Taking Rough Trade global: eCommerce, internal tooling, and ops across UK and US
www.roughtrade.comRough Trade is an institution with a fiercely loyal following and a particular way of doing things. They wanted to scale their online presence, launch in the US market, and tighten up logistics across stores and fulfilment centres in both countries. Heading up design and engineering for their digital transformation, I built their eCommerce platform and all the internal tools that keep it running.
Scaling globally without losing what made them special
Independent record shops with a fiercely loyal following, a reputation for curation, and a particular way of doing things. They needed to scale their online presence and launch in the US without compromising what made them Rough Trade.
What I delivered
A bespoke eCommerce platform that launched their first US online store alongside an overhauled UK experience.
But the customer-facing site was only half the story. Behind the scenes, I created a suite of internal tools to manage the complexity of multi-market operations:
- Fulfilment tools to manage shipping across the UK and US
- Stock management systems to keep inventory in sync across warehouses and stores
- POS integrations connecting the online platform to physical tills in shops on both sides of the Atlantic
Why it mattered
Rough Trade's online store isn't just a shop. It's an extension of the in-store experience: curated, opinionated, and deeply connected to the music. The platform needed to reflect that while handling the complexity of running a multi-market business.
The result
Expanded reach into the US. Smoother workflow. A platform that feels authentically Rough Trade, backed by tooling that actually works for the people running it.
Shop the stores at roughtrade.com.