How Stadium Goods Scored an 80% Conversion Boost with Shopify

Introduction

Stadium Goods had built a faithful following as the go-to marketplace for rare sneakers and streetwear, but its custom ecommerce platform was creaking under the load. Slow page loads and technical hiccups drove up maintenance fees and held back growth. When holiday peak approached, the team knew they needed a fast, reliable, and flexible solution that could scale with demand. They turned to VAAN and Shopify for a rapid replatforming before Black Friday.

The Challenge

Operating a serialized inventory model and custom pricing on a bespoke platform introduced a tangle of manual overhead. Site speed lagged when product pages swelled with high-resolution images; checkout pages occasionally timed out. Every new feature or integration ate into developer time and budget. Stadium Goods needed a way to meet consigner requirements and maintain a top-tier customer experience without blowing the holiday window.

Crafting the Solution

Partnering closely, VAAN mapped out a phased migration plan that covered catalog transfer, inventory serialization, and customer data. They restructured product entry to match Shopify’s paradigms, then layered on custom scripts to preserve Stadium Goods’ two-way marketplace workflows. Tapcart was added for a mobile app front end, while Braze handled lifecycle emails. Back-end flexibility improved as theme management moved from code deployments to Shopify’s native tools.

Implementation Highlights

• Data migration oversight for thousands of serialized SKUs
• Brand Conversion Design applied to a high-performance Shopify theme
• Mobile app integration via Tapcart for iOS and Android
• Email automation setup with Braze to drive repeat purchases
• Containerized workflows in GitLab and Docker for consistent deployments

Results

Within weeks of go-live, Stadium Goods saw an 80% lift in overall conversion rates. Add-to-cart actions climbed 46%, and Black Friday/Cyber Monday performance jumped 36% on web and 100% in the mobile app. Total cost of ownership dropped as code changes shifted from custom builds to native Shopify theme updates. The team hit its holiday window on time and left maintenance headaches behind.

Conclusion

By moving off a slow, bespoke system and onto Shopify with VAAN’s expertise, Stadium Goods unlocked scale, speed, and smoother operations. The brand still maintains its consignment model while delivering a leaner, faster shopping experience. Now positioned for global growth, they’ve set themselves up to respond quickly to market trends and customer demands.