Replatforming for Agility, Scale, and Innovation: Boden's Journey to Shopify with fusefabric
Boden, a beloved British fashion brand with a global customer base, faced a pivotal moment in its digital evolution. Years of custom-built infrastructure had slowed innovation, inflated operational costs, and created significant barriers to agility. To unlock global growth, Boden partnered with fusefabric, Europe’s leading Enterprise Shopify Partner, to replatform from a complex legacy stack to Shopify.
Why Change Was Essential
Boden’s monolithic tech stack was impeding progress:
3-month delivery cycles for basic feature updates like product detail pages
Rising costs tied to maintaining bespoke systems
Stalled innovation despite large, capable teams
Boden needed to move from building everything from scratch to embracing a platform-first mindset.
The Solution
Together, Boden and fusefabric executed a migration to Shopify, guided by:
Strategic alignment across tech and business teams
Clear prioritisation of what to rebuild vs. what to standardise
Embedded cross-functional “Fuse Squads” from fusefabric for agile delivery
Targeted customisations for enterprise-grade needs (e.g., reauthorisation, back orders)
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| PDP release cycle | ~3 months | 1 sprint (2 weeks) |
| Digital delivery team size | 4x larger | ~75% leaner |
| Total cost of ownership | Higher | ↓ ~15% |
| SEO performance | Flat | ↑ in UK/US markets |
“We’re no longer building the basics. We’re building for the future.”
Ana Machado da Silva, Senior Head of Product Management & Experience, Boden
Lessons for Other Retailers
Start with business outcomes, not technology
Challenge assumptions about what really needs to be custom
Test with real users before go-live
Build for change and not just for scale