Sports brand Castore cuts pricing errors after Patchworks e-commerce technology deployment

Castore operates 35 Shopify stores globally and was managing pricing updates through overnight manual CSV uploads. During peak trading, updates were taking around five hours to complete, error rates sat at 30 to 35%, and teams were routinely working late into the night just to keep systems stable.

After deploying Patchworks’ iPaaS, it has:

•         Reduced pricing execution time from five hours to around two minutes

•         Cut pricing error rates by over 90%, now sitting at 1 to 2%

•         Achieved zero error pricing days during peak trading

•         Eliminated overnight manual pricing work entirely

•         Stabilised API load across 35 Shopify storefronts without licence expansion

“We were in a place where a 30 to 35% error rate was considered acceptable simply because the process was so long and so manual,” says Andy Richley, Head of Tech at Castore. “When you are spending most of the night just trying to get pricing through, you stop asking whether the process itself makes sense.”

According to Jim Herbert, CEO at Patchworks, Castore’s results highlight a broader shift in how retailers are reassessing integration performance as a strategic capability rather than a background function.

“Like many fast growing retailers, Castore had gradually pushed more execution workloads into its core systems of record,” Herbert says. “Pricing data was being validated, transported and executed through the same platforms, creating unnecessary coupling and exposing peak trading operations to risk. The issue was not governance, but execution.”

“By separating pricing governance from pricing execution, Castore was able to leave its core systems doing what they do best, while moving high volume data movement and orchestration into a retail-first iPaaS.”

The impact during peak trading was immediate and sustained. Pricing execution times were reduced from approximately five hours to two to three minutes, with worst case execution times of 6.5 minutes during peak periods. Pricing error rates fell from 30 to 35% to just 1 to 2%, with zero-error days achieved during peak trading. 

Operationally, concurrency remained stable throughout peak periods, with no emergency licence expansion required. Formal approval workflows reduced pricing fraud risk, and customer service issues caused by mispriced promotions were significantly reduced. Manual overnight pricing work was eliminated entirely, allowing data and e-commerce teams to shift from execution to oversight. Trading calls evolved from reactive firefighting to confirmation of stability.

“What surprised me was just how straightforward it became,” Richley says. “Once the data was prepared properly and approved upstream, Patchworks moved it into Shopify incredibly fast. That was the moment we knew we had the right execution layer.”

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

E-commerce technology will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.