Unlocking Shopify’s Full Potential : Custom Storefronts, Platform Extensions and Seamless Migrations

Shopify is an incredibly flexible and scalable platform that provides industry-leading out-of-the-box capability. But out-of-the-box solutions don’t always meet the needs of growing or complex businesses and that’s when your choice of technology partner is critical. We don’t just work within Shopify’s default capabilities—we extend them whether it’s building custom storefronts with unique customer experiences, developing advanced features beyond Shopify’s core offerings, or handling large-scale migrations from legacy platforms, Shopify competitors, or outdated homebrew systems.

In this blog, we’ll walk through five real-world implementations where we pushed Shopify’s limits—transforming businesses through custom development, deep integrations, and strategic migrations. From high-volume retailers requiring enterprise-grade performance to brands seeking a fully bespoke digital storefront, these case studies highlight the power of Shopify when backed by the right expertise.

CORSAIR—A CUSTOM AND MODULAR SHOPIFY PLUS STOREFRONT

Long recognized as the go-to-destination for computer enthusiasts seeking to source the highest performing PC components, Corsair utilized our technical expertise in implementing best-of-breed components from Contentful and Algolia to architect a site experience with intuitive navigation for thousands of complex components.

To best facilitate their users navigating these complex product requirements, Corsair’s main goal was to migrate away from their previous offering, an overly complex solution platformed on Hybris, and into a manageable yet highly customizable online experience that creates a seamless and helpful product selection process for customers.

A best-of-breed CMS was needed to manage how products are displayed and navigated, and Contentful’s composable CMS fit the bill. Contentful is an API-first content management platform specializing in publishing digital assets from multiple sources into one channel that makes content discoverable and reusable. Product optionality and configuration compatibility are streamlined into dropdown boxes and clear configuration tables. The management of 10,000 complex products is as simple as scrolling a drop-down menu after implementation. 

Using Algolia’s AI-powered keyword and neural search, customers can efficiently find the items they’re looking for and receive personalized recommendations based on their browsing history. With AI search, customers need only the slightest idea of what they’re looking for before the AI-powered systems analyze their profile and deliver them a product they might not have even known they needed. 

Composable commerce allows merchants to build experiences that were previously impossible and the Corsair website is a prime example of that. Showcasing this much data while having it scalable to business initiatives isn’t possible without a move to composable.  

The experience of the website is one-of-a-kind, and the numbers back that up. Corsair’s Prime Day revenue nearly doubled YoY, and their conversion rate on Prime Day followed suit, doubling the days before and after Prime Day. 

The complexity of this project required some custom developments to the Shopify platform, but after the success of the site, those custom developments are now native to the Shopify platform making Shopify Plus a go-to option for modern, composable solutions.

MRS FIELDS—CUSTOM CHECKOUT FLOW AND SHIPPING PROCESS FOR PERISHABLE PRODUCTS

Mrs. Fields Cookies has been serving America confectionery treats just like Mom made since 1977. Shipping products that customers are going to eat, especially if it’s an ice cream cake for a birthday, requires sophisticated planning and execution.

Mrs. Fields implemented an entirely custom cart functionality and robust shipping logic to serve their business needs. A customer can order multiple perishable items for different customers to be delivered on different dates, and Corra’s custom shipping logic will make sure it all happens on time and schedule.

For example, let’s say a customer wants to send an ice cream cake to their nephew in Kansas City at the end of May, and a custom cookie tin to their niece in Maine the second week of June. The ice cream cake has to be shipped overnight, and the cookie tin has to be shipped with 2-day postage to ensure maximum freshness. 

The custom shipping logic will decide which warehouse the order needs to be shipped from, and when the shipment needs to be shipped for the item to arrive on time and as fresh as cookies right out of the oven.

All of this intensive logic is baked into the customer’s experience seamlessly so that the customer can merely choose their items, put in the address, and trust that in a matter of days, their chosen recipient will have a lovely treat waiting for them at their door. 

