Building the most recognizable cannabis ecommerce

When 420.com came to life, the goal was clear: launch fast, launch right, and don’t compromise on quality. This wasn’t about building a “temporary” website. It was about creating a solid, scalable e-commerce foundation that could go live quickly, look exceptional, and perform from day one — all while staying fully compliant in a complex regulatory space.

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The challenge

The hemp market moves fast, and timing matters. The requirement was to build a fully functional Shopify store in under 3 weeks — one that delivered a smooth customer experience, handled real operational complexity, and was ready to scale.On top of speed, compliance was critical. Products needed to be sold across all U.S. states except California, which meant careful attention to age verification, payments, shipping workflows, and tax handling across multiple jurisdictions.

The solution

We assembled a focused, cross-functional team with clearly defined ownership across product, integrations, and UX.
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Instead of relying on off-the-shelf themes, we built a customized Shopify setup with:
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• A personalized theme aligned with the brand’s identity
• Reusable components and modules for rapid iteration
• Clean UX flows designed to reduce friction and increase trust

Compliance and operations were treated as first-class citizens, not afterthoughts.

Key integrations

To support real-world operations from day one, we integrated:
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• AgeChecker for compliant age verification.
• Authorize.net for secure and reliable payments.
• ShipStation to streamline order fulfillment and internal workflows.
• Avalara for accurate, automated tax calculation across eligible U.S. states and address validation.

This ensured the team could manage orders efficiently while customers enjoyed a frictionless, compliant checkout experience.

Execution & Launch

Before deployment, the platform went through thorough QA — both internally and with the client — validating:
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• Purchase and checkout flows
• Edge cases related to compliance and geography
• Operational handoff for order management

From concept to live store, the entire build took less than 3 weeks.

Early traction & impact

Shortly after launch, the platform began showing strong early signals of traction:

• Thousands of impressions generated organically in the first phase
• Hundreds of orders processed, validating real customer demand
• Smooth operational handling with no major post-launch friction
• Positive early engagement across key user journeys

While still early, the foundation is clearly supporting scale. The platform is on track to sustain multi-million-dollar annual performance as operations expand.

Outcome

The result is a fast, compliant, and visually strong e-commerce platform that feels anything but rushed. 420.com is now positioned as a scalable hemp marketplace, with a technical and design foundation built to grow.
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Most importantly, it proves that with the right structure, focus, and collaboration, speed and quality don’t have to be trade-offs. Speed wasn’t the shortcut. It was the result of focus.