An ecommerce platform built from scratch for watches and bespoke jewellery.

The storefront needed to serve two very different customer journeys in one cohesive experience. A watch buyer arrives with a reference number in mind and needs technical depth — movement type, case dimensions, condition, provenance. A bespoke jewellery customer arrives with an idea and needs to be guided into a conversation, not a cart.

A generic Shopify theme couldn't do both. We built a fully custom Liquid theme from scratch with distinct product page layouts driven by metafield data. Watch pages surface a structured specification panel alongside photography — movement, case, dial, and strap details rendered from metafields, not hard-coded. Bespoke jewellery pages lead with inspiration imagery and materials, then funnel visitors into a commission enquiry flow without leaving the site.

The design language communicates luxury throughout: high-contrast typography, generous whitespace, and photography-first layouts. Navigation is structured around two distinct entry points — browse the watch catalogue, or begin a bespoke conversation. The sales funnel is built into the theme itself, with upsell and cross-sell surfaces woven into the product and cart experience.

5,000 SKUs across two product categories with fundamentally different attribute schemas. Shopify's variant system is designed for size and colour combinations — not watch reference numbers, movement calibres, or stone certifications. Metafields were the right tool: structured, queryable, and extensible without compromising the product record.

Two distinct metafield schemas were designed — one for watches, one for bespoke jewellery — each with typed fields, validated values, and namespace separation to keep data clean at scale.

Watch schema:

• Brand & catalogue. Brand, model family, and reference number — structured for hierarchical browsing and filtering.
• Movement. Type (automatic, quartz, manual wind), calibre, and power reserve.
• Case & dial. Case material, diameter, water resistance rating, dial colour, and dial type.
• Strap & clasp. Strap or bracelet material, lug width, and clasp type.
• Condition. New, pre-owned, or serviced — with service history notes where applicable.

Bespoke jewellery schema:

• Metal. Metal type and carat — 18ct yellow gold, 9ct white gold, platinum, sterling silver, and more.
• Stones. Primary and secondary stones with cut, carat weight, and certification reference.
• Sizing. Ring size, necklace length, bracelet length — where applicable.
• Finish. Polished, brushed, hammered, or mixed — surface treatment specification.
• Commission status. In stock, made to order, or enquire — this field drives the storefront CTA and determines which purchase flow is shown.

The same metafield data that powers the storefront spec panels is accessible as a staff product reference tool — full product knowledge on any device, in-store.

5,000 products to get into Shopify. A manual upload process — filling in product forms one by one — wasn't viable. We built a custom CSV import application with a structured validation pipeline that handles initial ingestion and ongoing inventory management.

The pipeline runs in stages:

1. Schema mapping. CSV columns are mapped to Shopify product fields and metafield namespaces. Watches and jewellery use separate column templates with distinct required fields — the application knows which schema to apply based on a category field in the CSV.
2. Validation. Required fields are checked; metafield values are type-validated — numeric fields, enum values for movement type, valid condition codes. Invalid rows are flagged with row number and field-level error context before any write occurs. No partial imports.
3. Shopify API write. Valid products are created via the Shopify Admin API with metafields attached in the same request. Images are linked by URL and queued for Shopify CDN ingestion.
4. Status report. Each import run produces a summary: created, skipped, failed — with row-level error details for manual review and correction.

The same pipeline handles ongoing inventory management. Price changes, stock level adjustments, and new product additions all arrive via CSV and flow through the same validation and write process — import once, maintain continuously.

Shopify is the source of truth. eBay and Amazon are distribution channels. A custom integration layer keeps product listings, inventory levels, and orders synchronised across all three — without manual re-entry on any platform.

The integration layer handles four concerns:

1. Product sync. Shopify product data and metafields are read and mapped to eBay and Amazon listing schemas — which differ significantly in structure, required attributes, and category taxonomy. The mapping layer handles the translation; the source data never needs to be duplicated or reformatted manually.
2. Category mapping. Shopify product categories are translated to marketplace-specific taxonomies. Watch listings map to the correct eBay category with the required item specifics filled from metafields. Amazon requires ASIN matching or new listing creation with structured attribute sets — both flows are handled.
3. Inventory sync. Stock level changes in Shopify propagate to eBay and Amazon in real time. A sale on any channel decrements Shopify inventory, and the updated stock count is pushed to the other channels immediately — preventing overselling across the board.
4. Order routing. Orders placed on eBay and Amazon are ingested and routed into the Shopify order flow. Staff see all orders — regardless of channel — in one place, and fulfilment proceeds through the same Royal Mail workflow.

The team manages products in one system and sells in three. No logging into separate seller dashboards to update listings or check stock.

Email was the primary post-launch revenue mechanism beyond organic search. Six core Klaviyo flows were built, each triggered by a specific customer behaviour rather than scheduled broadcasts — so every email arrives at a meaningful moment in the customer's journey.

Royal Mail Click & Drop is integrated to handle the full fulfilment cycle from order creation to delivery confirmation. Orders from the Shopify storefront, eBay, and Amazon all flow through the same process — one unified dispatch workflow regardless of where the sale originated.

The fulfilment loop:

1. Order created. Shopify order received — directly from the storefront, or routed in from eBay or Amazon via the integration layer.
2. Picking list generated. Fulfilment task surfaces for staff with item location and full metafield product spec accessible — no separate product lookup needed.
3. Label printed. Royal Mail Click & Drop generates the shipping label. Parcel is manifested for the next collection.
4. Royal Mail collection. Parcel collected and tracking number posted back to the Shopify order record automatically.
5. Customer notified. Klaviyo delivery update flow triggered — dispatch confirmation sent with tracking link. No manual step between label generation and customer notification.
6. After-sell care. On delivery confirmation, the post-purchase email sequence continues — care guide, review request, and a support touchpoint if anything needs attention.

The result is a closed loop: from the moment an order is placed to the moment the customer receives their care guide, every step is connected — and nothing falls through manually.