How SDG took Framebridge off a homegrown platform and onto Shopify Plus and Shopify POS, with a single cart that follows the customer from the web to the app to the floor of every studio.
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.
Overview
Framebridge set out to make custom framing simple, fast, and affordable, replacing a slow and intimidating process with a modern brand people genuinely enjoy using. Since 2014 it has grown from an online-first disruptor into a national omnichannel retailer, with custom-framing studios across the country and a loyal following that frames everything from wedding photos to original art.
That growth outpaced the technology underneath it. Framebridge engaged SDG to re-platform the entire business onto Shopify Plus and Shopify POS, and to rebuild its signature framing experience natively on Shopify, without losing an ounce of the craft that made the brand.
The challenge
Framebridge had run since day one on a homegrown, open-source platform. It was purpose-built for the original online business, but it could not keep pace with a retailer now operating across the web, a mobile app, and a fast-growing fleet of physical studios.
- Online, mobile, and in-store ran as separate systems, with no shared customer record or cart.
- The custom-framing workflow, the heart of the business, was tightly coupled to legacy infrastructure that was slow and costly to change.
- Each new studio added operational complexity instead of leverage.
- The migration had to land ahead of the peak holiday season, with zero interruption to live trade.
The solution
SDG re-platformed Framebridge onto Shopify Plus and deployed Shopify POS across every studio, unifying the entire business on a single commerce foundation. The objective went beyond migration: we set out to make omnichannel feel like one continuous brand experience, whether a customer starts online, in the app, or face-to-face with a studio associate.
- A persistent cart that carries a customer's project across web, mobile app, and the studio floor, so an order started in one channel can be finished in another.
- Buy online, pick up in store, plus in-store drop-off for pieces entering the framing process.
- A custom framing tool built on the Shopify POS iPad, letting an associate design and render a frame with the customer present and save it directly to their account.
- Shopify POS in every studio, with online and in-store inventory operating as a single source of truth.
Critically, we rebuilt a business-defining, homegrown workflow as a native Shopify experience, with none of its craft lost in translation.
The outcome
Framebridge launched on Shopify Plus ahead of its most important selling season, with continuity of trade through cutover and a platform engineered to scale with the store count rather than fight it.
The build became a featured Shopify case study, with the engagement, conversion, and checkout results documented on Shopify's own channels. We engineered the platform; the performance figures are Framebridge's to share.
On the record
Shopify published this partnership as a featured case study. Read their coverage of the build: