Best Ecommerce Website Design: A Case Study | Vertex Web

How a Custom Next.js Platform Boosted Revenue by 200% for Artisan Roast Collective

In today's competitive digital marketplace, a generic, off-the-shelf e-commerce solution is no longer enough to captivate discerning customers. For brands that pride themselves on quality and experience, the digital storefront must be a seamless extension of their identity. This case study explores how Vertex Web partnered with Artisan Roast Collective, a premium specialty coffee brand, to migrate them from a restrictive WooCommerce platform to a high-performance, custom-built e-commerce experience. The result was not just a new website, but a powerful engine for growth that demonstrates what the best ecommerce website design can truly achieve.

The Challenge: A Stagnant Platform Brewing Frustration

Artisan Roast Collective had built a loyal following based on their meticulously sourced coffee beans and commitment to quality. However, their online presence failed to reflect this premium standard. Their existing website, built on a generic WooCommerce theme, was fraught with issues that were actively hindering their growth:

• Poor Performance: Average page load times exceeded 6 seconds. This created a frustrating user experience, led to high bounce rates (over 75% on mobile), and negatively impacted their Google rankings. Core Web Vitals scores were deep in the red.
• Clunky Mobile Experience: With over 60% of their traffic coming from mobile devices, the unresponsive and poorly optimized mobile site was a major bottleneck. The checkout process on mobile was particularly cumbersome, leading to a cart abandonment rate of nearly 85%.
• Lack of Brand Storytelling: The rigid theme template offered little flexibility to showcase their unique story, the origin of their beans, and their brewing guides. The site felt generic and failed to build an emotional connection with visitors.
• Operational Inefficiency: Managing inventory, processing orders, and updating content was a time-consuming manual process within the clunky WordPress admin panel. Simple tasks took hours, pulling the team away from focusing on their core business.

The leadership at Artisan Roast Collective knew they needed more than a facelift. They needed a foundational shift in their digital strategy—a solution that was fast, scalable, and provided the flexibility to deliver a world-class user experience.

The Vertex Web Solution: A Headless Architecture for a Richer Blend

After a thorough discovery phase, our team at Vertex Web identified that a headless e-commerce architecture was the ideal solution. By decoupling the frontend presentation layer from the backend commerce engine, we could build a completely custom, lightning-fast user interface while leveraging powerful, modern backend services. This approach is the cornerstone of creating the best ecommerce website design in 2025.

Blazing-Fast Frontend with Next.js and React

For the frontend, we chose Next.js, the leading React framework for building high-performance web applications. This decision was pivotal for several reasons:

• Unmatched Speed: We utilized Static Site Generation (SSG) for marketing pages and product listings, serving pre-rendered HTML files from a global CDN (Vercel). This resulted in near-instantaneous load times. For dynamic content like user carts and checkout, we used Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Client-Side Rendering (CSR) to ensure a fluid, app-like experience.
• Superior SEO: Next.js's rendering capabilities ensure that all content is perfectly indexable by search engine crawlers, a common challenge with traditional single-page applications. This gave Artisan Roast a significant advantage in organic search rankings from day one.
• Component-Based Architecture: We developed a library of reusable React components, ensuring brand consistency across the site and making future updates and feature additions incredibly efficient.

Scalable & Secure Backend with Supabase

Instead of a monolithic backend, we opted for Supabase, an open-source Firebase alternative that provided the perfect suite of tools for Artisan Roast's needs.

• Real-time Database: We used Supabase's PostgreSQL database to manage products, inventory, and customer data. Its real-time capabilities meant that inventory levels updated instantly across the site as purchases were made, preventing overselling.
• Authentication and Storage: Supabase provided secure user authentication and powerful storage solutions for high-resolution product imagery and video content, all without the overhead of managing complex server infrastructure.
• API-First Approach: Supabase's auto-generated APIs made it simple and secure for our Next.js frontend to communicate with the backend, creating a robust and maintainable system.

A Mobile-First, Conversion-Focused UI/UX Overhaul

Our UI/UX team started from scratch, conducting user research to understand the coffee connoisseur's journey. We designed a clean, immersive, and intuitive interface in Figma, focusing on:

• Streamlined Navigation & Search: We integrated Algolia to provide lightning-fast, typo-tolerant search, allowing customers to find their favorite beans or brewing gear in milliseconds.
• Visually Rich Product Pages: We designed pages that went beyond simple descriptions, incorporating beautiful imagery, tasting notes, origin stories, and customer reviews to build trust and drive desire.
• Frictionless Checkout: The entire checkout process was redesigned into a simple, single-page experience. We integrated with Stripe for secure and seamless payments, including support for Apple Pay and Google Pay, which dramatically reduced cart abandonment.

The Results: A 200% Increase in Revenue and a Best-in-Class Experience

The launch of the new Artisan Roast Collective website was a resounding success. The combination of a high-performance tech stack and a user-centric design approach delivered transformative results within the first six months. This project became a benchmark for what our clients consider the best ecommerce website design.

• ✅ 200% Increase in Year-Over-Year Revenue: The new site became a powerful sales channel, more than tripling online revenue.

• ✅ 180% Increase in Conversion Rate: By removing friction and building trust, the site converted visitors into customers at a much higher rate (from 0.8% to 2.24%).

• ✅ 85% Reduction in Page Load Time: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) went from over 6 seconds to an average of 0.9 seconds, delighting users and search engines.

• ✅ 250% Increase in Organic Search Traffic: Superior technical SEO and faster load times led to higher rankings for competitive keywords.

• ✅ 45% Increase in Average Order Value (AOV): The intuitive design made it easier for customers to discover new products and add brewing equipment to their orders.

• ✅ 70% Decrease in Mobile Bounce Rate: The mobile-first design captivated users, encouraging them to stay, explore, and purchase.

Client Testimonial

"Working with Vertex Web was a game-changer. They didn't just build us a website; they built us a future-proof digital flagship. Our old site was holding us back, but our new Next.js platform is unbelievably fast, beautiful, and has completely transformed our business. The results speak for themselves. Our online revenue has skyrocketed, and for the first time, our website truly reflects the quality of our coffee. This is what world-class web development looks like."

– Elena Rodriguez, CEO of Artisan Roast Collective

Conclusion: Why Custom Development is Key to E-commerce Success

The Artisan Roast Collective story is a powerful testament to the impact of a strategic investment in custom web development. While template-based solutions have their place, brands aiming for market leadership require a platform that offers unparalleled speed, flexibility, and a unique user experience. By leveraging modern technologies like Next.js and Supabase, Vertex Web empowers businesses to break free from the constraints of legacy systems and unlock their true growth potential.

Ready to build a high-performance e-commerce platform that drives results? Contact Vertex Web today to discuss how we can create the best ecommerce website design for your brand.