Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 19.10.2026 
When we talk about what makes a great ecommerce website, the conversation usually starts with the customer experience. Is it easy to navigate? Do the products look good? Can customers find what they’re looking for and complete their purchase without unnecessary complications?
All of those things matter. But there’s another side to ecommerce development that doesn’t always get the same attention: what happens behind the scenes.
For growing businesses, a website shouldn’t just make it easier for customers to buy. It should also make it easier for the business to operate, respond to opportunities and grow.
That’s something we’ve been thinking about a lot at Pod Digital, particularly following our work with personalised gifting brand Quirky Giraffe, which has been shortlisted for Standout B2C eCommerce Website of the Year at the 2026 Global Digital Excellence Awards.
The project reinforced three things we believe businesses should consider when investing in ecommerce development.
1. Personalisation Should Make Buying Easier, Not More Complicated
Personalised products create an interesting challenge for ecommerce businesses. Customers aren’t simply choosing something from a shelf. They’re creating something unique, and they want to know exactly what they’re going to receive.
Think about ordering a personalised mug as a gift. You might want to add someone’s name, upload a photograph or change a design. But if you can’t properly see how those changes will look, you’re having to trust that the finished product will match what you imagined.
That uncertainty can make the buying process harder than it needs to be.
This was one of the challenges we wanted to address when developing the new website for Quirky Giraffe, founded by Emma Rothwell, who appeared on The Apprentice in 2025.
Rather than relying on static product images and basic personalisation fields, we built a bespoke WordPress and WooCommerce website that allows customers to see their changes rendered live.
Customers can add names, photographs and designs, then rotate the 3D product mockup to see how the finished item will look from different angles.
It’s a more interactive experience, but the purpose isn’t simply to make the website look impressive. It’s to give customers greater confidence in what they’re buying.
We also knew that much of Quirky Giraffe’s traffic comes from social media, where people might discover a product while scrolling and decide to buy there and then. That made a mobile-first experience, responsive personalisation tools and convenient checkout options particularly important.
The lesson here is that good ecommerce functionality should remove uncertainty, not introduce more steps.
2. The Biggest Website Improvements Aren’t Always Visible to Customers
One of the most interesting parts of the Quirky Giraffe project had very little to do with the customer-facing website. Emma runs a business built around personalised, occasion-led gifts. That means being able to respond quickly to seasonal events, popular trends and new product ideas is important. But creating the product imagery needed to launch those products was taking a significant amount of time.
Previously, Emma had to produce individual product mockups manually in Photoshop. When you’re regularly introducing new designs and trying to react to trends, that process can quickly become a bottleneck.
So we built something to solve it.
Alongside the live personalisation functionality, we developed a bespoke tool that allows Emma to export product mockups as ready-to-use JPEGs for platforms including Amazon, TikTok Shop and Etsy.
A process that previously took around a week can now be completed in approximately 30 minutes.
For us, this is one of the most important outcomes of the entire project. It’s easy to focus on the features customers can see, but sometimes the biggest commercial opportunity comes from improving how the business operates behind the scenes.
Saving time on a repetitive task means more time can be spent developing products, responding to trends and growing the business. That’s where website development becomes much more than a design exercise.
3. Build for the Business You Want to Become
Another challenge with ecommerce development is making sure a website can support where a business wants to go, not just where it is today.
When we started working with Emma, her ambitions went beyond creating a better online shop. She wanted to develop a platform where independent designers could contribute their own artwork, and customers could personalise those designs. Then, creators could earn commission when their products sold.
That required a different approach to a conventional e-commerce build. We developed a creator portal that allows designers to upload their artwork, alongside commission-tracking functionality to support the marketplace model.
It gives Quirky Giraffe a way to expand its product range without Emma having to create and upload every design herself. The platform has also been built with future product categories in mind, including tote bags and dog bandanas. What makes this important is that the website supports the business model, rather than forcing the business to work around the limitations of its website.
For growing e-commerce brands, that’s a question worth asking before investing in a new platform. Are you building something that meets today’s requirements, or something that can support tomorrow’s opportunities too?
Great Ecommerce Development Starts With Understanding the Business
If there’s one thing this project reinforced for us, it’s that the best website solutions come from properly understanding the people and businesses you’re building them for.
Quirky Giraffe wasn’t simply looking for a replacement for its previous Shopify store. Emma had a clear vision for how she wanted the business to work, from the customer personalisation experience to the creator marketplace and the processes behind launching new products.
Our job was to understand that vision and work out how to make it happen.
As Jacob Hedges, Head of Web Design at Pod Digital, reflects on the project:
“What I’m most proud of with this project is that we never asked Emma to compromise on her vision. We worked through every problem to build something we’d never done before, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. It’s a back-end solution that takes work off her plate while scaling the whole operation.”
Emma’s experience of working with Pod reflects how important that collaboration was:
“I spoke to around 20 different agencies before deciding on Pod Digital, and from the very beginning they just got it. They understood my vision, my brand and where I wanted to take the business. I never felt like just another client.”
Emma Rothwell, Founder of Quirky Giraffe
For us, that understanding was central to the project. Emma wasn’t simply looking for someone to build a website. She wanted a development partner who could help turn an ambitious business idea into something that worked in practice, without losing sight of her original vision.
That collaboration continued throughout the project, with Emma involved in reviewing the designs and functionality as the website developed. We’re particularly proud that the finished website delivered the functionality set out in the original brief, while also removing a significant operational bottleneck for the business.
The site is still relatively new, so longer-term sales performance is something that will develop over time. But the improvements to Emma’s product creation process are already clear.
What Does This Mean for Growing Ecommerce Businesses?
Not every e-commerce business needs a 3D product builder or a creator marketplace. The right solution will always depend on the business and its customers.
But the principles behind this project are relevant to businesses of all sizes.
When considering a new ecommerce website, it’s worth looking beyond how it will appear to customers and thinking about the wider operation.
Where is your team spending time on repetitive manual tasks? What makes it difficult to introduce new products? Are there points in the customer journey where people might feel uncertain about buying? And will your website support the way you want your business to grow?
Sometimes the answer will be a better checkout experience or clearer product information. Other times, it might be a bespoke tool that saves hours of work every week.
The important thing is starting with the business problem rather than the technology.
As Emma puts it:
“They haven’t just built me a website. They’ve helped turn one of the biggest ideas I’ve ever had into a reality.”
Emma Rothwell, Founder of Quirky Giraffe
Being shortlisted at the Global Digital Excellence Awards is a proud moment for our team, and we’re delighted to share that recognition with Emma and Quirky Giraffe. But what makes this project particularly rewarding is seeing how the technology supports the business beyond the checkout.
Because the best ecommerce websites don’t just make it easier to buy. They make it easier to grow.
About Pod Digital
Pod Digital is a UK digital marketing agency bringing together web design and development, SEO, paid media, content and digital strategy to help businesses grow. We work closely with our clients to develop digital solutions that support both their customers and their wider commercial goals.
