The Challenge
GreenGoods (name changed) is a European e-commerce company specializing in sustainable products. With 500K monthly visitors and growing privacy concerns among their environmentally and ethically conscious customer base, they needed an analytics solution that aligned with their values.
Their Google Analytics setup was increasingly problematic: customer data flowing to US servers, rising concerns about data being used for advertising profiles, and growing costs as their traffic increased. They wanted analytics that respected customer privacy as much as their products respected the environment.
Key Requirements
- Customer data ownership: No third-party access to shopping behavior data
- Privacy as a feature: Analytics that align with their brand values
- E-commerce tracking: Full funnel visibility from browse to purchase
- Cost predictability: No per-visitor pricing that scales with growth
- No vendor lock-in: Ability to migrate or modify as needed
The Solution
We deployed a self-hosted Matomo instance on their existing Hetzner infrastructure in Germany, with full e-commerce tracking and custom dashboards for their merchandising team.
Architecture Overview
- Self-hosted Matomo: Docker deployment on Hetzner dedicated servers
- E-commerce plugin: Full product, cart, and order tracking
- Custom dimensions: Sustainability scores, product categories, customer segments
- MariaDB cluster: High-availability database for analytics data
- Automated backups: Daily backups to separate storage
Implementation Process
Week 1: Infrastructure and Deployment
We set up Matomo using Docker Compose on their existing Hetzner infrastructure. This included MariaDB with replication, Redis for session queuing, and Nginx as a reverse proxy with SSL termination.
Week 2: E-commerce Tracking Setup
We configured Matomo's e-commerce tracking to capture the full shopping funnel: product views, add to cart, checkout steps, and purchases. Custom dimensions were added to track sustainability scores and ethical certifications.
Week 3: Tag Migration
We migrated tracking from Google Analytics to Matomo across their Shopify storefront (using custom integration), blog, and landing pages. We implemented server-side tracking for more accurate data collection.
Week 4: Custom Dashboards
We built role-specific dashboards: merchandising (product performance, category analysis), marketing (campaign attribution, traffic sources), and executive (revenue, conversion rates, customer metrics).
Week 5: Training and Documentation
We trained the team on Matomo's interface, created runbooks for common analysis tasks, and documented the infrastructure for their DevOps team.
Results
Six months after implementation:
- 100% data ownership: All customer analytics data stays on their own servers in Germany
- €0 per-user costs: Fixed infrastructure cost regardless of traffic growth
- Privacy as marketing: "We don't share your data with Google" became part of their brand messaging
- Better data accuracy: Server-side tracking captures 15% more conversions than client-side GA
- Full e-commerce visibility: Complete funnel analytics from first visit to repeat purchase
Cost Comparison
Monthly analytics costs before and after:
- Before (GA360 consideration): €12,500/month for their traffic volume
- After (Self-hosted Matomo): ~€150/month in additional server resources
- Annual savings: Over €145,000
"Our customers choose us because we care about doing things right—for the planet and for privacy. Self-hosted Matomo lets us practice what we preach. We own our data, we respect our customers, and we don't feed the surveillance economy."