RNLI Shop

The RNLI has been saving lives at sea since 1824. Funded entirely by donations and commercial income, the RNLI Shop is one of the charity’s most important revenue streams – a place where supporters can buy something they love and contribute to something that matters.

The brief was a full rebuild of shop.rnli.org on Shopify Plus. The RNLI’s in-house design team led all visual design, working within their Helm brand system. Tribe’s job was to bring those designs to life in code – performantly, accessibly, and at the scale a nationally recognised charity demands.

Every section on the site is configurable within the Shopify customiser. Five Helm colour themes – Default, Red, Mayday, Orange, and Navy – can be applied per section, giving the RNLI’s team the ability to run campaigns, update content, and evolve the site without developer input. A campaign that needs urgency runs in Red. A coastal summer promotion runs in Navy. Seasonal branding changes in minutes, not days.

Tribe also delivered full written documentation for the RNLI’s internal team – covering every customisable section, metafield setup, and cart rules – so the handover was a genuine transfer of ownership.

The RNLI Shop carries its own branded clothing alongside collaboration ranges that bring their own distinct character to the store. Each sits within the same product page template – consistent, fast, and built to convert.

Product pages go beyond the basics. Size and fit information is presented in both centimetres and inches, giving customers the confidence to buy the right size first time – a meaningful improvement on what the previous site offered.

The quick-add on collection pages means customers can select their size and add to basket without ever entering the product page itself. A flyout confirms the selection, shows the correct price, and surfaces recommended products – keeping the browse flowing.

With over 700 products across clothing, homeware, toys, gifts, and more, findability is everything. A customer looking for a jacket needs to get there quickly – whether they know exactly what they want or are still exploring.

The rebuilt navigation brings the full product range within reach on every device. On mobile, the menu expands cleanly through category and subcategory levels without losing the customer or obscuring the page beneath.

Site search goes further. A predictive search feature surfaces relevant products as the customer types, pulling from the full catalogue in real time. From a single query, the customer moves directly into filtered results – narrowing by size, colour, gender, and product type without leaving the page. For a store of this breadth, that speed of discovery is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between a sale and a missed one.

The personalised book is one of the most distinctive product experiences on the site. Customers enter a child’s name, choose character options, and add a gift message – all printed on demand and shipped directly.

The experience was designed to feel simple for the customer while handling the complexity of personalisation invisibly. No confusing options, no technical friction – just a few clear choices that make the book uniquely theirs.

Virtual gifts let supporters give something tangible – not just money, but a meaningful contribution to the people and equipment that make the RNLI’s work possible. Refuelling a lifeboat. A set of lifeguard flags. Heated gloves for a volunteer on a winter callout.

The idea is connection – between the people who brave the water and the supporters who have stood behind them for two hundred years. Virtual gifts make that relationship feel real in a way that a standard donation cannot. The page is built as a bespoke landing page template, distinct from standard collection or product layouts, with direct-to-cart functionality and shipping handled correctly for non-physical items.

Donations sit at the heart of what the RNLI does, and the experience on the new site reflects that. The donate page supports one-off and monthly giving, preset amounts, and a custom amount field – all processed through Shopify’s native checkout.

In-cart donation prompts give customers already buying something a frictionless route to add a contribution before checkout. No redirect, no separate journey – the option is simply there.

The launch of the new RNLI Shop is the foundation, not the finish line. Tribe and the RNLI are moving into an ongoing development retainer, and the team are genuinely excited for what comes next – building on a codebase designed from the start to grow with the charity.