CASE STUDY · EDMONTON, CANADA
Rare fragrances.
A digital experience
with substance.
From an inherited WordPress project to a public 300-product catalogue in English and French, connected to the inventory of a Canadian niche-perfume boutique.
CLIENT WEBSITEExplore the Ambère storeambere.co · opens in a new tab
01 / AMBÈRE & CO.
Elegance on the surface.
Complexity resolved underneath.
Ambère & Co. brings a curated niche-fragrance selection to Edmonton. Its website needed to express the boutique’s identity and help visitors discover products while staying connected to in-store prices, variants and inventory.
SIMION SYSTEMS took over the existing WordPress foundation and completed the visual experience, catalogue structure and inventory integration. The catalogue is now public at ambere.co. Visitors can explore the collection and contact the boutique; online ordering remains disabled until Moneris is ready.
A public landing page and an existing WordPress foundation, with product structures and data that needed reconciliation between systems.
A browsable collection in two languages, published on the boutique’s domain and connected to its Lightspeed inventory.
ROLE · WORDPRESS TAKEOVER AND COMPLETION, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION, CATALOGUE, INTEGRATIONS, QA
The Canadian context translates into practical requirements.
One boutique, two experiences
Customers can explore online and visit the Manchester Square store. Location, hours, phone and map links each support that journey.
English and French
Navigation, commercial content, Journal articles and policies were worked on in EN/FR. Language is part of the experience, not simply a decorative switch.
Price, stock and commercial permissions
The catalogue uses CAD and tax settings supplied by the accountant. In-store availability and a brand’s approval for online sales are handled separately.
02 / DISCOVERY
Discovery comes before checkout.
For a niche fragrance, a name and a price do not tell the whole story. We organised the experience around perfume houses, fragrance families, notes and available formats.
A coherent visual identity
Warm tones, burgundy, editorial typography and space for the product. Image, proportion and mobile-behaviour corrections aimed to carry the same experience across core pages, catalogue listings and product details.
A catalogue built to explore
Brand access, four fragrance groups with eight subcategories, filters and links from product notes. Search recognises notes and families, while wishlist controls save products directly from cards.
Information that respects the product
Variants, concentrations, sizes, prices and fragrance pyramids where official sources provide them. Fragrance notes are distinguished from ingredient lists, and classifications are checked against client information.
DESKTOP & MOBILE · EN / FR
One identity.
Across screens.
Fragrance discovery often starts on a phone. Navigation, imagery and copy need to stay clear, including when the language changes.
We refined image rendering, search, variant selection and the editorial style on smaller screens. These captures show the public homepage in English and French.
Real captures · ambere.co · 390 × 844 · 27 October 2026
03 / ENGINEERING
WooCommerce and Lightspeed.
The same products, different
structures.
The important challenge was more than installing a connector. Some products were simple items in one system and grouped variants in the other. Uncontrolled synchronisation could disturb existing pages and carefully prepared editorial content.
Boutique stock and prices
Mapping, validation and content protection
Pages, variants and EN/FR experience
29 structural exceptions reconciled
A group of 13 products and another 16 SKUs with grouping differences were handled through mapping and an adapted representation for the connector. Existing pages and product identities were retained.
Synchronisation with clear boundaries
A custom PHP layer allows authorised commercial updates while protecting descriptions, images and editorial structure. Unknown products and mismatched associations are not accepted blindly.
Verified on the final domain
After migration, 300 existing products were relinked to the WooCommerce channel. A real test on an existing product confirmed a price and stock write with HTTP 200. This is not presented as an individual test of the entire catalogue.
04 / OPERATIONS
More than a beautiful catalogue.
Sold-out products remain discoverable
Out-of-stock display and back-in-stock signup with EN/FR messages allow the catalogue to show what the boutique carries even when particular variants are unavailable.
Email from Ambère’s identity
Google Workspace / Gmail API through OAuth 2.0 and FluentSMTP for website messages. The client approved access; transferring Google project administration to Ambère remains a handover item.
Content the team can manage
An EN/FR Journal, styled article pages, two personal author accounts and a screenshot-based PDF guide. Authors use the prepared publishing structure without needing access to the theme or integrations.
From landing page to public catalogue
The Webflow landing page was updated while WordPress was being prepared. The domain was then connected to Hostinger with HTTPS and a www redirect, preserving the boutique’s existing email setup.
05 / QA
What is now in production.
A public catalogue and a working connection to the boutique’s inventory. These figures describe delivery and technical checks, rather than sales performance.
products in the public catalogue
The catalogue shows 300 results in the 27 October check. Product pages, not 300 distinct SKUs or transactions.
one experience in two languages
Pages, navigation, Journal, product information and interface messages localised for the boutique’s audience.
structural exceptions reconciled
Batches of 13 products and 16 SKUs required mapping between simple and variable products while preserving existing pages.
lines with stock restored in testing
A controlled unpaid order and cancellation in the working environment. Separately, a Lightspeed write on the final domain was verified successfully.
Verification details and limits
06 / STACK
The technology and what it does.
| Layer | Technology | Role in the project |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | WordPress · WooCommerce · Hostinger | CMS, products, variants, public catalogue and a separate working environment. |
| Interface | Biagiotti + child theme · HTML · CSS · JavaScript | Adapted existing foundation with custom components and responsive behaviour. Elementor and WPBakery are part of the inherited environment. |
| Inventory integration | Lightspeed Retail X-Series · WooCommerce REST API · webhooks | Native connector complemented by a PHP adapter and rules for product mapping and content protection. |
| Language and content | Polylang · custom localisation | EN/FR routes, interface text, pages and editorial content. |
| Email and contact | Google Workspace · Gmail API · OAuth 2.0 · FluentSMTP · Contact Form 7 | Authorised sending and receipt checks; Google administration remains to be handed over. |
| Back in stock | Back In Stock Notifier · Action Scheduler | EN/FR signup and notification tests with controlled staging execution. |
| Discovery and privacy | Qode Wishlist · Complianz · Rank Math | Wishlist, consent choices, metadata and staging indexation controls. |
| Migration / payment stage | GoDaddy DNS · Hostinger SSL · Webflow · Moneris | Domain and HTTPS connected; WordPress replaces the Webflow landing. Moneris remains in progress, with online ordering and payment capture disabled. |
07 / LIVE & NEXT
The boutique now has
an open digital storefront.
Customers can explore the collection, compare formats, discover families and notes, and find the Edmonton boutique. The team has a catalogue connected to Lightspeed and a Journal it can manage. Payment activation continues separately, without keeping the entire collection hidden.
01 · PUBLIC CATALOGUE
ambere.co: HTTPS, final domain, EN/FR experience and Lightspeed connection restored in production. Online ordering is disabled.
02 · CONTENT ACCESS PREPARED
Two personal author accounts and a screenshot-based Journal guide. Google project administration transfer remains part of handover.
03 · PAYMENTS IN PROGRESS
Moneris access recovery, connection and testing remain pending before orders can be enabled. Commercial results will be documented later.
Proposed next-stage features such as gift cards, appointments, events and potential Marsello work are not presented as implemented in this study.
Design draws people in.
Systems make the experience possible.
SIMION SYSTEMS · Websites, e-commerce and integrations for real operations.
Case study · 27 October 2026. Captures from ambere.co. Fragrance brands are shown as products stocked by Ambère.