How Cedar House Scaled 60% Revenue Growth with BigCommerce

Cedar House Finds a Retail Backbone That Scales

Cedar House started as a niche online destination for handcrafted products created by Catholic artisans—hand-poured candles, small-batch hot sauce, luxurious bath bombs, and monastery-made preserves. Initially built on a self-hosted Spree Commerce platform, the site offered flexibility but struggled under the weight of rapid growth. As the catalog expanded to 47 unique brands and over 1,200 SKUs, adding new features or even tweaking the front-end became a lengthy, resource-intensive ordeal.

The team, led by Director of Ecommerce Steven Duran, faced mounting pressure to rebrand and refine user experiences without pulling developers off core tasks. Customization demands skyrocketed, and each change required a heavy code lift. Cedars House simply couldn’t test new layouts, marketing widgets, or shipping options quickly enough to maintain competitive momentum.

Challenge: Balancing Customization with Agility

To thrive in 2020’s shifting retail landscape, Cedar House needed an ecommerce solution that combined open-SaaS flexibility with the low-code ease of a hosted platform. Key requirements included:

• Scalability to support dozens more brands
• A robust marketplace for apps and extensions
• Prebuilt payment gateways and shipping tools
• Mobile-friendly themes right out of the box

After comparing Shopify and BigCommerce, the team chose BigCommerce for its open SaaS architecture, rich developer APIs, and zero-lock-in approach. With an unwavering focus on speed and extensibility, they embarked on a six-month migration and redesign.

Solution: Tailored Design Meets Powerful Integrations

Leveraging BigCommerce’s flexible theme framework, the in-house design team began crafting custom page templates without waiting on developers. They built individual brand landing pages, uploaded more than 1,200 SKUs, and fine-tuned layouts using Shogun, a drag-and-drop page builder. It allowed A/B testing, analytics, and rapid revisions—something they never thought possible on their old platform.

Beyond design, Cedar House integrated a variety of best-in-class tools from the BigCommerce App Store:

• MailChimp for segmented email campaigns and customer journeys
• ReferralCandy to manage affiliate rewards and word-of-mouth growth
• OptinMonster pop-ups and forms for conversion optimization
• ShipperHQ for advanced shipping rules and real-time rates

For wholesale orders, they built a backend API link between Xero and BigCommerce—automating order reconciliation and financial reporting. This B2B integration reduced manual work and ensured that retailer invoices flow smoothly into their accounting system.

Results: Accelerated Growth and Operational Freedom

Once live, Cedar House immediately reaped the benefits of its new platform:

• 60% increase in revenue between January–May 2021 vs. 2020
• 33% growth in total transactions over the same period
• 20% jump in average order value through optimized upsells

The in-house team now rolls out front-end updates in hours instead of weeks. New brands can be launched with minimal development overhead. And marketing experiments run side by side, giving insight into what resonates with customers. Perhaps most importantly, if the team didn’t had to wait on code changes, creativity flourishes and conversion opportunities multiply.

Looking Ahead: Omnichannel Expansion

Building on their success, Cedar House is tapping BigCommerce’s native social-selling tools. Facebook, Instagram, and Etsy channels are already live, and plans are underway to add Walmart, Amazon, and eBay integrations. With a blog and community forum on the roadmap, the brand is poised for even deeper engagement. According to Duran, “BigCommerce truly is the backbone of what we’re able to do. As long as that backbone continues to get stronger, we’re going to get stronger.”