# Mat O'Connor

Mat O'Connor works in ecommerce, with a focus on storefront performance, platform migration and conversion optimization. Mat also organizes the Digital Clubhouse Summit in Manchester and speaks at ecommerce events.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/mat-oconnor/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matoconnor
- LinkedIn followers: 5,325
- Topics: ecommerce, conversion-rate-optimization
- Based on 11 dated posts, latest 2026-10-07

## Summary

Useful for making the case to fix storefront performance before platform migration or more conversion testing.

- Best for: A B2B ecommerce agency serving Magento, Hyvä and Shopify merchants, especially case-study or speaking work.
- Not for: A consumer brand or US-focused SaaS seeking high-volume influencer campaigns with guaranteed impressions and demographic targeting.
- Check first: Ask for supporting Helmet City case-study documentation and a named client reference.

### Takeaways

- Helmet City conversion rose 16% after Hyvä rebuild before testing, then 9% more from optimisation.
- They argue a slow storefront caps conversion, so fix the frontend before testing.
- Digital Clubhouse Summit panel asked whether replatforming actually fixes performance and conversion problems.

## Main ideas

- **Fix the storefront before you test conversion**: Mat argues that a slow storefront caps conversion, and that no amount of A/B testing can get a business past a frontend holding it back. The sequence is performance first, optimisation second. They made the argument in a Mage Camp lightning talk titled "You can't see conversion problems when your website is on fire", cutting a longer Helmet City and Willow & Hall story down to nine minutes.
- **Replatforming is not automatically the fix**: Mat says migration is sometimes the right call and sometimes a year of spend that leaves the conversion rate unchanged on a newer stack. The decision turns on diagnosis: if the site feels slow or dated, the platform may not be the cause. Test before choosing a new stack. They framed the Digital Clubhouse Summit closing panel around that question.
- **Magento roots, Hyvä work, and Shopify too**: Mat has worked with Magento since 2007 and calls it the thing that got them into ecommerce, but they are not a single-platform advocate. The business builds on Shopify too, and their guiding line is to get the core working properly first, then build, unlock and thrive. This connects platform choice to the same performance-first argument they make about conversion.
- **Build a northern ecommerce community, not just a London one**: Mat co-organises the Digital Clubhouse Summit in Manchester. They started it because every eCommerce event worth going to was in London; the first events ran out of small rooms in Leeds. The priority is access: in-house retailer and brand staff get free tickets, while agency and tech-side attendees pay. The summit includes both marketing and technical tracks.
- **Peak-season preparation is a practical clinic, not a strategy talk**: Mat and Tony Conte run a live Black Friday clinic at the summit, built around a four-week plan for people who think they have left it too late. It reflects Mat's preference for work teams can use immediately: a time-boxed trading plan rather than a general talk about peak season.

## Work to read

- [Lightning talk: "You can't see conversion problems when your website is on fire"](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matoconnor_magecamp-magento-hyva-activity-7513497770625015808-Sqcz)
- [eCommerce Expo talk and the "core working properly first" argument](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matoconnor_ecommerceexpo-magento-hyva-activity-7508784968441970688-FaQU)
- [Digital Clubhouse Summit preview: the replatforming panel](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matoconnor_digitalclubhouse-replatforming-ecommerce-activity-7511311508862169088-4NmW)
- [Digital Clubhouse Summit recap: what the event became](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matoconnor_digitalclubhouse-ecommerce-manchester-activity-7513134634201976834-jnPq)

## Brand relationships

- **Digital Clubhouse** (owned_business)
- **Hyvä** (disclosed_partnership)
- **Mollie** (disclosed_partnership)
- **Helmet City** (client)
- **Willow & Hall** (client)
- **Magento** (mention)
- **Shopify** (mention)
- **Hypernode** (mention)
- **Actuate** (mention)

## Partnerships

Mat O'Connor's partnership activity runs through ecommerce events rather than a published sponsorship menu. They spoke at eCommerce Expo on behalf of Hyvä and Mollie and spent the day on their stand; the Digital Clubhouse Summit they help run credits its event partners by name. Ask directly about scope, cost and deliverables before building a plan. A public partner credit shows acknowledgement by Mat, not what was paid or promised.

## Alternatives

- Boh Tjarks: Choose Boh for a campaign focused on the paid-media side of the conversion argument. Boh's client story shows how traffic generation and on-site conversion depend on each other: Boh audited and cut 40% of wasted ad spend, refocused around top sellers and tripled ROAS within six months, then watched the account stall in August when the storefront couldn't carry the higher spend. For an agency campaign aimed at agency operators and ecommerce founders, it's a ready-made argument that world-class campaigns fail on a slow, outdated site. Boh also appears as a co-host alongside Mat and Tony Conte on the Digital Clubhouse Summit, offering a way to share a northern ecommerce stage with the audience Mat convenes. Pick Boh for a session or case write-up on the paid-traffic side of the migration-versus-optimisation question.
- Humayun Khalid: Choose Humayun for a campaign focused on the technical mechanics of a move rather than whether to move. The posts cover migration requirements directly: Magento 2.4.9 requires PHP 8.4 or 8.5 and MySQL 8.4 LTS or MariaDB 11.4, dropping PHP 8.3 and MySQL 8.0, and Magento 2.4.6 reaches end of life in August 2026. Shopify Scripts stop working on 30 June 2026 and cannot be edited after 15 April 2026, with Shopify migrating nothing. Humayun markets upgrade-readiness and compatibility audits at Kiwi Commerce, with week-by-week plans. That suits a technical-track slot, a migration-readiness webinar or a written case study built on deadline-driven upgrade work and staging tests.
- Keir Whitaker: Choose Keir to reach a Shopify-ecosystem audience of founders, agency owners and app builders, especially when format matters as much as subject. Keir runs Craft & Work, a small-format event series with talks capped at 20 minutes and no slide decks, pitched at soloists, founders and leaders building agencies, apps and digital businesses around Shopify, plus a patrons evening. Past sessions covered partnerships, pricing, burnout and businesses that did not go to plan. Pick Keir for a speaking slot or community-led collaboration built around the room and an honest-conversation format that has deliberately given first-time speakers a platform.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/