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Cairn & Stone

From Etsy-only to a direct WooCommerce store — and a channel the maker now controls entirely.

Location
Edinburgh
Industry
Artisan homeware
Year
2025
Services
WordPress Website Design + WooCommerce Development

"Cairn & Stone had been selling handmade ceramic homeware exclusively through Etsy, paying 6.5% per transaction with no control over their brand presentation or customer relationships. We built a custom WordPress WooCommerce store, migrated their product catalogue and implemented product schema. The first month of trading direct generated more revenue than the previous three months on Etsy combined."

The challenge

Cairn & Stone's founder had built a loyal following through Instagram but was sending every buyer to Etsy — paying 6.5% per sale, surrendering the customer relationship and presenting within Etsy's generic template framework. There was no way to offer bundles, capture email addresses, run promotions or present the story behind the work. The product photography was exceptional; the platform it sat on was doing it no favours.

The solution

A custom WordPress theme built around the product photography — editorial in layout, with full-width image headers on every product page and a hand-coded filterable archive by material and use case. WooCommerce handled checkout, shipping and digital gift cards. Product schema with high-quality images was implemented for Google Shopping. A post-purchase email sequence was set up via Mailchimp integration. Etsy remained active through the transition but all new traffic was directed to the new site.

Results
3×
First-month direct revenue
Revenue vs previous 3 months on Etsy combined
94
PageSpeed (mobile)
Hand-coded theme, WebP images, no page builder overhead
0%
Platform fee
No Etsy commission on direct WooCommerce sales
The outcome

In the first month of the new WooCommerce store, Cairn & Stone's direct revenue exceeded the previous three months of Etsy sales combined. The founder now owns the customer relationship entirely — email list, purchase history and repeat buyer data all sit in systems she controls. Product pages rank for brand-specific search terms Etsy's SEO couldn't achieve.

Client reviews

What UK businesses say

4.9
From 100+ verified UK client reviews

"They rebuilt our site in four weeks and we were ranking on page one within the month. It is the best commercial decision we made this year."

Sarah Thompson

Client · Manchester

"Our old WordPress site was slow, invisible in search and frankly embarrassing. They fixed all of it — we are faster, ranking better and finally winning the right clients."

Mark Davies

Client · London

"WooCommerce, SEO and hosting all managed in one place — it changed how we operate. Sales are up 40% since launch and we have not looked back."

Emma Wilson

Client · Edinburgh

"Our site converts better than anything our competitors are running. They built it around our actual customers — not a template."

Tom Patel

Client · Birmingham