Since 2014, Framebridge has been transforming the way people frame their most cherished memories—from diplomas and watercolors to unconventional items like eyeglasses and seashell collections. Initially an online-only brand, Framebridge has opened dozens of brick-and-mortar stores across the US, with plans for rapid retail expansion.
For their first nine years, Framebridge operated on a homegrown, open-source commerce platform. As they scaled, the team found themselves focused too heavily on maintaining the platform instead of innovating, and their tech stack was growing increasingly fragmented. “We knew that omnichannel was going to be a big part of our growth strategy,” says Brian Bergman, Senior Director of Product at Framebridge. “So we needed a platform that would allow us to better integrate our online and offline sales channels.”
Framebridge replatformed to Shopify to create the seamless omnichannel experience that could support their vision of growth and innovation. With Shopify, Framebridge has enjoyed:
- Running 30+ stores across the US using one platform
- Managing 250+ retail staff with ease
- 15.3% increase in overall add to cart rate
- 8.1% increase in overall checkout started rate
- 7.5% increase in overall conversion rate
The Challenge: Outdated commerce platform stifles innovation
Framebridge’s original commerce platform was effective at first, but it became an obstacle to their growth over time, and continuing to customize it to suit their needs was stifling innovation. “We have a small, nimble team of engineers, and we want to spend our time working on what Framebridge does best, like building our custom framing software and visualizing custom frames,” says Brian. But instead, the team was often focused on building custom code to keep customers satisfied.
On the backend, continuing to maintain their increasingly complex and fragmented tech stack was also becoming more of a challenge as the pace of the brand’s retail expansion accelerated. “We had an order management system (OMS) that spoke with our ecommerce and retail sales channels, but they didn’t speak well with each other,” says Brian.
Simplicity and scalability were must-haves as they researched new platforms. “We want to deliver a delightful customer experience and equip our team with easy-to-use tools,” says Brian. “But scalability is always on our mind as well. When evaluating new solutions, we would ask ourselves, ‘How will this work for the hundreds of stores we plan to open and all the new employees we’ll need to onboard?’”
Finally, due to their unique business model, Framebridge needs customizable solutions. “The tools we use must be extremely customizable to fit with how we operate,” says Brian. “We build everything on-demand for our customers, and it must be perfect to the 16th of an inch.” Since their customers often begin their buying journeys online and complete them in-person—or vice-versa—this customizability had to apply to both ecommerce and retail sales channels.
We find that our customers like being able to consult with a professional in-person before going home and checking out online. Or placing an order and shipping it to a local store. So hopping between channels has to feel seamless.
The Solution: Shopify helps reframe the customer experience
Framebridge chose to replatform to Shopify for a number of reasons. “We liked the pace of innovation that we saw from Shopify and how it could natively support so many omnichannel use cases,” says Brian. He also notes how using Shopify Checkout was an exciting opportunity, saying, “Many of the brands we admire had great checkout flows that were Shopify Checkout flows. It’s just such a simple, fast experience.”
The team partnered with Pattern, a leading Shopify Plus Partner, to help redesign their user experience, and the engineering experts at SDG to provide technical guidance and implementation services. After meeting early in the year to review objectives and walk through one of Framebridge’s stores, they quickly got to work. “We needed to launch by early October because the holidays are so important to our business,” says Brian. “It was an aggressive timeline, and people told us it couldn’t be done. But we got it done.”
Framebridge not only completely redesigned and relaunched their website within their tight timeline, but integrated and launched Shopify POS in every store as well. As Brian explains, the integration helped the brand deliver a true omnichannel shopping experience. “We built what we call a persistent cart that’s attached to the user profile so our customers can have a unified experience with Framebridge on the website, in-store, and even in our app,” he says. Within the cart, the team integrated powerful omnichannel features including buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) and in-store drop off of items to be framed.
At the same time, Framebridge equipped their retail staff with the tools to provide exceptional service. “Shopify helps enhance the consultative experience we provide in-store and create more of those ‘wow’ moments,” says Brian. “For example, we built a custom framing tool for Shopify POS on the iPad that lets us show customers how different framing options will look in their homes. Those renderings are then available in their Framebridge account and can be reviewed from anywhere, so the whole experience is tied together.”
We not only replaced all the technology powering our retail stores with Shopify POS, but we also did a full site redesign that changed the entire ecommerce experience for our customers.
The Results: A new foundation for growth and innovation
Replatforming to Shopify was a resounding success for Framebridge, marked by a smooth rollout from day one and zero business interruption. “We didn’t have any major hiccups on launch day,” Brian recalls. He also shared how the improved speed and responsiveness of their online experience was quickly apparent, saying, "The website is noticeably faster.”
Key highlights of their redesigned online store include intuitive navigation features, rich and immersive product display pages, and integrated education modules and content sections, all of which help boost customer engagement and build trust throughout the shopping journey. Aside from these enhancements, Brian mentions that the backend integration of online and offline sales channels is responsible for her favorite aspect of the switch to Shopify: improved visibility into the business. “The real-time analytics available through Shopify are great,” he says. “I use the mobile Shopify app to look at our daily metrics and individual orders all the time.”
Perhaps most exciting of all, Shopify has helped lay the groundwork for the next phase of Framebridge’s growth strategy, which includes innovative new product lines such as their ‘Gift and Go’ frames, a line of custom photo frames available on the same day for in-store customers and via BOPIS. Not surprisingly, their swift pace of innovation is closely matched by the rate of their retail expansion. As Brian puts it, “We’re on track to open a new store almost every week through the end of the year.”
With Shopify, it’s easier than ever to picture Framebridge achieving their vision of being the same-day gift destination for beautifully framed photos online and in-person.
Now that we’ve proven out the direct-to-consumer business and successfully tested retail, our plan is to scale both sides of the business in a very omnichannel way. We call it ‘Framebridge 3.0,’ and we think of Shopify as a critical foundation for us to achieve that scale
