FTD Mercury Online | Modernizing the Floral Digital Ecosystem
Legacy Migration • B2B2C Strategy • Shopify Plus Transformation
Role: Design Lead – Product, UX & Creative Operations
Impact: We generated 150% more revenue than the flagship site on 60% less traffic by replacing legacy technical debt with a modern, storytelling-driven experience.
The Problem: A High-Performing Platform Stuck in the Past
Local florists were losing market share to giants like Amazon and DoorDash, not because of their product, but because their digital tools were a decade behind. The old Mercury Online (MOL) was outperforming expectations, yet it was trapped in a rigid architecture that couldn’t scale.
The Challenge: Modernize a high-revenue platform and migrate it to Shopify Plus without disrupting nationwide fulfillment, seasonal demand spikes, or the thousands of independent businesses operating within the FTD network.
The Strategy: A Conversion-Focused Digital Sandbox
We didn’t just rebuild a website – we created a protective shield for independent florists.
By treating MOL as a digital sandbox, we could test modern UX and conversion patterns that balanced enterprise consistency with local brand autonomy, then scale what worked across the broader FTD ecosystem.
High-Performance Architecture
• Migrated MOL to Shopify Plus
• Integrated with the proprietary Mercury HQ (MHQ) fulfillment system
• Enabled real-time inventory and order sync without breaking network operations
Empowering the Local Shop
This shift gave independent florists access to enterprise-grade SEO, performance, and infrastructure, allowing them to capture local demand directly instead of losing margin to third-party marketplaces.
The Experience: Occasion-Driven UX That Prioritized Emotion Over Price
Emotional Navigation
We replaced traditional category grids with sentiment-based shopping paths (“Thinking of You,” “Celebrate Big,” “Thank You”), and editorial layouts that centered the reason for the gift, not the SKU.
Niche Funnels
We built specialized, high-intent landing pages for Weddings and Sympathy, targeting high-AOV customers wtih emotionally resonant experiences.
MOL showed you don’t need more traffic to grow – you need better design, better storytelling, and a deeper understanding of what your customers actually care about.
The Result: Design as a Multiplier
By fixing the "leaky bucket" of the old platform, we proved that better design is the ultimate multiplier.
Unprecedented Efficiency
MOL achieved a 6.72% conversion rate (a 2.5x increase) and outperformed the flagship site’s revenue despite having only 40% of the traffic.
Mobile-First Success
By redesigning the mobile checkout to prioritize the gift-note interface, the highest friction point in floral e-commerce, we doubled mobile conversion rates.
The Blueprint for Growth
This project proved that design systems and operational alignment are not just aesthetic improvements, they are direct drivers of ROI.
Technical Stack & Learnings
Infrastructure: Shopify Plus Enterprise Migration.
Integrations: Custom MHQ API & FTD Network Sync for real-time fulfillment.
The "Sandbox" Lesson: We found that editorial-style layouts and guided-gifting modals significantly outperformed traditional e-commerce grids, informing the long-term roadmap for the entire FTD.com ecosystem.