We Built Viking Coffee Co's Shopify Store From Scratch
Viking Coffee Co came with a clear product direction: roast-to-order coffee, a rugged brand voice, subscription potential, bundles, wholesale demand, merch, and a founder-led story. Vareweb built the Shopify storefront from the ground up around that reality - a store that feels bold and personal, but still gives shoppers a simple path from first visit to checkout.
View Live SiteClient
Viking Coffee Co
Industry
Coffee / eCommerce / Wholesale
Platform
Shopify
Services
Shopify Design, Development, CRO, Product Setup
Timeline
6 Weeks to Launch
Free shipping threshold shown across the storefront
High-value cart incentive already present
Core coffee products configured at launch
Coffee, gift card, and roast-based catalog
Roast discovery paths built into the store
Light, medium, and dark roast categories
Founder-led brand story integrated into UX
Brand trust, wholesale, content, and email capture
The Challenge
Building a Coffee Store That Could Sell Products, Subscriptions, Wholesale, and Brand Story Together
Viking Coffee Co was not a simple product upload project. The store needed to support coffee bags, bundles, subscriptions, wholesale inquiries, merch, brand content, reviews, limited-release messaging, and a free-shipping threshold. The build had to make all of that feel like one confident Shopify experience instead of separate pages stitched together.
CHALLENGE 01
Multiple Commercial Paths Needed One Clear Shopify Architecture
The brand needed more than a basic Shop page. Coffee, subscriptions, bundles, wholesale, merch, core values, blog content, and reviews all needed a place in the store. We structured the navigation so coffee discovery stayed primary, while subscriptions, bundles, wholesale, and brand content supported the buying journey instead of competing with it.
CHALLENGE 02
Coffee Products Needed Structured Education, Not Just Product Copy
Coffee buyers do not always know which roast to choose. A product like Send It Blend needs to communicate roast type, origin blend, tasting notes, bean or ground options, size options, brew-method recommendations, and freshness without overwhelming the page. We turned that information into scannable product modules so shoppers could understand the coffee faster and add the right variant to cart with less friction.
CHALLENGE 03
Trust, Guarantee, and Founder Story Had to Support the Checkout Journey
For a smaller DTC coffee brand, trust has to be visible before checkout. We built the storefront around the brand's real proof points: Traverse City presence, Shopify checkout, payment options, a 110% Guarantee, roast-to-order positioning, reviews, blog content, and founder-led story. Those signals were placed closer to the homepage, product pages, cart, and wholesale inquiry flow so they could support real buying decisions.
The Solution
A Custom Shopify Build Around Coffee Discovery, Repeat Orders, and Wholesale Leads
This was not a generic theme setup. We built the Shopify storefront around the commercial structure of the business: helping first-time buyers choose a coffee, helping returning buyers reorder faster, making subscriptions feel natural, and turning wholesale interest into a clearer lead-generation path.
Custom Shopify Navigation
Built the main navigation around shopper intent: Shop Coffee, Find Your Roast, Subscribe & Save, Bundles, Wholesale, and Merch. Brand content remained available, but the commercial path stayed clean and easy to follow.
Coffee Product Page System
Built product pages with structured purchase blocks: roast level, tasting notes, origin/blend, recommended brew methods, size comparison, whole bean vs ground, subscription option, freshness promise, and guarantee placement.
Subscription & Reorder UX
Coffee has a natural repeat-purchase cycle, so the Shopify experience needed to make subscriptions feel easier than remembering to reorder. We added subscription messaging, frequency guidance, reorder prompts, and bundle-to-subscription upsell points.
Collection Page Product Discovery
Built collection browsing with coffee-specific product cards that tell shoppers more before they click. Roast, flavor notes, brew method, availability, and sale status were treated as selling information, not buried details.
Wholesale Lead Funnel
Built the wholesale page as a structured B2B funnel with business type, estimated monthly usage, location, preferred roast range, and a cleaner inquiry path for cafes, offices, retailers, and local partners.
Trust, Guarantee & Review Placement
Placed trust closer to purchase decisions. The 110% Guarantee, roast-to-order freshness, payment methods, reviews, and founder-led story were built into product pages, cart confidence, and brand education sections.
Tech Stack
A Lean Shopify Stack Built for Speed, Merchandising, and Repeat Purchase
Shopify handled the commerce foundation, but the storefront layer was built deliberately around the customer journey. We kept the stack lean: Shopify theme customization, structured content, lightweight scripts, and only the conversion tools needed to support coffee discovery, subscriptions, wholesale, and repeat purchase.
Core Platform
Theme & Frontend
Commerce Experience
Retention & B2B
SEO & Measurement
Build Outcomes
What Vareweb Built Into the Shopify Storefront
The store was built from scratch with practical eCommerce priorities: clear navigation, coffee-specific product discovery, subscription readiness, wholesale lead capture, cart incentives, trust placement, and a content structure the brand can continue updating without developer help.
Before the Build
Coffee, subscriptions, bundles, wholesale, merch, blog, mission, and reviews needed one clear store structure.
Built in Shopify
Built hierarchy around shopper intent: Choose Coffee, Subscribe, Bundle, Wholesale, and Learn.
Before the Build
Coffee products needed to be easier to compare before the customer reached a product page.
Built in Shopify
Added coffee-specific discovery cues: roast level, tasting notes, brew method, sale status, size, and subscription eligibility.
Before the Build
Coffee product pages needed to sell flavor, roast, brew fit, size, freshness, and trust clearly.
Built in Shopify
Turned product education into scannable conversion modules beside the purchase box and below the gallery.
Before the Build
The store needed a visible cart incentive that encouraged larger coffee orders.
Built in Shopify
Built free-shipping messaging and cart logic around the $75+ order threshold.
Before the Build
Wholesale needed a stronger path for cafes, retailers, and local partners.
Built in Shopify
Built a qualified wholesale inquiry flow with business type, volume, location, and follow-up-ready fields.
Before the Build
The brand needed trust cues close to product and cart decisions.
Built in Shopify
Placed trust signals into product pages, collection banners, cart drawer, and checkout-prep sections.
Before the Build
Repeat orders and subscriptions needed to feel natural, not hidden.
Built in Shopify
Created a guided subscription path and reorder prompts for returning customers.
Before the Build
Brand content needed to support shopping, not sit apart from the product journey.
Built in Shopify
Connected content to products with internal product modules, roast education, and collection links.
Project Showcase
The Live Shopify Storefront
Images below are Viking Coffee Co's live Shopify CDN assets and real product photography. The showcase keeps the same Vareweb browser-frame layout while presenting the storefront as a completed Shopify build.
Homepage · Featured Drop
Viking Shopify photography and product-led storytelling anchor the homepage. The hero connects to shown actions: shop the featured drop, browse roast profiles, start a subscription, or build a bundle.
Coffee Collection · Roast Discovery
The collection has a real product range with sale items, standard coffees, and gift cards, plus sorting and filtering. The page was structured to surface card-level information: roast level, tasting notes, brew method, size options, and subscription availability before the shopper opens a product.
Wholesale · B2B Lead Kits
The wholesale story is clear: local, roast-to-order, no order minimums, fresh supply, and meaningful relationships. The missing layer was a structured Shopify B2B lead capture flow with qualification fields and automated follow-up.
Skål Barrel-aged
$22.00
Old Man Strength
$18.00
Costa Rican
From $27.00
Product Grid · Coffee-Specific Cards
Built inside the same product-grid pattern. Product cards show coffee-specific purchase cues, not only title and price. Roast badges, tasting notes, grind/whole bean availability, and subscription readiness help reduce product-page hopping.
Product Page · Send It Blend
Send It Blend already includes strong product detail: dark roast, Kenyan and Colombian blend, chocolate/cocoa/blackberry tasting notes, size options, whole bean/ground options, and brew-method guidance. The Shopify product page build turned that into scannable PDP modules.
Roast Category · Medium
Roast categories were built into the homepage as guided landing paths with flavor expectations, brew recommendations, and best-fit products.
Roast Category · Light
A lighter roast section can be expanded into a guided discovery route for shoppers who care about brightness, origin character, and pour-over style brewing.
Decaf Colombia
$21.00
Old Man Strength
$18.00
Mobile View · 390px
For a repeat-purchase product like coffee, the mobile experience was built around fast roast discovery, sticky purchase actions, cart threshold progress, and a clear subscription path without making the user hunt through the menu.
The Process
From Brand Brief to Live Shopify Store in 6 Weeks
The build started with the brand's real strengths - product photography, rugged voice, roast-to-order positioning, subscription potential, wholesale opportunity, and founder story - then translated them into a Shopify storefront that could sell clearly on desktop and mobile.
01 / DISCOVERY
Brand, Catalog & Store Architecture
Mapped the product catalog, roast categories, subscription model, wholesale requirements, merch, brand content, guarantee language, and customer buying paths before development began.
02 / DESIGN
Mobile-First Shopify UX Design
Designed around how customers shop coffee: roast level, flavor preference, brewing method, subscription intent, or wholesale requirement.
03 / BUILD
Shopify Development & Theme Build
Built the approved storefront in Shopify using a lean theme layer, custom Liquid where needed, and minimal third-party scripts so the store stayed fast, manageable, and easy for the brand to update.
04 / QA & LAUNCH
QA, Tracking & Go-Live
Before launch, we tested the store like a customer, not just like a developer. QA covered mobile checkout, product variants, subscription paths, cart incentives, form submissions, analytics, and SEO basics.
The threshold that shapes every cart
We Built the Cart Around the $75+ Free-Shipping Threshold
Coffee shoppers can reach the $75+ threshold through bundles, subscriptions, merch add-ons, or extra bags. We treated that message as a real conversion lever and built the cart experience around smarter recommendations, threshold awareness, and natural bundle prompts.
This was the kind of Shopify build where the goal was not to make the brand look generic. The photography, tone, and mission already had character. Our job was to make that character easier to buy from: better roast discovery, cleaner product pages, stronger subscriptions, and a wholesale path that captures serious local business leads.
Vareweb Project Note
Shopify development case study
Your Shopify Store Should Look Good, Load Fast, and Sell Clearly
Vareweb helps eCommerce brands improve product discovery, mobile shopping, product pages, subscriptions, cart UX, and conversion tracking without making the store feel generic.