Founded in 2012, Washington DC-based Tuckernuck has grown into an international lifestyle brand known for curating classically stylish clothing, accessories, home goods, and gifts. Customers enjoy perusing the brand’s thoughtful editorials and expansive collections online and browsing through their bustling flagship store in Washington DC where personalized service and attention are key aspects of the experience.
In their early years, Tuckernuck grew rapidly on Shopify. But they eventually switched to a custom-built platform, seeking “complete control” over their technology stack. However, maintaining and scaling their custom solution proved increasingly challenging, leading to technical debt and what Director of Product Bianca Vitarello describes as "a lot of pain and sleepless nights."
Tuckernuck has since returned to Shopify, which has been transformational for the business. With Shopify’s unified commerce platform, Tuckernuck has achieved:
- 40% increase in new customer growth
- $100 higher average order value (AOV) for in-store shoppers
- 300,000+ loyalty program signups in less than one year
- 90% of customers checking out with Shop Pay
The Challenge: Custom platform leads to operational headaches
What initially seemed like a strategic move to gain control by leaving Shopify ended up becoming one of Tuckernuck's biggest obstacles to growth. "We wanted to have complete control, and we were able to do that for a few years. But everything kind of caught up to us," Bianca recalls, highlighting the hidden costs of their custom solution, which made every software update, security patch, and performance optimization a time-consuming project.
Site stability emerged as a critical issue that directly impacted revenue. Without the robust infrastructure needed to handle traffic spikes during peak shopping periods, Tuckernuck’s new platform struggled to maintain consistent performance. Editing content to help customers shop various looks was a challenge as well, which made it more difficult for shoppers to build out their wardrobes. The combination of these factors all dragged down conversions. It was a stark contrast to the experience they needed to provide in order to keep up with customer expectations and stay competitive.
Tuckernuck’s challenges extended beyond just technical maintenance. As the brand expanded from online-only into physical retail, the limitations of their fragmented commerce stack became even more apparent. Without unified customer and inventory data, providing personalized styling and service in-store became increasingly difficult. Customers who had shopped online for years would walk into the store as strangers, with purchase history difficult to access by stylists.
Despite these challenges, Tuckernuck had ambitious growth plans on the horizon. But to realize their vision, they needed a truly unified commerce solution that would allow the team to focus more on their customers and provide the best experience possible regardless of where they shopped. To achieve that vision, it was time to return to Shopify.
The Solution: Unified commerce unleashes growth
Tuckernuck's return to Shopify represented a complete transformation of their commerce infrastructure, and it was a welcome change. "Coming back to Shopify was one of the best decisions that our team has made. It's made all of our lives easier," says Bianca.
The implementation centered on creating a truly unified experience across all channels powered by Shopify's unified data model. When Tuckernuck equipped their Georgetown store with Shopify POS via an iPad and two mobile devices, they instantly connected their physical retail to the same backend infrastructure as their online store, meaning every customer interaction, whether online or in-store, drew from a single source of truth for customer data, inventory, and order history.
This unified customer view significantly improved the in-store experience. Because checkout, inventory, and order management exist within Shopify's single platform, stylists can access loyalty details and complete purchase histories—including past items, sizes, and shopping frequency—enabling them to suggest complementary pieces and help customers build cohesive wardrobes with ease. “We will go back to our website and we will show you our product detail page, for example, the skirt, how we styled it online and our ‘Complete the Look,’” says Bianca.
We’ve curated the store so that it actually resembles a collection on Shopify. We want it so that there’s a clear path to the store in our ecommerce site and also POS.
Omnichannel features like the ability to buy in store and ship helped Tuckernuck address the realities of modern retail, particularly in their compact Georgetown location. This feature lets Tuckernuck’s customers leave with their in-store purchases while having out-of-stock items or additional sizes shipped directly to their homes. The feature is especially valuable for the steady stream of out-of-towners visiting the store during vacation or other trips.
Shopify has also transformed how Tuckernuck makes strategic decisions. "We kick off every week with our founders using Shopify reporting tools," says Bianca. The reporting tools provide critical insights that drive everything from marketing strategy to expansion planning. "It’s really important for us to know where our new customers are coming from. We truly study that information . . . Are they coming from social media, are they from mail, are they coming direct to site? And we’re using the information to not only target them with marketing, but then also having that personalized experience when they get on our website.”
Crucially, Shopify has made website management accessible for anyone across the team. "Being able to be nimble and flexible and react quickly and not rely on a developer - we can just have anyone on our team go in and make those updates, which is so important," says Bianca.
The Results: A new era of global growth
The impact of returning to Shopify exceeded Tuckernuck's expectations. "We've been really excited coming back to Shopify to see 40% new customer growth," says Bianca, attributing much of the improvement to enhanced site stability and conversion optimization. “Shopify is made for businesses that want to scale,” she adds.
Partnerships within the Shopify ecosystem have also been fruitful. Tuckernuck works with platinum agency partner Domaine to optimize conversion, site performance, and digital strategy. “We used a third party that Shopify recommended and we plugged them in and it’s been great,” says Bianca, referencing Tuckernuck's partnership with marketing retention platform Yotpo. “And not only do they power our loyalty program, but they also power our reviews. It’s really nice to have synergy between tools.” In its first year, Tuckernuck’s new loyalty program attracted over 300,000 signups from fans eager to stay closely connected with the brand.
One thing that our customers love is Shop Pay. We see that 90% of our customers check out with Shop Pay.
The brand’s checkout experience, fueled by Shop Pay, has also seen significant performance optimization. Explaining the success of Shop Pay, Bianca shares, “Our customers are checking out and they know what they want, they have a high intent to purchase. But it's making sure that that checkout flow is easy . . . We absolutely love that functionality.”
Tuckernuck’s physical retail results demonstrate the power of unified commerce, with in-store shoppers spending $100 more per transaction than online customers. “We can definitely attribute that to the shopping experience and the styling that they’re given,” says Bianca. These customers also have a higher AOV as they continue to shop online.
“By introducing them to the Tuckernuck store, they’re able to get a better sense of who we are. We’re able to get their email address and their contact information. So not only do they become part of our mailing component when we send out emails, but they’re invited to store events,” she adds, highlighting the brand’s popups, whose success is largely driven by the team’s ability to identify and segment their customer base through Shopify’s reporting tools.
Shopify has really helped us identify where our customers are and how they’re shopping.
“We use those reporting analytics, and we pick certain locations where we know we have a loyal fanbase. We will bring not only the sizes we could expect, but also the products. And we’re able to invite customers because we have their information from when they sign into Shopify.”
With Shopify’s unified commerce platform, Tuckernuck is ensuring that wherever their customers are across the globe, they can still shop at Tuckernuck. “We are live in Canada and the UK and a few other countries, and we’re really able to see that our customer demand is international,” says Bianca. “And it’s something that, again, with the ease of Shopify, I don’t know how we would’ve done it without it.”
Perhaps most exciting of all, Bianca says that returning to Shopify has helped Tuckernuck succeed in "empowering all our employees to feel ownership,” transforming technology from a burden into a competitive advantage.
The best decision we ever made for our brand was to go back to Shopify.