eComm site redesign sets the stage for record-breaking Super Sale
Project Overview
Services
Thunderbird Supply Company is a specialized eCommerce retailer providing jewelry-making supplies, serving many Native American artisans as well as a global customer base.
Thunderbird Supply partnered with Spinutech to modernize an eCommerce website that was suffering from slow performance, a challenging user experience, and difficult content management. The redesign was a more stable, streamlined eComm experience built to support Thunderbird’s complex pricing logic, promotional needs, and multi-generational customer base.
The impact was immediate: Thunderbird’s first Super Sale of the year tripled their previous peak-day revenue record, increased orders by 124% year-over-year, average order value (AOV) rose 50% YoY, and the business acquired 136 new customers in a single day.
The Challenge
Thunderbird’s previous website was outdated, unsupported, and burdened with years of customizations. The site had become increasingly difficult to evolve, maintain, and trust during the moments that mattered most.
To move forward, Thunderbird needed a stronger foundation: One that could support complex operational requirements, reduce admin burden, and unlock growth without introducing risk.
Legacy Codebase
The previous website had served Thunderbird well, but was showing signs of age. The business was heavily dependent on developers for routine changes, and the platform was increasingly fragile, creating uncertainty around stability, performance, and security.
Operational Complexity
Pricing for Thunderbird’s products changes based on market fluctuations, volume-based calculations, and product-specific configuration rules. These requirements are essential to Thunderbird's sales. But on the previous platform, the logic was difficult to manage and even harder to improve without breaking downstream functionality.
Growth Constraints
Thunderbird’s Super Sales represented their greatest opportunity for growth. But the old platform created friction for customers and limitations for the business. Registration and checkout were more complex than they needed to be, promotions were harder to manage, and the experience wasn’t built to support a multi-generational audience that includes both long-time customers and a newer, more digital-first buyer.
Our Strategy
Our team upgraded Thunderbird’s nopCommerce platform to the latest version, removing years of legacy constraints while preserving the business logic that makes Thunderbird unique. This required extensive reverse engineering to fully understand how products were priced, configured, and sold — down to how silver sheet cuts, weight calculations, and volume discounts interact.
Key strategic and technical improvements included:
- Full platform upgrade to modern, supported version of nopCommerce
- Re-architected pricing and product configuration logic, simplifying complex calculations while preserving accuracy
- Streamlined product selection interfaces, making highly technical purchasing decisions easier to understand
- Improved registration and checkout flow, reducing friction for first-time buyers
- Navigation and category restructuring, surfacing previously buried products and improving findability
- Improved ERP integration run-time for more timely product and inventory updates
- Admin-controlled scheduling for weekly and manager specials, allowing Thunderbird to plan promotions weeks — or even months — in advance without manual intervention
- Improved spam bot protection with modern techniques
These changes significantly improved both usability and visual clarity, creating a stronger experience for existing customers and a more approachable entry point for new ones.
Most importantly, the new platform removed the technical ceiling that had limited Thunderbird’s ability to scale during high-demand moments.
The Results
The impact of the modernized website became immediately clear during Thunderbird Supply’s first Super Sale of the year — their most prominent single-day promotional event.
Following the website upgrade, Thunderbird tripled their previous peak-day revenue record during their next Super Sale, recorded a 124% increase in orders year-over-year, and saw average order value (AOV) rise 50% YoY.
Thunderbird also registered 136 new customers in a single day — a 700% increase over the previous year. Prior Super Sales were driven almost entirely by returning customers. This year, an estimated 72% of orders came from new buyers, signaling a fundamental shift in growth dynamics and an increase in customer lifetime value (LTV).
Typically, volume increases come at the expense of order value. In this case, the new website delivered higher order volume and higher AOV simultaneously, indicating improved trust, faster checkout, better usability, and dramatically reduced friction for first-time buyers.
Typically, volume increases come at the expense of order value. In this case, the new website delivered higher order volume and higher AOV simultaneously, indicating improved trust, faster checkout, better usability, and dramatically reduced friction for first-time buyers.
In addition to revenue and conversion gains, Thunderbird also saw improved operational performance behind the scenes. Product and inventory integrations now run 85% faster, reducing processing time from 20 minutes to just 3 minutes — giving the Thunderbird team quicker updates, greater reliability, and less risk during peak sales activity.
Business Impact
Thunderbird now has a stable eCommerce foundation built on nopCommerce for the long term — one that supports complex product logic, reduces operational burden, and positions the brand to grow without fear of platform limitations during peak demand.
Most importantly, Thunderbird’s Super Sale is now so much more than just a revenue spike — it’s their largest annual customer acquisition event, with long-term lifetime value implications that far exceed a single day’s sales.
