bit.bio HubSpot eCommerce Implementation

Project type

Website

HubSpot Services

Industry

Life Science

Location

United Kingdom

Services provided

Development

Strategy

bit.bio is a biotechnology company providing high-quality stem cell products to research scientists and laboratories worldwide. Like most B2B life sciences companies, they needed a comprehensive website to communicate their science, showcase their technology platform, and support their commercial operations - but they also needed robust eCommerce functionality to sell products directly to researchers.

Their website serves multiple audiences: partners learning about their technology, scientists researching stem cell solutions, and existing customers purchasing products. The eCommerce component needed to handle the complexity of selling regulated scientific materials to a global B2B audience, where product pages require detailed technical specifications, regulatory documentation, and scientific background that goes far beyond typical online retail.

bit.bio needed a website solution that could function as both a traditional B2B marketing site and a sophisticated eCommerce platform - without compromising either requirement.

The challenge

bit.bio came to Blend needing a complete website rebuild on HubSpot. They wanted to consolidate their web presence onto a single platform that could handle content marketing, product information, and eCommerce transactions.

The primary technical challenge was the eCommerce component. While HubSpot excelled at managing their B2B content - company information, technology explanations, case studies, and thought leadership - it lacked the robust commerce infrastructure needed for their product sales operation.

For the B2B marketing site they needed:

Flexible content management for company pages, technology explainers, and resources
Lead generation forms integrated with their HubSpot CRM
Standard B2B website functionality for multiple audiences

For the eCommerce operation they needed:

Product catalogues with rich, content-heavy pages explaining complex scientific products
Custom product configurations
Shopping cart and checkout functionality for regulated materials
Inventory management and order processing infrastructure
Pricing and availability that updates automatically
Compliance controls for international B2B sales

Rather than building separate websites or compromising on either requirement, we needed to create a hybrid solution: using Shopify for commerce infrastructure whilst keeping the entire customer experience within HubSpot.

"One of the things that made this website implementation particularly interesting is that bit.bio sells complex, highly specialised products to research scientists. Every product page needs to communicate detailed technical specifications, regulatory information, and scientific data whilst also functioning as eCommerce. So when they approached Blend, they needed a platform that could handle both sophisticated B2B content and robust commerce functionality."

Mike Thomas, Technical Director at Blend

Integration architecture

The architecture required careful separation of concerns between platforms. HubSpot would serve as the primary website platform where customers spend their entire browsing experience, whilst Shopify would handle the commerce operations invisibly in the background.

HubSpot manages all customer-facing content. The entire B2B marketing site lives here, including company information, technology explanations, resources, and thought leadership content. Critically, all product pages are also HubSpot CMS pages with complete design flexibility, allowing bit.bio to create content-rich pages with complex scientific information, technical specifications, and regulatory details that researchers need to make purchasing decisions.

Shopify serves as the commerce engine running behind the scenes. All billable products, variants, pricing, and inventory live in Shopify's robust system. The platform handles secure checkout, payment processing through its PCI-compliant infrastructure, and order management for fulfilment. But customers rarely see Shopify directly - they experience a unified bit.bio website built in HubSpot.

Building the technical connection between HubSpot and Shopify

Making this seamless experience work required custom development to bridge the two platforms effectively.

Rich product pages built for scientific audiences

We used HubDB tables to organise products with dynamic filtering, allowing researchers to quickly find specific cell types, pack sizes, or product categories. Each product page contains rich scientific content managed entirely in HubSpot, whilst custom modules connect to Shopify to display live pricing and availability. This gives bit.bio complete design control whilst ensuring commercial information stays current.

Seamless cart experience within HubSpot

Shopping cart functionality runs entirely in HubSpot. When customers add items to their basket, the cart persists as they browse different product pages, creating a smooth shopping experience without leaving the HubSpot environment.

Secure checkout with invisible platform transition

The checkout process redirects customers to Shopify when they're ready to complete their purchase. The system automatically generates a pre-populated basket in Shopify based on their selections, processes the secure payment, then returns them to HubSpot for order confirmation. This approach keeps the checkout process secure and PCI-compliant whilst maintaining the unified brand experience.

"From the customer's perspective, they're shopping on a bit.bio website built in HubSpot - they never feel like they're being bounced between platforms. The transition to checkout is smooth and natural, and they come right back to bit.bio after payment. It's a great example of how eCommerce can be seamlessly added to HubSpot when you need more robust commerce functionality than the platform offers natively."

Mike Thomas, Technical Director at Blend

The impact

The bit.bio website implementation delivered a unified platform that eliminated the friction of managing separate systems whilst providing sophisticated eCommerce functionality for their B2B operation.

Seamless experience across marketing and commerce

Scientists and potential partners experience a cohesive bit.bio website where rich scientific content lives alongside functional eCommerce features. Researchers can explore the technology platform, read technical documentation, and purchase products without navigating between separate systems. The unified experience reinforces bit.bio's brand whilst giving customers everything they need to make confident purchasing decisions.

Content control without developer dependency

bit.bio's team can create and update complex product pages independently, managing technical specifications, regulatory information, and scientific documentation through HubSpot's familiar interface. This same flexibility extends across their entire web presence, consolidating all content management onto a single platform and eliminating the overhead of maintaining separate systems.

Robust commerce infrastructure

Shopify handles all commerce operations including inventory management, order processing, payment handling, and fulfilment. bit.bio's team can focus on their science and customer relationships rather than managing commerce infrastructure, whilst the commerce engine runs reliably behind the scenes.

bit.bio

The challenge