Danforth Pewter started over 40 years ago when Judi and Fred Danforth set up a metalworking shop in an old milk barn in Woodstock, Vermont. According to Judi, their mindset was to “think of the things they loved, and to figure out how to make those things for people to enjoy in their own homes, items that would last a lifetime.” Over 4 decades later, that mindset has paid off. The company has grown out of that old barn to owning and operating 9 retail stores in Vermont, Maine, Virginia, Maryland, and New Hampshire.

Ecommerce sales are now a significant part of their revenue. Danforth Pewter sells to individual customers, wholesale to independent merchants, and does custom design work for large national brands. They have grown from a small business to a mid-sized business, so upgrading their eCommerce capabilities has become a priority to keep up with rising demand, order sizes, and customer expectations.

THE CHALLENGE: 

Danforth Pewter had been on the same platform (Commerce V3, or CV3 for short) for almost 9 years. During those 9 years, they expanded to become a "tweener" company (between medium and small-sized), but their CV3 platform had not been updated to reflect the growth of their business. They completed a few upgrades over the next 2 years that would allow them to continue using CV3, but it was clear that they needed a more permanent solution. Danforth Pewter needed to implement a new eCommerce platform to solve some big issues:

• Across the board, their connectors were outdated, so they felt like they were always playing catchup by doing external work on their API connections to other platforms. It was starting to cost them more money in the long run to make all these changes.
• One example was CV3's limits on paid search. Danforth Pewter had a connector built to link Google AdWords to their website, but it gave them bad results. Not nearly as many people were being directed to their site as they anticipated after the AdWords connector was finished. 
• They needed a platform that could allow visitors to their website to virtually personalize metal engravings on Danforth Pewter’s website since this was a huge selling point for their customers. 
• Their old platform was built on a subscription model that worked for small businesses, but not for the size that Danforth Pewter had grown into. They needed a different cost structure that would align with their growth plans. 

THE SOLUTION:

Danforth Pewter knew they wanted Magento but was inexperienced in the software world and was unsure of the costs and problems they would run into during implementation. They needed a knowledgeable partner that would walk them through what they needed from Magento.

Additionally, since Danforth Pewter was using Acumatica ERP as their back-office software, they wanted a partner who understood Acumatica as well. After a productive first conversation with our head of sales, they decided on Kensium as their implementation partner. Since Danforth Pewter was already on Acumatica ERP, Kensium offered them the Acumatica-Magento Connector if Magento was implemented.

By implementing Magento and the Acumatica-Magento connector, Kensium was able to create the following solutions for Danforth Pewter:

• Consistent Magento updates and Kensium support allowed Danforth Pewter to keep their connectors up to date, while the Acumatica-Magento connector ensured that data was synced in real-time between both platforms.
• Since personal engravings have been so popular at Danforth Pewter, Kensium built a virtual engraving editor for all eligible products. Although a lot of the personalization tools were built for t-shirts, Kensium worked with Danforth Pewter to alter the tools for their specific needs. Customers now can define engraving text, location, size, and font all on Danforth Pewter’s website. 
• Knowing that cost was a large factor for Danforth Pewter, we were as transparent as possible. Kensium proposed a timeline and cost structure that we adhered to until the implementation was finished. Our work tracking software Wrike also helped us collaborate with Danforth Pewter and helped them keep track of the work being done. 

"Kensium Has Been Wonderful To Work With Over The Past Few Months. As A Project Manager, Having Access To Wrike Allowed Me To Keep Up To Date With The Kensium Team. It Was Easy To Request Enhancements And To Document Issues Through Development, Testing And Launching Our New ECommerce Platform. Kensium Responded Quickly To Our Needs And Worked With Us To Find Solutions When A Problem Arose During Implementation."

- Jen Heffernan, Customer Experience Manager
  Marketing And Sales, Danforth Pewter

THE NUMBERS:

Implementing Magento 2 Enterprise Cloud has had a clear positive effect on Danforth Pewter’s eCommerce sales. The site launched on September 30th, 2019. Here is how their business increased after 1 year: 

THE TAKEAWAY: 

Danforth Pewter needed to upgrade its eCommerce technology to accommodate the growth of their company. After having Kensium implement Magento 2 Enterprise Cloud as well as the Acumatica-Magento Connector, they saw a marked increase in the number of transactions, conversions, and revenue within 1 year. Kensium stuck to the proposed timeline and costs during the implementation as well. With this decision, Danforth Pewter got ahead of their expected growth and built a website ready to handle the future of their company.