The 

Spirit 

of 

St 

Andrews

The key challenge for Kingsbarns Distillery was to consolidate its various brands—Wemyss Malts, Darnley’s Gin, and Wemyss Family Spirits—under one unified online presence. The goal was to build the authority of the Kingsbarns Distillery brand while also boosting cross-brand awareness, driving global online opportunities, and fostering customer engagement. A seamless user experience across all products and services, including ecommerce, distillery tour bookings, and customer accounts, was critical.

Our team embarked on a comprehensive Brand Discovery phase to understand the essence of each of Kingsbarns’ brands and the needs of their target audiences. We defined customer profiles that included global consumers, distributors, and trade partners. This insight informed the creation of an enhanced user journey across the website and digital touchpoints, designed for seamless engagement and conversion.

We consolidated all Kingsbarns’ brands into a single, cohesive Shopify+ platform to support a variety of features and experiences. This allowed us to:

• Combine all brands under the Kingsbarns group into a unified online presence. This included Kingsbarns Distillery, Darnley’s Gin, Wemyss Malts, and the exclusive Founders’ Lounge.

• Upsell products and experiences across all offerings, including whisky and gin distillery tours, tastings, and experiences, while channeling all cross-brand transactions through one central Shopify+ checkout process. This streamlined process supports product sales, tour bookings, gift voucher purchases, and customer accounts, enabling repeat ordering, remarketing, and personalised experiences.

• Leverage Shopify+ as the backbone for the entire system, providing a source of truth across inventory, stock, online/offline sales, and customer accounts. This ensures that sales and stock are aligned in real time, both online and offline.

• Facilitate tour bookings and product orders via Shopify’s Experience App, including bespoke features for customer-specific pricing for trade accounts and Founders’ Lounge members, enabling better account management and a more personalised user experience.

• Develop an international sales strategy with a primary UK site targeting the UK and EU markets, as well as a US site tailored to American customers. The US site also includes audience-specific content for those considering a visit to the distillery as part of a trip to Scotland (e.g., St Andrews, Golf).

• Implement a domain strategy to position all brands as part of the Kingsbarns family, preserving SEO authority from the previously separate branded sites and consolidating it into the new, central Kingsbarns Distillery domain for maximized search visibility.

Additionally, we used an agile design and development approach to meet tight launch deadlines and technical hurdles early in the process. We selected a feature-packed, best-in-class theme for Shopify+, then developed a bespoke, branded child theme, adding distinct visual identity elements and brand continuity. We made use of exceptional visual content, including video, lifestyle/hero photography, and content mapping to bring the brand stories to life across the approach, history, and about sections.

To further improve discoverability and user experience, we designed a rationalised, user-centered information architecture (IA), making the combined catalogue and offerings intuitive from an end-user perspective. We also included themed pages for the secondary brands—such as a Darnley’s Gin theme for gin-related products and experiences, and a Wemyss Malts theme for whisky-related offerings. The site’s categorization and tagging were optimised for easy navigation, with features like journal categories for cocktails, tasting notes, and distillery updates.

The launch of the new website and integrated Shopify+ system resulted in significant improvements across multiple key performance indicators (KPIs), including:

• Enhanced cross-brand exposure, leading to increased recognition and engagement with Wemyss Malts, Darnley’s Gin, and Wemyss Family Spirits.

• A streamlined and seamless customer journey, with higher conversion rates on product sales, tour bookings, and gift voucher purchases.

• Improved user retention and repeat purchases, thanks to easy-to-use customer accounts and order history features.

• A boost in international sales due to multi-currency support and localised experiences for key markets.

• Increased visibility and online presence for Kingsbarns Distillery, helping to position it as a market-leading drinks destination.

The digital transformation not only drove immediate business growth but also set the stage for long-term sustainability, with a strong foundation for ongoing engagement and brand loyalty.