{"id":10777,"date":"2024-07-30T15:41:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T15:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spreecommerce.org\/?post_type=cpt_success_str&p=10777"},"modified":"2025-12-11T14:47:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T14:47:30","slug":"300-year-old-luxury-retailer-fortnum-mason-gets-20-more-customers-with-spree-commerce-site","status":"publish","type":"cpt_success_str","link":"https:\/\/spreecommerce.org\/success-stories\/300-year-old-luxury-retailer-fortnum-mason-gets-20-more-customers-with-spree-commerce-site\/","title":{"rendered":"300-year-old luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason gets 20% more customers with Spree Commerce site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

300 years and counting<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

SPREE SUCCESS STORY<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The story of its legacy began in 1705, when Hugh Mason, a livery stables keeper, rented a spare room to William Fortnum, a footman in Queen Anne\u2019s household. The Royal Family called for having new candles every night, so every evening, when royal courtiers were retiring, Fortnum emptied the candlesticks of the half-used candles and took them home to his lodgings, where he melted them down, replaced the wicks and created new candles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So successful was his enterprise that he convinced his landlord, Mason, to set up shop with him in St. James\u2019s Market, and two years later, in 1707, the two opened their doors on Duke Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fortnum\u2019s ingenious idea for selling Queen Anne\u2019s half used candle wax, at a profit, paved the way for the beginning of a respectable business. The rest, as they say, is grocery.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Today, Fortnum & Mason<\/a>\u2014or Fortnum\u2019s, as it is often called for short\u2014is a food destination famous for not only its exquisite custom-blended teas, but also its delicious accompaniments, like marmalades and biscuits, and its gift sets, presented in the original Fortnum\u2019s hamper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A site that can handle complex orders and deliveries across more than 130 countries worldwide<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Throughout its long history, Fortnum & Mason has been at the forefront of retail innovation, and in 1998 it was one of the first retailers in the UK to launch a transactional website. However, in 2015 the company needed to move away from what was becoming end-of-life technology, drastically improve user experience and speed of use and team with platform that could be continuously improved as digital channels evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOur aim was to create the best digital representation of Fortnum & Mason, representing the brand in the best way possible and ensuring we have a range customers enjoy and buy into,\u201d \u2013 Zia Zareem-Slade, head of customer experience at Fortnum and Mason<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The renowned store in London\u2019s Piccadilly completely replaced its existing ecommerce platform, opting for an open-source solution. Deploying such a platform might seem quite daring for one of the oldest luxury shops in the world, however, it has proved nothing but a big success ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt will pay back in less than two years\u2019 time \u2013 and you do not hear of many ecommerce projects doing that\u201d Zia Zareem-Slade<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"Fortnum<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fortnum & Mason and Spree Commerce<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Designed and developed in just eight months, the new, responsive website was built with tools for continuous deployment like Circle CI and Ansible integrated into Slack. This means any member of the project team, technical or non-technical, could turn on regular new features and updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome is an elegant online storefront worthy matching the luxury that F&M represents. On fortnumandmason.com<\/a> you can find some really cool features like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n