---
title: "Pantastic case study — Kwirita"
description: "Commerce tools for independent brands, first a marketplace of hand-picked Shopify brands, then apps for merchants. Design direction, prototypes, and marketing."
url: "https://kwirita.com/work/pantastic/"
---

# Pantastic

Commerce tools for independent brands, first a marketplace of hand-picked Shopify brands, then apps for merchants. Design direction, prototypes, and marketing.

Plate II. *Dapple*.

- **Years**: 2020–2023
- **Role**: Founding product designer
- **Setup**: Palo Alto company; I worked remotely from the Philippines
- **Scope**: Product direction, interface design, front-end prototypes, marketing design
- **Platform**: Web

## The company

Pantastic started in Palo Alto in 2020 with a bet on independent brands. Its first product was the Shoppe, which gathered hand-picked independent Shopify brands in one place for shoppers, with a merchant side for the brands selling through it.

In March 2022 the company announced $18 million in equity and debt financing led by B Capital Group, alongside the purchase of two existing Shopify apps: UpOrder, for order emails, and CartHook Post Purchase Offers. LimeSpot followed that August, and Refersion’s affiliate platform in July 2023. In three years Pantastic went from a marketplace for shoppers to software for the merchants themselves.

## The work

I joined as founding product designer in June 2020 and worked remotely from the Philippines for the next three years. The job followed the company. I led design directions for both sides of the business: shoppers, and the brands and merchants Pantastic served. Most of that meant turning an idea on a call into something the team could click through, test, and argue about the same week.

I also wrote front-end code. I designed, built, and deployed prototypes to production alongside product and engineering, which meant a promising direction could reach real customers without waiting for a separate build. And I set the design direction for marketing campaigns aimed at both audiences, with the marketing team and outside contractors.

## What carried over

Pantastic changed direction while I was there. I now judge a first version by how easily it can change, as well as by how it looks on launch day. Three things help: a clear structure, plain names, and few enough parts to move with the business.

## Sources

- [Axios, March 23, 2022](https://www.axios.com/pro/retail-deals/2022/03/23/pantastic-a-provider-of-e-commerce-tools-raises-18m)
- [Commerce Ventures on the investment](https://commercevc.medium.com/beyond-brand-roll-ups-why-we-invested-in-pantastic-the-shopify-app-roll-up-b88c87dad451)
- [PR Newswire, July 12, 2023](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pantastic-acquires-leading-affiliate-marketing-platform-refersion-301875407.html)

[Next: Photo Butler](https://kwirita.com/work/photo-butler/index.md) · [All work](https://kwirita.com/work/index.md)

## Tell me what you’re building.

Write early, while the names and screens can still change. A few lines are enough: what it does, who it’s for, how far along you are. I reply within two working days, Manila time.

[Start a conversation](https://kwirita.com/contact/index.md)

---

Kwirita

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