Client: Crimson & Vine, a boutique wine retailer Services: Web design, e-commerce rebuild, mobile optimization Timeline: 6 weeks Result: 3x increase in online orders within 90 days of launch
The Problem
Crimson & Vine had a loyal in-store customer base, but their website was working against them. Built years earlier on an outdated Shopify theme, the site was slow to load, difficult to browse on mobile, and didn’t reflect the boutique, curated feel of the physical store. Most visitors were bouncing before they ever reached a product page.
The owner’s brief was simple: “Our online sales should reflect how good the in-store experience is. Right now, they don’t.”
What We Found in Discovery
Before touching any design, we looked at where the site was actually losing customers:
- Mobile bounce rate was over 70% — most traffic was mobile, but the site wasn’t built mobile-first
- Product pages loaded slowly, largely due to unoptimized images
- Checkout took 5+ steps, with no guest checkout option
- The homepage led with a generic banner, not the products or story that made the store distinctive
None of these were visible from the outside — they only surfaced once we mapped the actual customer journey.
What We Changed
1. Rebuilt mobile-first, not desktop-first. Every layout decision started from how it would look and function on a phone, since that’s where most traffic actually was.
2. Simplified checkout to two steps, added guest checkout, and removed unnecessary form fields that were causing drop-off.
3. Redesigned the homepage around curated collections and the store’s actual point of difference — small-batch, hard-to-find wines — instead of a generic hero banner.
4. Optimized every product image for fast loading without sacrificing the visual quality that matters for a boutique retail brand.
5. Added a simple “Staff Picks” section, translating the in-store recommendation experience the owner wanted to bring online.
The Results
Within 90 days of launch:
- 3x increase in online orders
- 45% drop in mobile bounce rate
- Checkout completion rate nearly doubled
The site didn’t just look better — it removed the specific friction points that were costing the business real sales every day it stayed live.
The Takeaway
The biggest wins didn’t come from a visual redesign alone. They came from treating the website like a sales channel with a broken funnel, diagnosing where customers were dropping off, and fixing those specific points — then wrapping the fix in a design that finally matched the brand.
If your website looks fine but isn’t converting, the problem is rarely just the visuals. It’s usually somewhere in the journey between “arrived on the site” and “completed checkout.”