Shopify overhauled their checkout system, which meant Mrs. Fields’ custom checkout logic and shipping flow had to be rebuilt to be compatible with the new checkout system. The rebuilt checkout logic removed technical debt to improve performance and create a smoother experience and integrated mini-cart upsell functionality and promotions directly into the checkout whereas previously it was handled by a third-party app.

The experience has custom UI capabilities, where customers can design custom cakes or cookie tins and the site will animate their creation, allowing them to see the gift that will be delivered before finalizing it. 

Mrs. Fields is a nationally recognized and loved brand. Now, customers can access those products they love and send them to anyone, anywhere around the country with the peace of mind that their treats will arrive fresh.

CUADRA—HEADLESS ARCHITECTURE WITH HYDROGEN

Cuadra is an artisanal leather-focused footwear brand based in Mexico. They offer boots for formal and casual occasions ready for the boardroom or a night out. The past few years have been very successful for Cuadra, and so when it came to time to upgrade their digital portfolio, the choice of SI was crucial. They required more than a ticket taker or implementation-focused agency; they needed strategic guidance, long-term partnership, and industry experts ready to build them a scalable solution primed for growth.

Looking at the big picture of Cuadra’s business goals, it was clear that the path forward was to transition their solution from a monolithic build on Shopify to a headless, Hydrogen-based architecture.

Moving to Hydrogen empowered Cuadra to innovate and imagine unique and custom experiences for their website through the increased agility and scalability of a headless architecture. Cuadra increased their ability to highlight their products with unique experiences, quickly spin up and deploy promotions and flash sales to drive customer engagement, and more seamlessly manage their various international sites throughout North America. 

We utilize an in-house developed Hydrogen starter pack, which increases time-to-market by utilizing pre-built components, proven Shopify themes, and APIs that have an extensive track record of efficiently integrating various best-in-class components.

One of Cuadra’s key initiatives was to have a more flexible, customizable, and innovative frontend design. A headless architecture allows a more diverse and dynamic presentation layer by decoupling frontend from backend, which empowers designers to iterate homepage designs, PDP layouts, and PLP structures without having to augment any backend functionality or work stream. 

Cuadra is an international brand based in Mexico. They need their site to deliver the same top-tier experience to customers regardless of their location. Utilizing a headless architecture, their website can have multiple versions of the frontend, each in different languages. This is a key feature of headless sites that facilitates growth; a single backend can support multiple heads, each having their own marketing campaigns, language and currency functionality, and third-party integrations.

MOROCCANOIL—PLATFORM MIGRATION, FEATURE-RICH, CUSTOM OMNICHANNEL IMPLEMENTATION

Moroccanoil was founded in 2007 to provide argan-oil-infused hair care products to customers around the world. Since then, the brand has exponentially grown, becoming the #1 hair care oil in the United States. Their business initiatives see them looking to grow, specifically internationally. 

The first order of business in Moroccanoil’s digital overhaul was to change their platform provider to free up costs away from licensure and general maintenance. The move to ShopifyPlus is beneficial because it gives Moroccanoil access to ShopifyPlus’s robust native functionalities while lowering the general cost of upkeep. 

A key initiative in Moroccanoil’s growth strategy is to have as many customers experience their special products as possible. To do this, they needed Corra to help iterate their storefront to international markets. Shopify is natively equipped to do this, offering an ability to exchange currencies and translate the page from its native language to most other languages a brand may want the site to be presented in. 

However, there were a few bumps along the way that Corra smoothed out. Namely, some of Moroccanoil’s third-party extensions, such as their loyalty offering, had trouble calculating rewards points earned in USD to other currencies. Corra built out a custom logic to assist Moroccanoil’s loyalty program in translating customers’ reward points no matter which currency they’re using to purchase their products. 

At the time of publication, Moroccanoil’s site is up and running in the US, UK, Israel, and all over the EU with plans to launch the store in many more markets. Now that the reference storefront is up and running and has been iterated to new markets, the heavy lift is over: Moroccanoil can, with relative ease, open new storefronts in any market around the world.

