Overview
As part of a personal ecommerce project, I launched and manage a Shopify-based DTC storefront specializing in marine and boating equipment. The store was built as a retail site of leading marine products, with a synced catalog of over 22,000 SKUs. I handled everything from initial Shopify setup to multichannel integration, merchandising, and visual design.
Challenges
Managing a high-SKU Shopify store presented several operational and merchandising obstacles:
- High volume of SKUs: With over 22,000 SKUs, organizing navigation and ensuring site performance required thoughtful category planning and theme configuration.
- Product size complexity: Many items were large, heavy, or shipped freight, requiring custom shipping rules and clear product details.
- Inventory inconsistency: A significant portion of the catalog included frequently out-of-stock or discontinued products, requiring frequent feed filtering and exception handling.
- Listing quality: The supplier feed included inconsistent titles, sparse product descriptions, and missing images, which impacted merchandising and required selective overrides and manual cleanup.
Results
The project resulted in a fully operational, cleanly structured Shopify storefront with scalable backend processes:
- Live catalog feed with 22K+ SKUs, regularly filtered and cleaned for availability and listing quality
- Shopify frontend designed for ease of navigation, compliance, and conversion
- Automated product sync and pricing updates tied to supplier feed
- Solid foundation for future marketing, SEO, and retention efforts via Klaviyo and structured site content