Collectibles retailer
Shopify Plus
Pre-Orders

Building the collector experience

Four thousand products, pre-order complexity, and a Comic Con deadline. We built the store collectors actually want to shop in.
Doctor Doom collectible figure from Marvel's Avengers: Doomsvday, featuring a dark green hooded robe, metallic silver armor, and green energy gauges in both hands, set against a dark green background with franchise branding.
UK Based Collectibles

The collectors' problem

Star Action Figures were sitting on four thousand plus products across one hundred and fourteen franchises. No brand foundation. No clear navigation. Collectors couldn't find what they wanted. Pre-order dates were unclear. They didn't know which display cases fit which figures. Pricing was confusing. And every frustration meant a support ticket. They needed a partner who could build from scratch, design for how collectors actually browse, and launch for Comic Con on a fixed deadline.
Shopify Plus · Fractional eCommerce direction

What we did

  • Full brand foundation – colour system, typography, visual hierarchy, and accessibility standards from zero
  • Collector-first navigation by franchise, series, brand and scale with breadcrumbs throughout
  • Pre-order clarity system with ship dates visible, checkout protection and no confusing mixed orders
  • Display case discovery and compatibility matching integrated into product pages
  • New In section with smart sorting for restocks and new arrivals
  • Mobile-first experience with touch-friendly menus and working faceted filters
  • Pricing transparency showing RRP and actual deal value
Partnership

The Detail

Three things made this genuinely complex.

The first was starting from zero brand identity. Most brands have guidelines they've outgrown. Star Action Figures had none. We didn't redesign an existing brand – we created the framework they could apply across store, marketing and operations. You can't design for collectors without defining what "collector premium" actually looks like first.

The second was understanding collector psychology. Collectors don't browse "action figures." They navigate by franchise (Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Transformers), series (Black Series, Legends, Multiverse) and brand (Hasbro, McFarlane, Super7). That navigation had to be invisible – three clicks to get anywhere, not ten. And breadcrumbs on every product so they could jump sideways to related franchises without losing their place.

The third was pre-order complexity. This is where most stores fail. Pre-order isn't just a button – it's a promise. If a collector orders a figure shipping in six weeks with one shipping in two weeks, they get angry when they arrive separately. We built checkout protection to prevent it. Ship dates visible on every product. Purple badges so it's instantly clear it's a pre order and when it will ship. No surprises, no support tickets.

The Results

The store went live on schedule for Comic Con. Conversion rate exceeded targets. Average order value lifted significantly from display case attach rates. Mobile conversion improved through the mobile-first redesign. Pre-order support tickets dropped substantially because customers now understand ship dates before checkout. Returning customer rates are strong – collectors check back when discovery is frictionless.

Testimonial

5.00

"We worked with Parallel on the move of our website over to Shopify Plus and couldn't be happier with the service we've received. From the outset, Parallel took the time to understand our business, how we operate and, importantly, what we actually needed from the new site rather than simply trying to force us into a standard Shopify setup. The move was a major project for us, with a lot of fairly complicated requirements around pre-orders, payments, shipping and the general way our business operates. Parallel has been incredibly helpful throughout, both during the build and since the site went live. Any snags we've needed have been dealt with quickly, and he's always been available to talk through ideas and suggest better ways of doing things. We've been impressed enough that we've continued working with Parallel after the launch to help us develop the site further."

Wayne Collins
Director