International strategy: The Tikamoon case and its US deployment on Shopify Plus
Expanding into the United States is a major turning point for many European brands. For Tikamoon, a company renowned for its solid wood furniture and commitment to circularity, the challenge was twofold: maintaining its unique identity while meeting the technical requirements of the North American market.
The goal of this project was not simply to duplicate the existing site, but to completely redesign the user experience and interface. At the heart of this US e-commerce rollout, the primary challenge was adapting the Shopify Plus architecture, IT system flows, and catalog management to American standards, all guided by Axome's technical expertise.
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Mastering IT flows and North American transactional specifics
Establishing a presence in the United States requires rigorous management of logistics and taxation. Tikamoon's infrastructure relies on a robust ecosystem: Shopify Plus for the front-end, Toast as the Order Management System (OMS), and Maersk for logistics.
Axome's consulting support helped define and secure the integration of these critical flows. To meet US standards, we coordinated several workstreams:
- Advanced tax management: Shopify Tax handles calculations for B2C. For B2B, specific tax exemption details ("tax_exempt") are transmitted dynamically via API to the OMS.
- Consolidating transatlantic inventory: Availability is calculated upstream by Toast, which unifies US, French, and "in-transit" stock. Delivery lead times are then pushed to a Shopify metafield to be displayed on each product page. No split shipments are permitted, in order to optimize logistics costs.
- Invoice hosting: PDF invoices are injected directly into the Shopify CDN via GraphQL queries, ensuring they are accessible from the customer account without relying on third-party storage systems.
Overcoming catalog complexity with a custom Akeneo integration
The breadth of Tikamoon's product range is its greatest strength, but it also presents a technical challenge. The catalog features up to 17 variation axes (size, wood species, frame material, etc.), making Shopify's native variant functionality insufficient.
To ensure a high-performing international e-commerce strategy for both SEO and user experience, the Axome technical team developed a custom data flow between the Akeneo PIM and Shopify:
- Data flattening: Each variant configured in the PIM is extracted and created as a simple, independent product in Shopify. This gives every variation its own unique URL to maximize SEO.
- "Sibling" product system: High-impact SEO attributes (material, color, shape) are managed as distinct entities, linked together via custom metafields and metaobjects.
- Hybrid product navigation: On the product page, a custom interactive slide-in selector allows users to navigate between different finishes, while retaining standard Shopify variants for secondary criteria.
This catalog architecture makes it possible to manage an incredibly deep product range while maintaining optimal page load performance.
Art direction and UX that stay true to the brand's DNA
A successful international rollout goes beyond just technology; it must also convey the brand's values. Tikamoon champions a "sensitive narrative" centered on solid wood, its artisans, and its circularity program. The agency therefore designed a digital experience that makes the raw material feel tangible.
To highlight this aesthetic approach, the design incorporates:
- Homepage videos to evoke emotion and immerse the customer in the brand's world from the very first seconds.
- Enriched product pages: the implementation of accordions for technical specifications and modules to recommend relevant items.
- Absolute transparency regarding furniture composition, with content written in a clean and authentic style.
Conclusion
The Tikamoon case demonstrates that a successful US e-commerce rollout relies on a flexible, custom-built technological architecture. By overcoming native limitations with a bespoke PIM connector and securing complex transactional flows, Axome has provided Tikamoon with a solid foundation to accelerate its growth in the North American market.
Are you looking to conquer new markets or optimize the performance of your existing architecture? Contact the experts at Axome to discuss your internationalization strategy.
