When your client is one of the world’s most respected cultural institutions, expectations are high and rightly so. The British Museum Shop came to Williams Commerce with a brief to refresh their ecommerce site visually, using Adobe’s Hyvä theme. But what started as a front-end reskin quickly evolved into something much more ambitious.
The ecommerce team had a clear set of goals from day one:
- Align the online shop visually with the main Museum website
- Improve site speed and mobile performance
- Boost revenue by streamlining the customer experience
As with many ecommerce businesses today, mobile was a particular focus. With on-the-go shopping becoming the norm, the team knew the new site had to deliver just as well on mobile as on desktop.
A Framework Fit for Performance
Hyvä was selected as the front-end theme; a modern, performance-focused framework built for Adobe Commerce. Known for speeding up load times and improving developer flexibility, Hyvä gave the British Museum a solid foundation for faster, cleaner code and a smoother user experience.
Discovery Done Right
Our team led a comprehensive discovery phase. Through a series of collaborative workshops, we gathered everything from business priorities and user behaviour (via GA4 and Magento analytics) to detailed audience personas.
The client also provided a well-prepared reference document that outlined brand guidelines and visual preferences helping shape the design with real clarity and efficiency.
With the data and discovery insights in hand, the UX design team began wireframing and prototyping as they worked towards the final design.
The Results
The new British Museum Shop site launched in May 2025. While it is still early days, Lighthouse scores for speed and mobile performance are already showing strong improvements. And most importantly, the new site now feels like a true extension of the main British Museum brand; faster, more modern, and better equipped to support both growth and a global audience.
What’s Next
With the site now live, focus shifts to optimisation and continuous improvements with performance tracking and conversion gains next on the roadmap.
This project showcases what’s possible when deep sector knowledge, data-led design and modern technology come together. For our team, it was a privilege to work with the British Museum and to help bring a world-renowned institution’s online shop to the next level.
