Frontier Co-op

The Client
Founded in 1976 and based in Norway, Iowa, Frontier Co-op offers a full line of natural and organic products under the Frontier, Simply Organic and Aura Cacia brands. Products include culinary herbs, spices and baking flavors; bulk herbs and spices; and natural and organic aromatherapy products. Frontier's goal is to provide consumers with the highest quality organic and natural products while supporting and promoting social and environmental responsibility.

The Situation
When the pandemic struck, Frontier recognized it as an opportunity to pivot to digital and capitalize on the momentum of the moment. Frontier wanted to consolidate its tech stack, decreasing operational costs by implementing a headless solution that paired a multisite Acquia front end with a Magento-powered shared cart on the back end.

The Challenge
Frontier’s existing tech stack — a multi-platform, multi-storefront, legacy system — made it difficult to manage the site and impossible to deliver a consistent user experience. 

The Solution
After several failed attempts to implement a solution with other partners, Frontier ultimately partnered with Gorilla Group to lead its digital transformation. Gorilla quickly aligned with Frontier’s key decision-makers, developing an understanding of the previous failures and guiding them through a vendor selection process that wouldn’t jeopardize future scalability needs.

Gorilla developed a strategy for Frontier’s success with its complex business models, with multibrand, multisite and cross-brand commerce integrations that could be achieved. Additionally, Gorilla optimized search at the application layer, and Acquia assisted by moving Frontier from a shared search instance to dedicated search tier 2 — resulting in faster page load speeds across all sites. 

The Results
After four previous failed implementation efforts, with Gorilla Group and Acquia’s help, Frontier successfully launched its new site.