Birdsnest’s BigCommerce Migration: 21% Faster, 31% Higher Conversions

Overview

Birdsnest is a family-owned fashion retailer from the Snowy Mountains of Australia, known for helping women solve wardrobe dilemmas through personalized style profiles and curated collections. With over 85,000 registered shoppers, the brand needed to modernize its online platform to support growth, speed, and new omnichannel experiences.

Migrating to a Modern Storefront

Birdsnest started life in 2004 as a single storefront in Cooma, Australia, before taking its business online in 2008 with a custom Ruby on Rails build. Over time the codebase grew more complex as new features were tacked on, slowing development and dragging down the site speed. The team needed a scalable, low-code solution that could support rapid innovation without compromising performance.

Identifying the Pain Points

Adding personalized style profiles, wishlists, and in-store integrations was critical for Birdsnest’s unique shopping experience, but maintaining every line of bespoke code became burdensome. Marketing requests piled up, yet developers spent hours debugging and deploying even the simplest updates. The poor site speed began to erode conversion rates, and every second delay risked lost sales.

Choosing the Right Platform

After vetting multiple solutions, Birdsnest narrowed its options to BigCommerce and Shopify. Guided by industry peers and a comprehensive feature matrix, BigCommerce won on breadth of native functionality, robust APIs, and a service team that aligned with Birdsnest’s culture. The decision unlocked greater flexibility and freed internal developers to focus on strategic enhancements rather than maintenance.

Leveraging Apps and Integrations

With BigCommerce’s plug-and-play ecosystem, Birdsnest seamlessly added Swym for back-in-stock alerts, Shogun Page Builder for dynamic layouts, and Zendesk for customer support. Customized middleware built on Jitterbit connected the enterprise PIM, Comestri, so product data synced instantly. Merchandising rules powered by Fredhopper ensured curated category pages, delivering a polished browsing experience.

Innovating with Preloved Collections

In August 2022, Birdsnest expanded into secondhand fashion by updating product feeds through its PIM and using BigCommerce’s APIs to manage parallel feeds for new and “rehatched” items. Shoppers can now mix new and preloved pieces in a single cart, creating a sustainable, omnichannel journey that feels totally integrated.

Measurable Performance Gains

Comparing metrics from September 18 to October 17 of 2020 against the same period in 2022, Birdsnest recorded a 21% increase in site speed, a 31% rise in conversion rate, and a 7% bump in average order value. Teams no longer wrestle with legacy code, and marketers launch campaigns faster, while customers enjoy a snappier shopping experience.

Enabling Omnichannel Growth

Birdsnest continues to blend digital and physical retail, offering in-store tablets for browsing the complete catalog and even delivering items straight to changerooms from an attached warehouse. With social media try-on sessions and newly renovated Nest Lounge accommodations, the brand delivers personalized service at every touchpoint.

Partnering for Future Innovation

BigCommerce’s ongoing platform enhancements and the guidance of Birdsnest’s Customer Success Manager and Solutions Architect ensure the roadmap aligns with evolving customer expectations. From headless APIs to multi-storefront capabilities, Birdsnest plans to expand into new markets and brands without reinventing the wheel, confident that its commerce foundation is built for scale.