Shopify Partner Case Study
How Hindle Exhaust Systems Moved From OpenCart to Shopify and Redesigned Its Store
A motorcycle exhaust catalogue moved from OpenCart to Shopify, redesigned, and backed by an ongoing SEO program.
- Customer
- Hindle Exhaust Systems
- Industry
- Aftermarket motorcycle exhaust and performance parts
- Platform
- Shopify
- Migrated From
- OpenCart
- Services
- Migration, store redesign, fitment search, SEO retainer
- Launched
- March 2026
About the Customer
Hindle Exhaust Systems makes aftermarket motorcycle exhaust for street, race, MX, ATV, and snowmobile. It also sells performance parts including Woodcraft products and DNA filters. The company is Canadian made and has been building exhaust for more than 35 years.
The Challenge
Hindle's store ran on OpenCart. The catalogue is large and fitment matters: a rider needs the exhaust that fits a specific year, make, and model. The move to Shopify had to keep that working, and the store needed a design that matched the brand.
- Fitment Parts have to be found by bike, so year, make, and model data has to be accurate and searchable.
- A Large Catalogue Hundreds of exhaust systems, slip-ons, vintage parts, and accessories, each in the right collections.
- Selling Into Two Countries US shoppers are pointed to Hindle's US distributor to buy.
- Being Found in Search Moving platforms puts existing search traffic at risk, and the store needed ongoing SEO work after launch.
The Approach
Ecomm Guys ran the work in three parts. First, the migration from OpenCart to Shopify, with the catalogue moved by Matrixify, a 404 crawl, and a sitemap resubmission at go-live in March 2026.
Second, a full redesign of the storefront: home, header and footer, collection, product, blog, and cart templates, with design QA before it launched in August 2026. Third, an SEO retainer running alongside, with keyword and competitor research, monthly reporting, and on-page fixes.
What We Built
Shop by Bike
A year, make, and model finder on the homepage, on EasySearch, with the fitment data audited and fixed.
Redesigned Storefront
New home, collection, product, blog, and cart templates, with updated header and footer.
Catalogue and Collections
Exhaust systems, slip-ons, vintage exhaust, and Woodcraft parts organized into collections by product type and by bike make.
SEO Groundwork
Collection descriptions, title fixes, and FAQ structured data, backed by keyword research and monthly reporting.
- Migration and Go-Live Catalogue moved with Matrixify, a 404 crawl, and a sitemap resubmission at launch.
- Product Reviews Judge.me reviews set up on the new store.
- US Distributor Routing US shoppers see a link to Hindle's US distributor in place of add to cart.
Tech Stack
Shopify
The ecommerce platform the store runs on.
EasySearch YMM
by NexusMedia
Year, make, and model search so shoppers can find parts that fit their vehicle.
Judge.me Product Reviews
Collects product reviews and displays star ratings on the storefront.
Omnisend
Email and SMS marketing, including campaigns, signup forms, and automated flows.
Microsoft Clarity
Behaviour analytics with session recordings and heatmaps.
Matrixify
Bulk import and export of products, customers, orders, and other store data, used for the migration.
Results
- Hindle Exhaust Systems is live on Shopify, migrated off OpenCart.
- Riders can find parts for their bike by year, make, and model from the homepage.
- A redesigned storefront launched in August 2026 across the home, collection, product, blog, and cart pages.
- The store has an ongoing SEO program, with monthly reporting and on-page fixes.
In the Client's Words
Looks WAY better! More streamlined and overall way better looking! I really like it a lot. … this new version looks way better and actually shows a good amount of change versus just taking the old content and rearranging it. I appreciate this and looking forward to getting this going!
Alison Hindle, Hindle Exhaust Systems, Client email, May 2026
Takeaway
For a parts brand, the platform move is only the start. Hindle's store needed fitment that riders can trust, a design that shows the catalogue properly, and steady SEO work after launch.
Tell Us About Your Project
Talk to Ecomm Guys about moving your parts catalogue to Shopify and keeping it found in search.