How Burrow Scaled Modular Furniture Headlessly with BigCommerce

A New Vision for Sofa Shopping

When two business school classmates scratched their heads over heavy sofas and endless delivery windows, they realized the entire industry was waiting to be reset. In 2017, Kabeer Chopra and Stephen Kuhl launched Burrow with a simple promise: modular sofas that ship flat in a box, assemble quickly, and adapt to changing tastes. This streamlined concept would minimize inventory overhead while delivering maximum choice.

Early Growth and Platform Friction

Burrow took off almost immediately. By year-end they had $3 million in sales and $4.3 million in seed funding. Yet as orders piled up, they outgrew their initial ecommerce solution. Marketing campaigns stalled for lack of bundle and tiered discounts, and their checkout flow lacked the flexibility to delay shipments or require signature on delivery. Coordinating multi-warehouse orders became a nightmare without robust order-management APIs.

Choosing a Headless Future

Faced with mounting constraints, Burrow’s team scoped platforms that could bend to their vision rather than force them into rigid templates. BigCommerce emerged as the sweet spot: an affordable, growth-oriented solution with a full suite of APIs. It promised native promotional tools and headless architecture, so the team could control every pixel of the storefront while leveraging enterprise-grade commerce back-end.

Rapid Implementation and Seamless Onboarding

Working alongside BigCommerce’s solution architects, Burrow drafted a custom systems integration guide focused on REST APIs and webhooks. Their in-house engineers, already seasoned in React and Node, used that blueprint to launch in just six weeks. The migration was smooth, with no major downtime, and freed the team to focus on feature rollouts rather than constant bug fixes.

Optimized Order Management and Shipping

Post-launch, Burrow integrated their order management system to parse orders by warehouse, split shipments, and reconcile statuses in BigCommerce. Then they layered on AfterShip webhooks to notify customers in real time the moment a box is en route. With clear visibility into each fulfillment leg, the team cut manual updates and customer support tickets by more than half.

Data-Driven Marketing and Recommendations

To drive repeat purchases, Burrow added Unboxed for AI-powered product recommendations that surface complementary rugs, tables, and decor. They also employed a bulk Coupon Manager app to launch targeted promotions in seconds. The combined effect was a richer experience for customers and a leaner process for marketers, so campaigns could launch with confidence.

Headless Commerce in Action

Being headless allowed Burrow to craft a custom configurator from scratch. Shoppers can tweak sofa size, fabric color, arm style, leg height, and add-ons—all without template limits. On the backend, the same flexibility powers unique checkout options like delivery signature and shipment delay. Its operational precision opened doors to international expansion and B2B+B2C store fronts.

Measurable Impact

Within two months of the BigCommerce launch, conversion rates jumped 30%, average order value climbed 4%, and site speed soared by 50%. Fewer maintenance needs meant engineering could focus on new features instead of patching platform issues. Burrow rolled out rugs and coffee tables in record time—just two weeks after each previous launch.

Looking Ahead

Today, Burrow continues testing new home categories and personalization tools across channels, confident that their headless setup can handle rapid growth. From an off-campus furniture idea to a sophisticated ecommerce engine, Burrow’s journey shows how the right platform paired with a clear vision can create a seamless, customer-first experience in furniture retail.