Custom Metal Imagery | Metal Art E-Commerce PWA & Branding

JABA created the CMI brand, built their first website, then delivered a full e-commerce Progressive Web App with complex freight rules built in.

 

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Project Snapshot

• Client: Custom Metal Imagery (CMI)
• Industry: Metal Art, Perforation & Custom Fabrication
• Location: Australia
• Services Delivered: Branding, PWA / Website Development, Online Shop
• Standout Feature: Custom freight rules engine handling variable shipping across a diverse product range

 

The Problem

CMI came to JABA in 2019 as a business that needed a brand before it needed a website. The first stage was a brand design, followed by a straightforward brochure site detailing the services available. That site did its job, but it could only tell people what CMI made, not sell it to them. Moving to online sales introduced a problem that is much harder than it looks from the outside: metal art products vary enormously in size, weight and fragility, so a single flat shipping rate was never going to work.

 

What JABA Built

In 2020, JABA released the new Progressive Web App version with full e-commerce facilities. The PWA has been specifically designed to work as a shop, with every element on the site eventually linking through to a related series of products rather than dead-ending on an information page. The speed of the PWA makes the site genuinely enjoyable to browse, which matters for a product range built around visual appeal: customers come to look at metal art designs, and the site is fast enough to encourage that browsing rather than interrupt it. It also doubles as an inspiration tool for anyone planning an indoor or outdoor makeover.

 

What Was Technically Interesting

The biggest challenge in building this site was incorporating the complex freight rules involved across the full range of products on sale. Metal art is awkward freight: a small wall piece and a large outdoor screen have completely different handling, packaging and carrier requirements, and getting the calculation wrong at checkout either loses the sale or costs CMI money on every order. JABA built the shipping logic to reflect those real-world rules rather than approximating them, so customers see accurate freight at checkout across the entire catalogue. Combining that with PWA speed produces a shop that is fast to browse visually and accurate at the point of purchase, which is a harder combination to achieve than either one on its own.

 

Business Outcome

CMI moved from a brochure site that described their work to a full online shop that sells it, without the freight complexity of their product range becoming a barrier to online sales. The fast, visual PWA suits a business whose products sell on how they look, giving customers a browsing experience that encourages exploration across the range and converts that interest into orders with accurate shipping attached.

 

Why JABA Was Chosen

JABA has worked with CMI since 2019, starting with the brand design itself and progressing through a brochure website to a full e-commerce PWA. Each stage was awarded off the back of the last, and because JABA created the brand in the first place, the online shop carries that identity consistently rather than reinterpreting it.

 

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Like What You See?

This is the kind of online shop JABA builds when products do not fit neatly into standard e-commerce templates. If your business sells something complex to price, ship or configure, we would love to help. Get a free quote for your website today.