Challenge
Caviar Centre is a Toronto-based specialty food brand serving both direct-to-consumer shoppers and wholesale B2B buyers. Their previous platform — built on Lightspeed and Ecwid — could not support the operational demands of a growing specialty food business serving two distinct customer types from the same catalog.
Key challenges included maintaining separate and shared catalog views for DTC and B2B customers without fragmenting the product structure; implementing tiered B2B pricing with an online registration and account-approval workflow; handling city-specific free shipping logic accurately for local delivery areas; improving product discovery across a 1,000+ SKU catalog; and replacing the existing platform stack without disrupting day-to-day order operations during the transition.
Caviar Centre is a Toronto-based specialty food brand serving both direct-to-consumer shoppers and wholesale B2B buyers. Their previous platform — built on Lightspeed and Ecwid — could not support the operational demands of a growing specialty food business serving two distinct customer types from the same catalog.
Key challenges included maintaining separate and shared catalog views for DTC and B2B customers without fragmenting the product structure; implementing tiered B2B pricing with an online registration and account-approval workflow; handling city-specific free shipping logic accurately for local delivery areas; improving product discovery across a 1,000+ SKU catalog; and replacing the existing platform stack without disrupting day-to-day order operations during the transition.
Solution
The project was approached as a full ecommerce re-architecture. Shopify was selected as the unified platform for both B2B and DTC operations. Catalog structure was built to support separate and shared product views by customer type — allowing retail and wholesale buyers to access appropriate pricing and product sets without confusion.
AI-powered search and product recommendations were implemented to improve discovery across the large specialty food catalog. A custom Shopify app was developed to handle IP-based city detection and conditional free-shipping messaging — ensuring accurate delivery information for local customers. A tiered B2B pricing system was built with an online self-registration and admin-approval workflow, enabling wholesale customers to apply for accounts and receive appropriate pricing without manual intervention. Google Reviews integration was set up to surface top customer reviews across the storefront. The entire build was designed to support both sides of the business from a single, scalable Shopify platform.
The project was approached as a full ecommerce re-architecture. Shopify was selected as the unified platform for both B2B and DTC operations. Catalog structure was built to support separate and shared product views by customer type — allowing retail and wholesale buyers to access appropriate pricing and product sets without confusion.
AI-powered search and product recommendations were implemented to improve discovery across the large specialty food catalog. A custom Shopify app was developed to handle IP-based city detection and conditional free-shipping messaging — ensuring accurate delivery information for local customers. A tiered B2B pricing system was built with an online self-registration and admin-approval workflow, enabling wholesale customers to apply for accounts and receive appropriate pricing without manual intervention. Google Reviews integration was set up to surface top customer reviews across the storefront. The entire build was designed to support both sides of the business from a single, scalable Shopify platform.
Results
Following the migration and rebuild, Caviar Centre saw a 21% increase in orders within the first month of launch. The storefront is cleaner, faster, and capable of handling the complexity of both retail and wholesale operations without workarounds. Retail customers enjoy a streamlined shopping experience with intelligent product recommendations, while B2B buyers access tiered pricing and account-specific catalogs. City-based free shipping is calculated and displayed accurately. Behind the scenes, Caviar Centre now operates on a single ecommerce platform that manages pricing logic, shipping rules, content, and two customer types — all without the patchwork of tools required by the previous stack.
Following the migration and rebuild, Caviar Centre saw a 21% increase in orders within the first month of launch. The storefront is cleaner, faster, and capable of handling the complexity of both retail and wholesale operations without workarounds. Retail customers enjoy a streamlined shopping experience with intelligent product recommendations, while B2B buyers access tiered pricing and account-specific catalogs. City-based free shipping is calculated and displayed accurately. Behind the scenes, Caviar Centre now operates on a single ecommerce platform that manages pricing logic, shipping rules, content, and two customer types — all without the patchwork of tools required by the previous stack.