Fast Growing Trees
is helping you find the perfect plant
The Challenge
Fast Growing Trees and Brighter Blooms, two leading retail sites of trees and plants, needed to upgrade their existing ecommerce platforms to Shopify Plus to better serve their growing customer base. Their existing sites were limited in functionality and required a more robust platform to support their complex product catalog, customer interactions, and operational workflows. The goal was to create a unified, efficient, and scalable ecommerce solution that would enhance the user experience and streamline backend operations for both brands.
Command C was tasked with the complete migration and redevelopment of both ecommerce sites on Shopify Plus, using a shared theme with brand-specific customizations. The project aimed to leverage Shopify’s infrastructure to deliver a faster, more secure shopping experience while integrating seamlessly with existing operations management tools.
Project Goals
- Platform Migration to Shopify Plus: Rebuild both Fast Growing Trees and Brighter Blooms on Shopify Plus, utilizing its secure and scalable ecommerce capabilities.
- Unified Design System: Develop a design system with components that provide flexibility and ease of use for administrators, while maintaining the unique brand identity of each store.
- Operational Integration: Establish connections between existing operations management tools and Shopify Plus to automate processes and reduce administrative overhead.
- Effective Team Collaboration: Maintain clear communication and efficient collaboration between Command C and the client teams throughout the project.
The Plan
To tackle the complex requirements of this project, Command C engaged in a comprehensive technical discovery process. This helped us outline a clear roadmap for migrating and developing the new Shopify Plus sites, ensuring that both brands could deliver an optimized user experience and operational efficiency.
UX Design & Frontend Development: Both brands needed a cohesive yet differentiated user experience, along with an intuitive administration system that did not require technical expertise.
Data Migration: The client required a seamless migration of product data, customer accounts, order history, and promotional codes to Shopify Plus, while minimizing disruptions for existing customers.
Developing Custom Functionalities: Fast Growing Trees and Brighter Blooms needed several custom features to enhance the user experience, including dynamic product bundling, upsells, and personalized recommendations based on both automatically detected and user-selected growing zones.
Streamlining Operations: The client needed to reduce manual administrative tasks and streamline operations, particularly around inventory management and order fulfillment.
The Results
A Unified, Flexible Theme: We developed a parent theme containing all required components for both sites, with customization options for each brand. This parent theme allowed us to build brand-specific styles generated by custom configuration within each store, ensuring that each site maintained its unique look and feel. We also implemented a robust pattern library, which serves as a valuable asset for maintaining brand integrity and ease of use for future site management. The unified design system provided a flexible and scalable solution for managing features within both stores, reducing maintenance time and complexity while increasing administrator confidence in content/data management.
Seamless Transfer of Product and Customer Information: We provided CSV templates for importing product and customer data, which included fields for all necessary metafields such as product specifications, planting care, and shipping exclusions. Imported customers were required to reset their passwords upon first login, ensuring data security during the transition. We also assisted in migrating active gift certificate codes and promo codes, adapting them to Shopify’s native discount capabilities. The data migration was executed smoothly, with no loss of data integrity. Customers experienced minimal disruptions and were able to continue shopping seamlessly.
Enhancing the Shopping Experience: We developed a range of custom features, including:
Bundled Products & Upsells: Customers can now add items like decorative pots to their cart along with plants, with bundled items appearing linked to the parent product. This logic can be extended to other product types in the future.
Growing Zones & Chill Hours Integration: GeoIP detection and a growing zone finder allow customers to enter their zip code and receive recommendations based on their location. This information is stored and used throughout the site to personalize the shopping experience.
Custom Metafields for Product Data: We implemented custom metafields for detailed product attributes such as mature height, growth rate, and drought tolerance. This data drives faceted search and detailed PDPs, making it easier for customers to find the right products.
These custom features improved the overall user experience, making it easier for customers to find and purchase products tailored to their needs.
Automating Processes and Reducing Overhead: We established several custom integrations and automation tools:
Order Sync and Inventory Management: Shopify Plus was integrated with the client’s ERP system for seamless order and inventory synchronization. Orders placed within Shopify are automatically pushed to the ERP, and inventory levels are updated in real-time.
Shipping and Delivery Communication: A custom logic calculates and displays estimated shipping and delivery times based on product availability and warehouse capacity, ensuring accurate delivery information for customers.
Looking Ahead
Automation of these processes significantly reduced administrative overhead, allowing the client to focus on strategic growth and customer service.