9
Sites Launched
Headless/Composable Commerce for 9 K2 Brands
K2 Sports needed to escape a failing Demandware stack without losing what made each brand distinct. Marketing wanted nine storefronts with their own identity. Finance and operations wanted one engine underneath all of them. I led the program and solution architecture that resolved both: a headless multi-brand model with BigCommerce handling commerce, WordPress and Contentstack owning the front end, and Avante plus Quivers as the source of truth for inventory and fulfillment.
90%
Faster Publishing
2
Custom Integrations
At-a-Glance
One Engine, Many Brands
This was a forced replatform, but it became something much more valuable. I turned a brittle migration problem into a reusable headless commerce pattern that let nine K2 brands share one backend engine while still preserving brand-specific front ends, regional logic, and business-user control.
- Role
- Program Manager & Solution Architect
- Client
- K2 Sports
- Industry
- Sporting Goods • Multi-Brand Commerce • Headless
- Timeline
- 2020
- Team / Stakeholders
- 4
- Budget / Scale
- $1.5M
- Systems / Technology
BigCommerce
Contentstack
WordPress
Quivers
Problem
Demandware was sunsetting, reconciliation across systems was too manual, and nobody had a clean answer for how Quivers, Avante, payments, CMS, SEO, and nine storefronts were supposed to work together in SaaS. The business needed a model that could move at speedboat speed without turning headless commerce into an engineering science project.
Mandate
I owned the multi-brand architecture, integration strategy, program execution, and the political work required to get 9 storefronts moving on one clean model. I was the architecture lead, the traffic cop, the SEO & cutover risk manager, and the one person pulling the right people together to make the hard calls.
What I Changed
K2 didn’t need another platform swap. It needed a multi-store, multi-brand ecosystem built from scratch that could serve marketing, finance, and operations without forcing BigCommerce to do an ERP’s job.
Outcome
We gave K2 a cleaner operating model, faster storefront creation, faster content velocity, and less dependence on engineering.
Problem Statement
Forced Migration, No Plan
Demandware was sunsetting and K2 Sports had nine storefronts, no migration plan, and a stack where Quivers, Avante, payments, CMS, and SEO had never cleanly worked together. Marketing wanted every brand to keep its own identity. Finance and operations wanted one reliable engine underneath all of them. Those two requirements had never coexisted on the old platform, and nobody had a clear answer for how to make them coexist on the new one.
The headless path was the right call, but headless done wrong just trades one maintenance problem for another. The architecture had to be opinionated enough to give operations one engine to manage, and flexible enough to let nine brands look and behave like nine different companies. That balance doesn't happen by accident.
K2 Sports is a visual-first brand.
“
Nicole Phillips
Director of eCommerce, K2
What I Owned
I Made Headless Commerce Work for Business Users
I owned the multi-brand architecture, integration strategy, and program execution across nine storefronts and a four-person team. That meant making the hard calls on what went where, keeping the vendors aligned on a shared model, and managing the SEO and cutover risks that could have handed the business a traffic crater on launch day.
- 1
Multi-brand architecture
Designed one shared BigCommerce engine that let nine storefronts operate independently on the front end without creating nine separate maintenance problems on the back end.
- 2
Source-of-truth boundaries
Defined what lived in Avante, what lived in Quivers, and what lived in BigCommerce so every system knew its job and data didn't contradict itself across storefronts.
- 3
SEO continuity
Mapped redirect strategy, URL structure, and DNS routing across nine domains so the migration off Demandware didn't hand a traffic loss to the business on launch day.
- 4
Integration strategy
Resolved how Quivers, Avante, payments, and CMS connected to the commerce layer without creating the same reconciliation mess K2 was trying to escape.
- 5
Migration leadership
Owned cutover sequencing across nine storefronts, coordinated the right stakeholders at the right decision points, and kept the program moving without letting brand politics or vendor disagreements stall the timeline.
Solution
Headless, But Actually Operable
I designed a model where one commerce backend powered multiple brand experiences. BigCommerce ran commerce. WordPress and Contentstack ran the front end. Avante and Quivers stayed the source of truth.
Loading architecture diagram...
This wasn’t a simple headless commerce build. It was a multi-store system made to feel like one clean brand experience. The challenge was keeping the architecture disciplined enough for finance and operations while still giving each brand room to feel distinct.
Impact
Speed, Scale, Lower TCO
We gave K2 a cleaner operating model, faster storefront creation, faster content velocity, and less dependence on engineering.
9
Sites Launched
75%
Faster Site Creation
90%
Faster Publishing
2
Custom BC Integrations
Problem
Demandware was dying + K2 had no clean multi-brand SaaS plan.
01
Decision
I built the architecture pattern that let 9 storefronts share one backend commerce model instead of fragmenting into separate implementation projects.
Outcome
9 sites launched in under 9 months on one reusable headless pattern.
Problem
Reconciliation across systems was too manual & noisy.
02
Decision
I made sure Avante & Quivers remained the source of truth so the business could scale without breaking data discipline or inventing fake system ownership.
Outcome
Site publishing accelerated by 90%.
Problem
Marketing flexibility & operations were pulling in opposite directions.
03
Decision
I pulled the right people together to deliver two custom, platform-wide BigCommerce integrations and a headless experience layer that could move fast without collapsing into chaos.
Outcome
K2 gained more control w/o engineering bottlenecks.
“
Nicole Phillips
Director of eCommerce, K2
Recognition
Press & Accolades
The proof is simple: the pattern held up, BigCommerce reused it, and it kept showing up publicly as a model for multi-brand headless commerce.
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