The situation
When Schoolhouse joined the Food52 portfolio, it faced a complex ecommerce challenge: three distinct brands — Food52, Dansk, and Schoolhouse — each ran on separate systems. Managing these platforms in isolation made it difficult to deliver a unified, design-led shopping experience or share resources efficiently.
Known for its handcrafted lighting and timeless design aesthetic, Schoolhouse needed to preserve its unique brand identity while streamlining operations alongside its sister brands.
The challenge: A Custom build that couldn’t keep up
“The challenge was clear,” says Jason Laferrara, VP of Engineering at Schoolhouse. “We wanted to create a highly customized ecommerce experience — capable of handling thousands of product variants — without the ongoing maintenance of a custom-built system.”
Schoolhouse’s catalog includes fixtures available in over 1,000 powder coats, multiple cord lengths, and several mounting options. Managing these variations while preserving a clean, premium user experience pushed the limits of traditional ecommerce tools.
Previously, the team relied on custom-built systems to support the Food52 brand—complete with proprietary admin panels, permissions, and legacy code. The setup was powerful but unwieldy, creating technical debt and ongoing DevOps overhead.
“The DevOps component of it is a nightmare,” says Laferrara. “You’re constantly maintaining infrastructure, and every small change becomes a huge task.”
For design-savvy customers, that complexity often translated into friction. Product pages filled with endless dropdowns and checkboxes—making it harder to visualize options and easier to abandon the journey.
The Solution: Bespoke experiences without the custom costs
Together with Fuel Made — one of our agency partners — Schoolhouse implemented the full Maropost Merchandising Cloud suite, including:
- Personalized Search – AI-driven search with autocomplete, spelling tolerance, and instant results.
- Smart Collections – Dynamic filters, personalized product ranking, and customizable product card layouts and color swatches.
- Recommendations – Automated product suggestions like Hot Sellers, Frequently Bought Together, and Customers Who Viewed This Ultimately Bought.
- Advanced Analytics – Deep insights into shopper behavior and conversion drivers.
“When it came time to choose an app partner, we worked with our client to find a solution robust enough to handle their technical complexity while adhering to their incredible sense of design—and we found that perfect balance in Merchandising Cloud.”
— Ashley Pair, Director of Operations, Fuel Made
“Without Merch Cloud, we’d probably end up being close to a custom solution, which we don’t want to go back to.”
— Jason Laferrara, VP of Engineering, Schoolhouse
With Maropost Merchandising Cloud, Schoolhouse gained the freedom of a fully custom setup—without the ongoing maintenance or DevOps cost.
The Results
- 1,000+ finish and mounting combinations handled seamlessly
- Zero DevOps maintenance required
- AI-powered personalization driving faster discovery and higher engagement
- Unified ecommerce foundation across multiple brands
An elevated ecommerce experience—without the complexity
- Enhanced product discovery and personalization
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- Instant, AI-powered search with autocomplete and spelling tolerance
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- Personalized product ranking increased relevance and engagement
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- Dynamic, design-led filters improved browsing experience and conversion potential
- Operational and technical efficiency
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- Zero DevOps maintenance — no more infrastructure monitoring or late-night alerts
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- Reduced custom code base and eliminated internal admin tooling
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- Faster iteration cycles for marketing and UX teams
- Rapid implementation and scalability
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- Full Merch Cloud suite implemented in weeks, not months
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- Easily scalable across the Food52 brand portfolio
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- Seamless integration with Schoolhouse’s headless setup and Shopify Plus environment
“If you have a very large product set that has different filtering like this, Merch Cloud just is the solution. You don’t need to think about it—and all of your headaches are gone.”
The takeaway
Maropost Merchandising Cloud gave Schoolhouse the best of both worlds — a custom-calibre ecommerce experience with none of the maintenance. Today, its team can focus on design and growth, not DevOps, while customers enjoy a seamless, design-led shopping journey.
“Finding somebody that takes care of all the syncing for you and has this robust feature set isn’t easy,” says Laferrara. “There aren’t many other players in the game that can do what Merch Cloud can do.”