Modernizing goop.com

For years, goop.com was hindered by chronic technical issues, including slow page load speeds, limited self service capabilities, and fragmented data across systems. Many of these problems were exacerbated by a bloated legacy architecture that impeded goop's small engineering team's ability to deliver site changes quickly. It was widely felt within the organization that goop had fallen behind the online presence expected of a luxury brand.

In 2025, goop sought to fix these problems by relaunching its website on Shopify in parallel with a full site redesign. As Director of Engineering, it was my responsibility to lead the engineering team through implementation.

To modernize the site, I designed a headless architecture built around a React frontend using Shopify's Hydrogen framework, Payload CMS for content management, and Algolia for search. We later included Klaviyo for marketing communications and Elevar (now Audiense) to synchronize data across downstream systems.

Development began in January 2025 with a core team of 4 engineers and a strict deadline to launch in time for that year's Labor Day sale. Partnering with an agency on designs, we rebuilt the website using a fresh design system. We successfully relaunched the site in August. One week later, goop experienced its highest-ever conversion rate during its Labor Day sale.

The engineering team next focused on data synchronization. In October 2025 we integrated Elevar, achieving 100% accuracy across all analytics platforms. We followed this up by enabling AI-boosted search result capabilities to Algolia for higher relevancy and click-through rates. Alongside a custom-built promotion using Shopify Functions, goop's 2025 BFCM sale was among its most successful.

To complete the site modernization, the engineering team began migrating 18 years of content from WordPress to Payload CMS in January 2026. By introducing AI-assisted engineering with Claude Code, we were able to greatly accelerate the engineering team's velocity. Successfully launched in April, the site is now fully headless.

As a result of the site rebuild, each of goop's thousands of pages now experience fast page load speeds and overall strong core web vitals. The marketing and editorial teams can launch landing pages without any engineering involvement. Data is fully synchronized downstream, enabling new marketing workflows and analytics capabilities. Because of a greatly simplified architecture and modern technologies, many engineering tasks that used to take days or weeks can now be completed in as little as hours.

This project demonstrates how an e-commerce brand stuck on a legacy architecture can successfully migrate to a modern architecture that supports advanced workflows. Please contact me if you would like to learn more about this project.