E-commerce website redesign that increased sales by 83%

Tommy’s War is a UK-based business selling finely detailed World War One model figures and accessories, catering to modellers and history enthusiasts worldwide.

The brand had an established customer base, but its legacy website was built on a generic WooCommerce template and offered a poor user experience, particularly on mobile. Customers reported slow load times, complicated purchase flows, and a frustrating shopping journey, leading to abandoned carts and lost sales.

The client approached Exline Labs with a clear goal: rebuild the website into a modern, fast, and user-centric e-commerce platform that drives conversions, especially on mobile, and supports long-term business growth.

The project focused on converting a legacy, underperforming e-commerce site into a mobile-friendly, conversion-optimized online store that:

- Improves usability across all devices
- Streamlines the purchase journey for modellers and collectors
- Supports easy content management for product updates
- Preserves and grows existing SEO traffic
- Boosts both retail and wholesale orders

We began with a competitor analysis and user research to understand why the previous site was failing.

As part of this phase, we:

- Conducted user interviews with actual customers
- Mapped existing pain points in the purchase flow
- Defined key user personas (e.g., hobbyists, history enthusiasts, gift buyers)
- Identified barriers to quick conversion, especially on mobile

Based on these insights, we created a recommended purchase flow tailored to each user type, focussing on:

- Fewer steps to checkout
- Better product discovery
- Clear calls to action

This research formed the foundation for both UX and UI design.

Once the UX direction was set, our UI designer crafted bespoke designs for all key pages:

- Home & category pages
- Product pages
- Cart and side cart
- Three-step checkout process
- Mobile and desktop wireframes and prototypes

Design tools included Figma for layouts, Affinity for custom vectors and icons, and Photoshop for image treatment.

Interactive designs helped the client visualise the responsive experience before development.

After design approval, the site was rebuilt using:

- WordPress + WooCommerce as the e-commerce engine
- Elementor Pro for page layouts
- Advanced Custom Fields Pro for custom WooCommerce templates

This custom setup ensured:

- All product templates are editable by the client
- A clean modular structure for long-term maintainability
- Fast performance even with product and image-heavy pages

Before launch, we executed a thorough quality assurance review covering:

- Cross-device responsiveness
- Purchase flow validation
- Speed and performance optimisation
- Content accuracy

We also implemented comprehensive on-page SEO measures, including:

- Heading tag hierarchy
- Breadcrumb implementation
- Image optimisation
- Canonical tags
- Alt text and meta descriptions
- Structured 301 redirects to protect legacy traffic

Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console were connected for ongoing performance monitoring.

The new website transformed the client’s online presence:

Business & user outcomes

- A clean, mobile-first e-commerce experience
- A simplified three-step purchase flow
- Significant usability improvements reflected in customer feedback
- Positive reviews from the community

Sales growth

According to the client:

- Sales increased by more than 83% within one month of the new website launch
- Wholesale order volume rose dramatically
- Orders reached levels not seen since the business’s early years

These result figures show a strong and measurable ROI from UX and performance investments.

Business exit

Following the rebuild and sales surge, the client successfully sold the business at a strong valuation, a testament to the improved digital presence and order performance.