How This e-commerce website took back ownership of their code and could grow their services faster
Key info
| Year of this project | 2025-2026 |
| Location | Nantes in France – Danang in Vietnam (remote) |
| Tech stack | Prestashop, Origami Marketplace, Webkul Advanced Prestashop Marketplace, Notion Workspace, Canva |
| Industry | Music e-commerce industry |
Initial Situation
Context
Green Musicians is a France-based marketplace in the music industry, founded by two experienced and passionate professionals. Their platform allows vendors to sell second-hand musical instruments, with Green Musicians acting as a trusted third party handling logistics and delivery.
Beyond the marketplace, they also sell downloadable software worldwide and refurbished products using a more traditional dropshipping model.
The Problem
Their e-commerce platform was built on PrestaShop but relied heavily on a third-party business management tool.
- Strong vendor lock-in with an external management tool
- ~80% of daily operations depended on a system they didn’t fully control
- Tool not fully adapted to their evolving business model
- Upcoming PrestaShop version upgrade created additional pressure
They needed to regain ownership while upgrading their infrastructure.
Solution Provided
The Mission
Migrate away from the locked-in external tool, upgrade PrestaShop, and rebuild operations so everything could be managed natively within their own platform.
My Role
Digital Project Manager, coordinating scope clarification, workflow definition, delivery, and ongoing collaboration between the founders and a Vietnam-based developer.
The Approach
The project started in a chaotic context, with delays and high operational complexity. We shifted toward a more agile approach to regain momentum.
- Reframed the project around ownership and long-term scalability
- Clearly mapped customer, vendor, and internal workflows
- Iterative delivery with continuous feedback
- Close collaboration between founders, developer, and PM
Execution
Platform: PrestaShop
Team: 1 highly reactive Vietnamese developer + PM
- Migration away from vendor-locked business management tool
- PrestaShop upgrade completed alongside the migration
- Full control of source code transferred to the client
- Custom workflows adapted to marketplace, software sales, and refurbished products
Results and Benefits
Results
- Fully owned e-commerce platform with no vendor lock-in
- Operational control restored across the entire business
- Platform managing ~10,000 products
- Infrastructure ready to scale toward 100,000+ products
- Founders free to customize and evolve the platform as needed
Growth Perspective
<h3>Long-Term Impact</h3>
<p>The platform is live and evolving. Bugs and improvements are handled progressively, with transparency and trust.</p>
<p>Despite limited budget and resources, the collaboration is healthy: expectations are aligned, delivery is reactive, and communication is smooth thanks to a bilingual setup (French / English) and a Vietnam-based cost structure.</p>
<p>Green Musicians now sees us as their long-term web partner, supporting continuous improvements and future growth.</p>
<h3>Why This Matters</h3>
<p>This project shows how digital project management can turn a risky migration into a strategic reset. By regaining ownership, simplifying workflows, and choosing pragmatism over perfection, Green Musicians now has a scalable platform fully under their control.</p>