Case study
170% conversion boost: How The Snowboard Asylum carved out a stronger brand identity with Centra
The Snowboard Asylum transforms its tech stack and launches a faster, brand-authentic site with Centra.
The Snowboard Asylum (TSA) has been at the heart of the UK snowboarding scene for over three decades. What began as a small, rebellious booth at the Earls Court Ski Show has grown into the country’s number one independent snowboard retailer. Today, TSA operates 10 stores across the UK, including its flagship in Covent Garden, selling snowboards, boots, bindings, outerwear, and accessories to everyone from first-timers to Olympic medalists. While the sport has evolved, TSA’s mission remains the same: to inspire and equip riders for every adventure on the slopes.
Stuck in the slow lane
For years, TSA shared the Magento backend of its parent company, Ellis Brigham. This setup made it difficult to maintain a site that could reflect TSA’s independent spirit. Pages could take up to 20 seconds to load, Google Core Web Vitals were routinely failing, and the shared template left TSA unable to express its own brand personality.
Despite being distinct brands in reality, the TSA and Ellis Brigham sites were effectively the same skin with just a few CSS changes to colour and font.
Online Manager at Ellis Brigham
TSA needed a platform that could support growth, reduce maintenance overhead, and allow the brand's identity to stand on its own.
Rebuilding performance from the ground up
TSA explored headless Magento and Shopify but found neither solution sufficient:
Staying with Magento meant ongoing maintenance burden and technical debt
Shopify’s locked-down checkout impacted customer experience consistency. Both options didn’t align with their long-term vision.
We were unsure about Shopify’s checkout. You could build a headless brand experience, but then drop into Shopify at the end, which didn’t feel seamless for our customers.
Head of Operations at Ellis Brigham
After collaborating with Limesharp, the team landed on Centra to modernize and scale their digital experience, providing:
Full control over brand presentation
Composable architecture for complex product ranges
Built-in order management and inventory allocation
Support for advanced omnichannel experiences, including click-and-collect, buy-online-return-in-store, and soon, buy-online-ship-from-store
Data had to be completely different. We didn’t keep anything from the old site.
Head of Operations at Ellis Brigham
A total overhaul
Rather than simply migrating the old site across to a new system, TSA undertook a complete tech stack rebuild to modernize every aspect of its digital experience. The team restructured product data, replaced legacy integrations, and aligned the frontend with a more maintainable, modern architecture. At the same time, they expanded content capabilities, investing in original photography and styling.
While the build was going on, we built a studio, hired a photographer and stylist, and started shooting both new season products and a huge backlog of existing inventory.
Head of Operations at Ellis Brigham
This approach gave TSA full control over its story, both visually and digitally, allowing the brand to present itself exactly as its community knew it: bold, authentic, and adventurous.
Speed and impact
Since going live on Centra, TSA’s site has become faster, more intuitive, and more reliable, transforming how customers interact with the brand. On-site search usage skyrocketed 276% year-over-year, while add-to-carts grew by 83%. For the first time, 99.5% of pages are rated as ‘Good’ in Google Search Console, delivering consistent performance even during peak demand.
And conversions have hit a new high.
Conversion rate has increased by 170%. Site performance, the speed, everything is phenomenal compared to what we had before. It’s like an F1 car versus a 2CV.
Head of Operations at Ellis Brigham
TSA’s new digital flagship store is not only fast, it also showcases TSA’s unique brand voice and identity.
A digital destination for snowboarders
With Centra powering its backend, TSA can now:
Launch new pages and campaigns in minutes
Tell richer brand stories with original content
Maintain consistent brand storytelling across channels
Experiment freely with merchandising and promotions
Prepare for omnichannel enhancements, such as ship-from-store
TSA’s transformation shows that a heritage brand can modernize without compromise. With Centra, The Snowboard Asylum now delivers a fast, flexible, and fully brand-authentic digital experience—one that engages its community, reflects its rebellious spirit, and powers TSA’s growth well into the future.
TSA’s tech stack
| Ecommerce platform | Centra |
|---|---|
| Front-end partner | Limesharp |
| CRM | Voyado |
| POS | Sitoo |
| PIM | Akeneo |
| Deliveries | Ingrid |
| Payments | Adyen |
| CMS | Storyblok |
| Search and Merch | Voyado |
| ERP | Accent |
