Store Development
Thornwood Coffee
A specialty roaster's Shopify store rebuilt to sell subscriptions, not just bags.
Thornwood Coffee had award-winning single-origin roasts and a loyal café following — but their online store treated a bag of coffee the same way as any other commodity product.
We redesigned their Shopify store to lead with subscription, showcase the origin story behind every roast, and make the buying decision feel as considered as the coffee itself.
A custom roast-profile component, an interactive subscription builder, and a streamlined one-page checkout replaced a five-step generic flow that had been bleeding orders for years.
Subscription attach rate grew from 11 % to 39 % post-launch. Monthly recurring revenue hit a new high in the first full month live.
Key Services
- Shopify store design
- Subscription experience design
- Product page systems
- Checkout optimisation
- App & integration setup
Platform
- Shopify 2.0
- Recharge Subscriptions
- Klaviyo
- Gorgias
Before
A Store That Sold Coffee Like a Supermarket Would
Product pages listed roast level, tasting notes, and weight. There was nothing about the farm, the farmer, the processing method, or why this particular bag was worth three times the supermarket price. Customers with no context defaulted to the cheapest option or left.
Subscriptions Hidden on a Secondary Page
Thornwood's subscription option — their highest-LTV product — was buried three clicks from the homepage behind a tab labelled 'Subscribe & Save'. Most customers never found it. Those who did encountered a confusing form with no visual guidance.
A Checkout That Felt Like Filling In a Tax Return
Five separate pages, redundant form fields, no progress indicator, and a surprise shipping cost on the final screen. For a brand positioning itself as premium, the checkout experience was the opposite of the product.
After
Product Pages That Sell the Story, Not Just the Specs
Each roast now has a dedicated editorial page: the origin, the relationship with the farm, the tasting journey, and a 'This coffee is for you if…' section that helps shoppers self-select. Average time on product pages increased from 48 seconds to over 3 minutes.
A Subscription Builder That Makes Recurring Revenue the Default
We placed an interactive subscription selector directly on the homepage and every product page, with visual comparisons of one-time vs. subscriber pricing, frequency options, and a 'skip or cancel anytime' reassurance. Subscription is now the first choice, not the last.
A One-Page Checkout Built for Considered Buyers
A custom one-page checkout with inline address validation, saved payment methods, and a visible order summary at every step reduced checkout time by 65 % and abandonment by 29 percentage points.
“We always knew our coffee was worth the premium. Pixelain built a store that finally makes customers believe it too. Our subscription rate tripled and we hit a new MRR record in month one.”
Claire Donovan
Co-Founder, Thornwood Coffee
