2023 - Present
Live website
Strategy
UX/UI Design
Development
Shopify Plus
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Ongoing Success
SAP Hybris
2023 - Present
Molton Brown

Unifying Global Luxury Across Eight Markets


Molton Brown, the iconic British fragrance house, entrusted Black & Black Creative with a critical digital initiative: unify and elevate its global distributor sites across eight markets. The objective was to migrate four existing ecommerce sites and launch four new regional storefronts on Shopify Plus, bringing every touchpoint back in alignment with the brand’s refined design language and elevated customer experience.


What followed was a tightly orchestrated rollout—eight storefronts, five languages, and a single codebase designed for efficiency, modularity, and scale.

"Working across our Kao EIS, Molton Brown Digital, and Black & Black Creative teams was a transformative experience for Molton Brown.  Black and Black not only complemented our teams’ technical expertise but shared a deep understanding of our brand’s luxury ethos.  Together, we unified eight global markets under a single, scalable Shopify Plus architecture, preserving our heritage while modernizing the customer experience.

 

From seamless data migration across legacy platforms to multilingual storefronts and modular design flexibility, Black & Black delivered a future-ready ecommerce foundation. Their collaborative approach, attention to detail, and commitment to quality made them an invaluable partner in our digital evolution."

 

Tom Kirk, Director Molton Brown Digital

Dinah Marron, Sr. Director EIS

A Single Foundation Codebase, Infinitely Flexible

At the heart of this project was the ambition to create a scalable foundation: one codebase powering eight distinct regional experiences.



Through our custom-built Shopify architecture, we implemented toggle-based modularity using Shopify’s theme customizer. This allowed region-specific features, apps, and content to be activated on a market-by-market basis—without disrupting the core code. The result? A maintainable ecosystem that flexes features and functionality effortlessly to meet the unique needs of each market, without sacrificing brand integrity.

Migration & Continuity Without Business Compromise

Four of the eight site were legacy ecommerce storefronts on multiple different platforms. Migrating these to Shopify meant preserving critical business continuity, including historical customer data and order histories.

We developed a precise data migration strategy, coordinating closely with Molton Brown’s internal teams to ensure no data was lost in transition. Templates, data schemas, and validation tools were provided, ensuring the migration was smooth, accurate, and secure.

Enhancing the Vision

Molton Brown came to the project with approved designs but our role extended far beyond just technical implementation.

In collaboration with their global team, we identified UI/UX enhancements that would elevate the overall experience—from accessibility and navigation improvements to layout refinements and responsive behavior. These refinements modernized the interface while staying true to the spirit of the original design intent.

Localised Luxury: Built for Global Scale

Multilingual support was critical. With five languages across the eight sites, we created global templates that seamlessly handled translation via Shopify’s locale files and theme customizer integration.

Every element—from navigation to product detail copy—was designed with localization in mind, ensuring each region could speak in its customer’s local language.

Smart Integrations & Feature Prioritization

We strategically implemented vetted third-party Shopify apps to enable key features such as reviews, currency conversion, or localized shipping. These integrations were rigorously demoed, scoped, and implemented to maintain a consistent brand look and feel.

Working in close alignment with Molton Brown’s team, we created a phased rollout plan—launch-critical features were prioritized, while additional enhancements were scheduled across two post-launch sprints.

As part of this transformation, we helped Molton Brown elevate its customer journey by implementing Narvar and Notify integration for post-purchase experiences, ensuring customers received branded tracking, timely notifications, and a premium experience aligned with their SAP setup."

Outcomes & Impact

Codebase Efficiency  | 1 shared codebase powering 8 regional stores


Launch Velocity  | Phased rollouts delivered on schedule
Language Support  | 5+ languages localized through global templates
Market Flexibility  | 100% toggle-based CMS modules enabled ultimate flexibility for the localized brand teams across regions. 

Data Continuity  | Seamless migration for 4 legacy storesPost-Launch Enhancement  | 2 global sprints delivering shared improvements
Cross-Functional Team Collaboration  | High engagement across global stakeholders

More than a migration, this project was a reinvention of Molton Brown’s digital infrastructure—elegant, efficient, and entirely future-ready. Together with the Molton Brown team, Black & Black Creative delivered an ecommerce foundation designed for scale, regionality, efficiency and ease of use.