Stick a Wild Fork In It: This commercetools Implementation is Done!

Wild Fork Foods is a fresh frozen food delivery service that quickly outgrew its original Shopify Plus platform. From both a functionality and features perspective, their legacy platform no longer efficiently served them. Wild Fork desired to do better. Their goals were to create a hyper-accurate, bespoke user experience, to implement a centralized system that synchronizes product information and product data, and to expand into other markets. After seeing the success a commercetools implementation offered, the transition off of Shopify was facilitated by Aries Solutions, in collaboration with the commercetools Customer Success Engineering team.

Wild Fork Foods, a subsidiary of JBS USA Holdings, is an international direct-to-consumer (D2C) food delivery company specializing in high-quality meats and seafood. They have storefront locations across North America and can ship anywhere on the continent. By managing its entire supply chain, Wild Fork Foods maintains strict quality control with a mission to transform the way people shop for these products. “We bring you the biggest selection of highest quality meats at the most affordable prices. It’s at the core of everything we do. From farm to freezer, to freaking delicious.”

1. Improve Cart & Checkout
   Wild Fork’s biggest pain point was their cart and check-out calculations and user experience. Managing the variable weight of each product in their extensive catalog led to revenue losses and operational inefficiencies. They needed a hyper-accurate, hyper-personalized customer experience across its rapidly growing online and physical presence.
   
2. Flexibility & Synchronization
   Their legacy platform was a mix of outdated technology that complicated the synchronization between online and offline channels resulting in information inaccuracies and a disjointed customer journey. Wild Fork’s expansive product catalog created complexities in product navigation, inventory management, and overall customer experience that existing systems couldn’t keep up with.
   
3. Migrating Internationally
   Given its popularity in the United States, Wild Fork saw a demand for international expansion, particularly into Canada and Mexico. Their legacy platform had compatibility issues integrating with internal systems, including ERP. The lack of standard integrations hindered efficient data flow, communication, and business process optimization. With the ambition to expand, they needed a platform that could handle that substantial growth.

Wild Fork Foods chose commercetools for its API-first approach, which offers the flexibility and scalability needed to serve the company and its customers better than its Shopify Plus platform could.

commercetools’ MACH architecture allows Wild Fork to use dynamic pricing and inventory management systems that can accurately handle variable-weight products, greatly minimizing revenue losses and operation inefficiencies. They were able to develop simpler cart and order processes, streamlining the buying experience, without sacrificing accuracy.

commercetools’ Composable Commerce harmonized Wild Fork’s tech stack, providing them with a centralized system that synchronizes product information and product data. In conjunction with tools like Dynamic Yield for personalization and the integration with partners like Algolia and Contentful, Composable Commerce also provided the core for a bespoke user experience.

The initial rollout began in Canada, which was a smaller market with no physical store and OMS. This allowed Wild Fork Foods to strategically establish a solid foundation. The Canadian go-live was completed nine months after project kick-off, followed by the U.S. market rollout eight months later, with the Mexican rollout eight months after that. This commercetools migration enabled Wild Fork to swiftly implement features internationally such as advanced promotions and custom views, ensuring a rich customer experience across all touchpoints.

The staggered migration from Shopify Plus to commercetools across three markets was a resounding success. The flexibility of a headless commerce approach enabled Wild Fork to decouple its frontend presentation layer from backend commerce functionality. This allows for more efficient product navigation and management, streamlining the inventory process, and enhancing the overall customer experience.

Using cloud-native technology for event-based integration to synchronize data with internal systems and the SAP ERP, ensures efficient data flow and communication between business processes, thus improving internal decision-making abilities.

The dynamic pricing and inventory management systems tackled the variable weight issue. And the commerce system allowed Wild Fork to easily pivot, add new channels, and improve long-term TCO and ROI, which was especially beneficial during peak business months when 40% of company sales occur.

The impact of these improvements was immediately apparent. On the first day of the new ecommerce launch in Canada, Wild Fork saw a 58% increase in daily orders. They also saw a 73% increase in daily new customers and a tripling of daily website visits.

Their new commercetools platform allows the company to provide a hyper-accurate, hyper-personalized customer experience across its rapidly growing online and physical presence. They gained better control over the entire buying process, from login to payment confirmation, and from billing to shipping. These new business standards combined with faster load times, improved conversion rates, a high Net Promoter Score (NPS), and proven success across North American borders, Wild Fork is well positioned for continued growth and success in other markets. The entire digital transformation empowered Wild Fork Foods to serve up a superior, personalized shopping experience, aligning perfectly with its mission to make high-quality protein accessible to all.

Reach out to Aries Solutions today to find equal success transitioning off Shopify Plus for your business’ international commerce transformation!