Taking Rough Trade global: eCommerce, internal tooling, and ops across UK and US
Rough 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. This project covered design and engineering leadership for their digital transformation, delivering a bespoke 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 was 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, a suite of internal tools was built 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.