Building a scalable D2C platform for modern commerce.

Microsoft Azure · React Native · Power BI · PostgreSQL

Engagement at a glance

Sundew replaced a basic, transaction-less website with a full direct-to-consumer commerce platform for a leading US grocery chain, unifying commerce, fulfillment, and customer data into one connected system across web and app.

25
years of brand legacy carried into a modern direct-to-consumer platform
3
disconnected legacy systems, payments, customer data, and fulfillment, unified into one platform
2
channels, web and mobile app, unified into a single commerce experience
6
core platform capabilities delivered as one connected D2C ecosystem

The business context

The client is a leading US grocery chain that built deep customer loyalty over 25 years through consistent service and a long-standing community presence. That loyalty was real, but it lived almost entirely offline. As consumer expectations shifted toward fast, digital self-service, the brand needed a modern D2C platform that could turn decades of trust into convenience, operational efficiency, and a foundation for future growth, not just a better-looking website.

The challenge

The brand was a market leader, but its online presence was limited to a basic website without any commerce capabilities. Commerce capability: customers could not complete transactions, manage orders, or access digital self-service, which meant the brand could not build direct relationships with its own customers online or scale beyond its physical footprint.

Process efficiency: internally, processes were manual and time-consuming, with no automation connecting a purchase to its fulfillment.

Data unification: separate systems handled payments, customer data, and fulfillment, so no single view of the customer or the order existed anywhere in the business.

Integration: without connections to delivery and fulfillment partners, the business had no way to offer the real-time tracking and dispatch customers now expect by default.

A market-leading brand was operating with a digital foundation built for an earlier era of retail.

The Sundew approach

Sundew stepped in to define a clear transformation path: replace the limited website with a full D2C platform, engineered to unify commerce, data, and fulfillment rather than solve each in isolation. The platform was built around four core workstreams:

A D2C commerce platform across web and app, built with React Native for seamless shopping.
Centralized customer data and CRM, with Power BI turning unified data into real insights.
Automated order and fulfillment workflows, integrated with delivery partners for real-time tracking
Secure payments on a scalable Azure and PostgreSQL foundation, built for performance at scale.

This marked the turning point from a static web presence to a scalable, modern D2C ecosystem, built as one connected platform rather than four separate fixes layered on top of the old website.

The outcome

The platform upgrade moved the brand from a basic web presence to a complete D2C system that drives measurable value and growth. Customers now enjoy a modern web and app experience, completing purchases and managing orders with ease. Internal operations became more efficient through automation, reducing manual work and errors, while secure payments and external service integrations improved delivery speed and reliability. The result was stronger customer loyalty, increased revenue, and clear ROI through streamlined digital operations. As the company's CEO shared:

"Working with Sundew was a game-changer; they built a scalable D2C platform that fit our business like a glove. Their speed, expertise, and attention to detail surpassed every other partner we have worked with."

What this means for your enterprise

A 25-year brand with deep customer loyalty can still be invisible in the one place modern customers expect to transact: online, on their own terms. Loyalty built over decades does not automatically convert into digital convenience; it has to be engineered into the platform itself, the checkout, the order tracking, the fulfillment handoff, or the gap between brand trust and customer experience will keep widening every year self-service becomes more standard.

The risk for an established, trusted brand is not the cost of building a real D2C platform. It's continuing to run a modern customer relationship through a website that was never built to hold one.

"A brand's reputation isn't inherited by its website. It's built there, or it isn't built at all."

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Frequently Asked Questions

How did unifying payments, customer data, and fulfillment into one platform change daily operations?

Previously, these ran as three separate systems, so no single view of a customer or an order existed anywhere in the business. Unifying them meant a purchase, its payment, and its fulfillment status could be tracked as one continuous process instead of three disconnected records that had to be manually reconciled.
What role does React Native play across the web and app experience?

React Native powers the customer-facing commerce experience across both web and mobile app, letting customers browse, transact, and manage orders with a consistent experience regardless of which channel they choose to shop on.
How does Power BI turn centralized customer data into business decisions?

Once customer profiles, purchase history, and behavior tracking were unified in one place, Power BI served as the analytics layer on top of that data, turning it into the kind of business insight and personalization opportunity that was not possible when the same data sat in disconnected systems.
Why integrate with third-party delivery and fulfillment partners rather than building that capability in-house?

Real-time dispatch and tracking depend on infrastructure that delivery and fulfillment partners already operate at scale. Integrating with them gave the brand real-time visibility and operational efficiency immediately, rather than requiring years of investment to replicate that infrastructure internally.
Why build this platform on Microsoft Azure and PostgreSQL specifically?

Microsoft Azure gave the platform a scalable, reliable cloud foundation capable of supporting commerce traffic across web and app channels, while PostgreSQL provided a robust data layer underneath the centralized customer, order, and fulfillment data the platform depends on.