Cuddle Plush Fabrics is a specialist fabric retailer with a reputation as one of the leading suppliers of bamboo terry towelling, zorb fabric, and other specialist materials in Europe. They came to me in the early days of the business, when the shop was starting to outgrow its original setup and needed a platform that could grow with it.
Five years on, I'm still managing their site — which is perhaps the best thing I can say about the work.
The Challenge
Specialist fabric retail is a niche market with a knowledgeable customer base. Buyers searching for bamboo terry towelling or zorb fabric know exactly what they want and will quickly leave a site that doesn't answer their questions clearly. The product catalogue is large, with multiple variations per item, and inventory accuracy matters — a customer ordering something out of stock creates a fulfilment problem and a customer service headache.
As the business grew, the requirements grew with it. They needed to reach customers beyond direct search — through Google Shopping, through social media, through a mailing list. Each new channel needed connecting to the same underlying product catalogue so pricing and stock stayed consistent.
The Solution
I built and have continued to develop the site on WooCommerce, giving Cuddle Plush Fabrics a robust eCommerce platform with full control over their catalogue. The architecture was built to support a large number of product variations — fabric types, weights, widths, colours — with stock tracked at the variation level so customers always see accurate availability.
On the visibility side, I set up a Google Product Feed syncing the catalogue to Google Shopping, making their products appear in paid and organic shopping results for relevant searches. A Facebook shop integration connected the same catalogue to their social presence, reducing the admin overhead of managing products across multiple channels.
For international orders, I configured shipping zones with country-specific rates and VAT/customs handling so the right charges are applied automatically at checkout. This opened up sales to Europe and beyond without creating a manual workload for the team.
The Results
Cuddle Plush Fabrics have grown significantly since I first built their site, and the website has been part of that growth. The Google Product Feed has driven a consistent stream of shopping traffic from customers searching for specific fabric types — searches where organic text results often give way to product listings. The Facebook shop keeps their social audience connected to the product catalogue without duplicates or manual syncing.
The ongoing management relationship means that when WooCommerce updates, payment gateway compatibility changes, or a new channel needs setting up, it gets handled without the business having to think about it. They sell fabric. I look after the website.
It's one of my longest-running client relationships, and one I'm proud of.