Rescuing Scotland's Premier Quaich Shop
About the Project
Quaichshop is Scotland's premier retailer of quaichs — traditional Scottish drinking cups used in weddings, christenings, and ceremonies worldwide. Based in Edinburgh and supplying quaichs since 1987, Fiona needed to modernise a site that had accumulated years of technical debt while maintaining the heritage and craftsmanship her customers expect.
Quick site loads
in under 2 seconds
Easily find Quaichs
by clan, type or occasion
Mega menu
providing easy navigation
Key problems:
Quaichshop's expertise was solid, but the website had grown unwieldy over the years:
- The site was running two different themes simultaneously, creating performance bottlenecks and making updates complicated — a result of years of additions rather than any fault of the business.
- Outdated plugins and accumulated database clutter had built up over time, slowing page loads and creating security concerns that needed addressing.
- Finding a specific quaich meant scrolling through everything — no way to filter by clan crest, occasion type (wedding, christening, anniversary), or material (pewter, silver, silver plated).
- Navigation had become confusing as the product range grew, with important categories buried and the mobile menu especially tough to use.
- Cart abandonment was running at the industry average of 70%, but with no automated recovery system, those potential customers were simply lost — particularly problematic for international buyers who might be browsing late at night.
Our Solution
We rebuilt Quaichshop's platform while honouring its heritage:
- Consolidated from two themes to a single modern theme, cleaning up years of conflicting code and making the site faster and easier to maintain going forward.
- Audited and updated all plugins, cleaned the database of redundant data, and replaced custom code that had become outdated — treating the site like a restoration project rather than a demolition.
- Built product filtering that lets customers search by type (pewter, silver, plated), clan crest, occasion (weddings, christenings, anniversaries, corporate gifts), and price range, making it simple to find exactly the right quaich.
- Designed a mega menu for desktop showing all categories at a glance, with a streamlined mobile menu that makes browsing the full range easy on smaller screens.
- Optimized images and code to cut page weight from over 2MB down to 1.58MB, getting load times well under one second so international customers on slower connections aren't left waiting.
- Set up abandoned cart email automation that sends gentle reminders to customers who've left items in their basket, particularly helpful for international buyers who might be researching before committing to shipping costs.
- Integrated Google Shopping Feed so Quaichshop's products appear in Google Shopping searches, opening up a new channel for customers discovering Scottish quaichs for the first time.
The result is a site that loads fast, looks professional, and makes finding the perfect quaich straightforward rather than overwhelming.
The Results (First 6 Months)
The Results
(First 6 Months)
- Site achieved GTmetrix Grade A with 93% performance: pages now load in under one second (918ms), keeping international customers engaged even on slower connections.
- Customers find specific quaichs quickly using filters: searching for "Clan MacDonald silver quaich for a wedding" now takes seconds instead of endless scrolling through unrelated products.
- Cart recovery emails bringing back 15-20% of abandoned carts: automated reminders sent at just the right moment catch customers who got distracted or needed time to think, particularly valuable for higher-value silver and personalized pieces.
- Google Shopping driving new traffic from customers who didn't know quaichs existed: bringing Scottish tradition to people planning weddings or looking for unique christening gifts worldwide.
Final Thoughts
This wasn't just about fixing a slow website — it was about protecting a piece of Scottish heritage that's been traveling the world since 1987. Quaichs aren't just cups; they're used in Scottish wedding ceremonies, given at christenings, presented at corporate events, and treasured as family heirlooms. When someone in the Netherlands is planning a Scottish-themed wedding, or a family in Canada wants to honour their clan heritage, they're trusting Quaichshop to deliver something meaningful. The site had grown organically over decades of service, and it needed careful restoration rather than replacement — keeping the heart of what makes Quaichshop special while making it work properly for customers around the world. Now when someone searches for the perfect quaich at midnight in Australia or early morning in America, the site loads fast, shows them exactly what they need, and gently brings them back if they wander off mid-purchase.