The Wood Source
Building a scalable digital ecosystem to support multi-store growth
Client overview
The Wood Source is a leading supplier of lumber, siding, decking, and custom woodworking materials based in Ottawa, Canada. Serving a diverse range of customers from DIY homeowners to professional contractors, they have built a reputation for quality products and expert craftsmanship. As a growing business, they were expanding their operations to include a second retail location in Kingston and needed a digital presence that could support and accelerate that growth.
The challenge
The Wood Source's core challenge was a digital ecosystem that was no longer an asset, but a liability. It was a ceiling on their growth, manifesting in three key areas:
- Inflexible technology: The Wood Source’s Shopify site couldn't be customized to handle their unique business needs, from products with over 100 variants to complex custom milling orders. Essential processes were manual and inefficient.
- A barrier to expansion: The site’s single-location architecture made The Wood Source’s goal of opening a new Kingston store a non-starter online. The company was unable to manage location-specific inventory or offer customers a seamless local shopping experience.
- Underperforming marketing: The company’s advertising efforts weren't delivering their full potential. Foundational issues in their ad accounts were hindering performance and they lacked the optimized engine needed to drive traffic for a new market.
Our solution
Our partnership evolved over several years, with each successful project building the trust needed for the next phase of The Wood Source’s digital transformation.
First, we built a new foundation. The relationship began when U7 Solutions was tasked with migrating The Wood Source’s restrictive Shopify site to a flexible WooCommerce platform. We engineered solutions for the client’s most intricate requirements, including a custom “moulding browser” and workflows for special orders. Critically, we also developed a bespoke import plugin, transforming the difficult task of managing thousands of product data fields into a simple, streamlined process.
Next, U7 Solutions enabled the company’s expansion. With the new platform live and a successful project completed, The Wood Source entrusted us with the technical implementation for their Kingston expansion. We custom-built a scalable solution to handle multi-location inventory, a "Preferred Store" selector for a seamless user experience, and sophisticated back-end logic to make managing a multi-store operation simple.
Then, we ignited their growth. To drive high-quality traffic, U7’s marketing team overhauled their Google and Meta Ad accounts, starting with a deep audit. We consolidated google search campaigns, refined the keyword strategy, and unlocked clear segmentation. We then resolved a persistent technical bug with Facebook Catalogue Ads, unlocking a vital revenue channel.
Finally, we focused on continuous improvement. As the relationship deepened, our focus shifted from major builds to proactive, continuous improvement with targeted upgrades to enhance the user journey and advertisements.
Results and impact
A scalable platform built for the future
The custom WooCommerce solution is a flexible, long-term asset that can adapt to The Wood Source’s evolving business needs.
A successful multi-store launch
The new Kingston store fully integrated into their operations and created a blueprint for future expansion.
More effective search campaigns
By separating branded and non-branded campaigns and correcting tracking issues, U7 enabled The Wood Source to properly acquire new users through search. Within two months, the non-branded campaign generated over 100 assisted conversions, increased its assist role by 40% month-over-month, and produced a 7.3x return based on Google Ads–reported conversion values. While branded search continued to capture high-intent demand.
A sustained partnership
Consistent results across each phase led The Wood Source to continue working with U7 Solutions on long-term digital strategy and execution.
Conclusion
By delivering critical wins at every step, our partnership transformed The Wood Source’s digital presence and provided the foundation for their next phase of growth.
