign-off, warranty periods) - Specification writing (7 versions, 50 pages of functional requirements) - Multi-environment deployment management (8 environments from local to production) ### Deliverables ### Skills Acquired ## The Project Aftermath _What happened after delivery_ The redesigned site went live and continued serving Fleurance Nature customers in production. The **ElasticSearch migration** improved **search relevance** and **autocomplete response times** compared to the previous Solr setup. **Magento 1 reached its official end-of-life in June 2020.** Adobe (which acquired Magento in 2018) stopped providing security patches - part of the **natural technology lifecycle**, leading the Magento 1 community to plan a migration to **Magento 2** or an alternative platform. ## Retrospective Analysis _Analysis in the light of the context of the time_ ### What Had Worked Well - Specification Quality - 7 versions (30 to 50 pages) caught most edge cases early, saving time during implementation. - Backward Compatibility Approach - Methodical preservation across 60 modules : production stayed stable, no major regression hit end users. - Structured Deployment Pipeline - 8-environment pipeline with formal validation - issues caught early in integration or preprod. ### Technical Choices in Their Context - Magento 1 in 2017 - The proven state of the art for high-traffic enterprise e-commerce. Magento 2 still carried stability risks - betting on proven reliability reflected the constraints of the time. - WordPress Blog Integration via RSS - Consistent with 2008-2014 integration practices, before REST APIs and headless CMS became the standard. 512 articles migrated successfully. - Faithful Reproduction of the Pricing Matrix - 12 combinations reproduced rather than simplified : pragmatic decision to preserve business continuity during the redesign. ### Lasting Lessons - Well-written specs reduced surprises during development - the 7-version process proved its value. - Backward compatibility multiplied complexity exponentially - testing coverage grew quadratically. - E-commerce pricing was more complex than the briefing suggested - hidden rules emerged during implementation. ### Additional context - Smile - Open Source Solutions agency - Custom Modules by Functional Domain - Project Effort by Phase (days) - Technology Distribution (%) - Deployment Environments (Complexity Score) - Deployment Pipeline - Pricing Matrix - Fields per Customer Group x Website - Specification Document Evolution (pages) - Related Journey - Smile - Open Source Solutions Agency ## Skills applied _Technical and soft skills applied_ - **Problem Solving & Critical Thinking** - Led solo a project scoped for a team, backported ElasticSearch to unsupported Magento EE 1.10 via autoloader rewrites, 7 spec iterations to uncover hidden business rules - **Full-Stack Development** - 60 custom Magento modules (1,040 PHP files), responsive theme across 3 storefronts, end-to-end ownership of backend + frontend - **Backend Development** - Magento EE 1.10 internals mastery: EAV database, XML class override system, 60 module rewrites without touching core code (PHP 5.3, Zend Framework) - **System Architecture & Design** - Multi-site architecture (3 storefronts), Solr to ElasticSearch migration with faceted search, ERP bidirectional flows redesign, 8-environment deployment topology - **Software Architecture Patterns** - Magento XML rewrites pattern, MVC, Observer and Strategy patterns applied across 60+ modules without touching core code - **Database Fundamentals** - Magento EAV schema (6+ tables per product), MySQL, 4 customer groups x 3 websites pricing matrix (12 combinations with catalog + cart rules) - **Adaptability & Learning Agility** - Mastered ElasticSearch indexation and autocomplete on a Magento 1 context plus the 4x3 pricing complexity at Smile agency - **Service Deployment & Business Continuity** - 8-environment deployment pipeline (local to production) with Git tags, delta scripts, SCP transfer and Varnish cache preservation during live migration - **Testing Strategy & Quality** - Internal Smile testing + client acceptance testing (recette client) with formal PV sign-off, regression testing across 3 sites for each change - **Communication & Collaboration** - Weekly progress meetings, iterative client reviews across 7 spec versions (30 to 50 pages), coordination with Smile PM, spec author, client PO and external providers ## Related journey _Professional experience linked to this achievement_ - **Senior Software Engineer · Lead PHP Magento Developer** ## Image gallery _Project screenshots and visuals_ ## Need to evolve a Magento platform? I delivered many Magento projects, both Enterprise Edition and Community Edition, for enterprise clients (Fleurance Nature, Bricorama, GIFI, Cultura): multi-site redesigns, custom module development, advanced EAV architectures, ElasticSearch search engine migrations, bidirectional ERP flows and multi-environment deployment pipelines. Let's talk about your context. **Contact me**