TotalCare is Corra’s budget-flexible managed services program that achieves frequent updates and enhancements through Agile methodology. More than merely a series of technological enhancements though, TotalCare is a strategic partnership that creates an achievable roadmap centered around client needs.

Moroccanoil’s roadmap includes all the features and stability optimizations listed above, and it also includes an ERP fix. ERP systems are a crucial part of any commerce solution, and through TotalCare Moroccanoil had an issue fixed where inventory changes after sales were slow to update to their ERP. Through our agile methodology, Corra noticed this issue, rearranged the priority of tickets, and resolved the issue. TotalCare is a one-stop shop for improvements, upgrades, enhancements, and general solution stability.

By optimizing site stability, and utilizing Shopify’s moderate cost-of-ownership and licensing fees, Moroccanoil has invested in their website to make it a tremendous asset to their business. 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are huge days for every retailer, and in 2022, Moroccanoil had a huge year due to their newly optimized and feature-rich website. The ultimate goal for Corra is to help our clients grow, and seeing big success for clients like Moroccanoil had on BFCM looks like a job well done.

This was the smoothest BFCM we have ever had, with super minimal issues and our best sales. Everyone on the team is so happy and they feel like this justified their decision to move to the Shopify platform.

 

Laurin Bryant,
Moroccanoil, eCommerce Manager

 

STAUD—FEATURE-RICH, CUSTOM IMPLEMENTATION

STAUD, an LA-based lifestyle apparel brand, was founded in 2015 and by 2018 was a major player in their vertical. With iconic products, most notably their handbags, worn by celebrities and various cultural who’s who, STAUD’s reputation has only grown since their founding.

All the whizbangs and technological gizmos in the world don’t matter if a site’s fundamental technical performance isn’t up to snuff. This is why the first thing Corra did with STAUD’s solution was a broad code audit to look at where technical debt may have accrued and to remove any redundancies or instances of spaghetti code that may have been slowing down the website.

Site speed was very important to STAUD and so we kept that in mind when looking over their code foundations. One area that was poorly optimized and slowed down the site was their product filter system. By rewriting the code of the product filtering, STAUD received a foundationally sound place to start building a performant website to help their brand grow for years to come. 

Important quality-of-life upgrades such as an easy-to-access add-to-cart button that appears directly on the PLP were added. These types of small but meaningful upgrades may not be the flashiest part of a website, but they are often the biggest revenue creators. Reducing the number of steps a customer has to take to get to checkout is proven to increase conversion numbers across a website.

The best commerce websites have a personality. One of STAUD’s is a personal shopping assistant who wants to help you look your best, which is why Corra custom-built a Complete-Your-Look feature where additional products are selected for the consumer and appear directly on the PDP, no page navigation necessary. 

This control allows STAUD to push products they’re interested in moving, have on promotion, or are often bought in conjunction with what the customer is looking at. These types of custom features help STAUD drive conversion rates and continue the growth trajectory of their brand.

Staud’s swimsuits are a hot item and to showcase them Corra built a custom experience where customers can mix and match swimsuit tops and bottoms. The experiential component of the feature, switching the individual swimsuit pieces is built directly into the PLP so shoppers never need to leave the main swimsuit page to create the look of their dreams.
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Corra custom-built this functionality, QA tested it, and designed it, making a cross-functional effort. We employ in-house dev teams, design teams, QA teams, CRO teams, and offer strategic insight, making Corra a one-stop shop for a sterling ecommerce solution.

2023’s BFCM was a huge success for STAUD, where they saw a 113% increase from 2022, in part because of Corra’s site optimizations which allowed more customers to make purchases on the site simultaneously without any performance hiccups. We’re grateful for our partnership with STAUD and are excited to see their website flourish over the coming years.

BFCM is a critical time of year for any retailer and it’s all eyes on the site with high volume expectations. This year, we partnered with Corra, to define and execute a strategic development roadmap to ensure our customers had the best site experience possible during the BFCM event. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Corra and for our shared ecommerce growth.

 

Erin Yokoyama,
Senior Director of Ecommerce, STAUD