{"id":129,"slug":"uk-retailer-3-8m-migration-loss","title":"UK retailer lost ~£3.8M in first month after botched migration — IT consultants rejected redirect mapping","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["measurement","migration-mechanics"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** A UK retailer with a £7.6M+ redesign budget lost approximately **£3.8 million in the first month** after IT consultants rejected URL redirect mapping recommendations during the migration.\n\n**Source:** numentechnology.co.uk case study (2024-2025).\n\n**Confidence:** Industry-consensus (vendor-published case study with named retailer omitted; pattern is consistent with other documented migration failures).\n\n**Lesson:** Migration is a **discrete failure event**. The platform you came from gets blamed regardless of whose decision broke the redirects. For Candid client work: 301 redirect mapping is non-negotiable, and it gets sign-off from the SEO lead before launch — not the IT consultant who didn't budget for the rework. See [[coalition-tech-bigcommerce-28k-to-13.4k-keywords]] for a parallel case.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"sej-892-migrations-523-day-recovery","title":"Search Engine Journal (Jan 2025): 523-day average recovery from domain migration (n=892); 17% never recover by 1,000 days","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-owning-your-stack","title":"Research brief: Owning your stack — why agency-managed platforms cost more than they save (piece 4 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:17:26.861Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:17:26.861Z"}