January 25, 2024
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5 min read
E-Commerce has had steady growth since its conception. But, in 2020, it boomed. For the UK, the growth was almost five times faster in 2020 than the total growth over four years, 2015-2019, and in the US, four times faster. With this success, inevitably, big brands are making e-commerce a priority, replatforming from out-of-date, bespoke platforms that just ‘did the job’ and migrating away from the likes of Magento and WooCommerce that don’t cut it for speed and traffic anymore. Shopify Plus is ticking those boxes, and brands are noticing. Here’s our round-up of just a few of the many brands that have migrated to Shopify Plus recently…
Previous platform: Internal build with AWS integrations
E-commerce boomed in 2020, and synonymously, so did subscriptions. When you think of subscriptions pre-pandemic, you might have thought of Netflix, Spotify, or amazon prime. Now, subscriptions cover many industries. With subscriptions at the core of their business and close to 7 million active customers in Q3 of 2021, it’s no surprise that Hello Fresh migrated to Shopify Plus.
Shopify is home to some amazing subscription integrations, and their checkout can withstand bursts of traffic from locations across the globe. And it seems to be working. In 2021 alone, the brand delivered more than 100 million orders globally.
Previous platform: Bespoke
Launched in 1986, Dockers, king of the khaki pants, has stood the test of time and fashion, which is unsurprising as a family brand of the iconic world-famous Levi Stauss & Co. Before migrating to Shopify Plus, this American classic was doing its e-com on a bespoke platform. However, the brand wanted to move to a new independent site that would bring about improvements to its global offering. So we migrated them to Shopify Plus and set them up for international success with Shopify’s Multi-store.
Previous platform: Magento 2
Compounded by the global pandemic, British footwear brand Oliver Sweeney closed all five brick-and-mortar stores, shifting focus to their online e-commerce presence. Already on Magento 2, Oliver Sweeney replatformed to Shopify Plus for its platform stability, growth opportunities, and ease of editing products and content using Shopify's Admin API.
Previous platform: Aptos
British fashion brand, Jigsaw, has been dominating the high-end side of the high street since its founding and has built up a strong brand identity at the same time. However, like many brands, in the wake of the pandemic, Jigsaw shifted its strategy to a digital-first business, primarily focusing on its womenswear line. Enter Shopify Plus. The brand replatformed from a bespoke build on Aptos to a seamless UX on Shopify, heavily influenced by design with large product imagery.
Check out more of Jigsaw’s migration story here.
Previous platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud
The brainchild of Robyn Fenty, or as we know her, music icon Rihanna, Fenty skin, and Fenty beauty jumped over to Shopify Plus in June 2021. The brand launched in September 2017 and has skyrocketed to one of the most successful celebrity brands out there. This rise from cult favorite to outright beauty bag must-have has meant a ton of users on the brands' e-commerce site - which Shopify Plus handles easily, creating a seamless experience for Fenty’s customers.
Previous platform: Bespoke
Norweigan-based, award-winning travel gear brand Db Journey are on a stratospheric rise to success, and they’ve chosen Shopify Plus as the platform to take them there. Their travel gear designed for and bought by communities like skiers, snowboarders, cyclists, and creatives is now being adopted by global audiences. With big growth plans in mind, Db replatformed from a bespoke build to Shopify Plus. This move has enabled them to go international, with EU, UK, US, and Australian stores and, of course, a Norweigan store - with a little help from their Shopify Plus agency, us!
Previous platform: Bespoke
Revolutionizing orthodontics, Invisalign, a brand of clear aligners by Align Technology, a manufacturer of 3D digital scanners, and the Invisalign clear aligners, is now a global household name. Although sold through orthodontists, Invisalign has their own e-commerce site where they sell cases and accessories D2C using Shopify Plus.
Previous platform: Bespoke
With many strings in their bow, including clothing, homeware, and magazine content and a growing online customer base (a pandemic tale as old as time!) TOAST upgraded their e-commerce store last year and switched to Shopify Plus. Reflecting the brand identity, their store has an editorial design with impactful visuals and seamless animated videos and includes a bespoke store finder for those customers who prefer an in-store experience. Now on Shopify, this high-end brand uses their e-commerce channel to connect with customers in different ways, using many verticals.
Read more about TOAST's Shopify Plus journey.
Previous platform: Bespoke
D2C brands have emerged, grown up, and soared on Shopify Plus. But what about the legacy brands? The high street giants? French Connection made the leap to Shopify Plus to continue their legacy and transition to e-commerce - with other high street giants like Jigsaw soaring on Shopify Plus, it seems inevitable French Connection will see the same results.
Previous platform: Magento 2
White Stripes frontman Jack White kick-started his long-term project ‘Third Man Records’ way back in 2008 - since then, the label has added in-person locations, vinyl pressing, and a ‘vault’ quarterly subscription service to its successes. The brand set up their e-commerce offering first before opening three stores on Magento. But, with a plan to expand internationally and streamline the user experience, they migrated to Shopify Plus. Their store now sells to customers in the US, Europe, and the UK, with their subscription service available in multiple currencies all through Shopify Plus.
Previous platform: Bespoke build
Our client, gaming giant HyperX of HP, are renowned globally in the gaming world and outside of it, so when they wanted to expand their e-commerce store internationally, Shopify Plus was the obvious option. We migrated their existing U.S. store and have since built out international expansion stores in the EU and ROW. When building new stores, HyperX jumped on the chance to elevate the look and feel of the site and optimize for excellent speed - the perfect ingredients for a scalable platform for future expansion stores. Watch this space!
There’s a whole host of reasons why a brand will migrate to Shopify Plus, from internationalization opportunities to the design flexibility and integrations Shopify offers. But, for many of these brands, the pandemic had a huge impact on their shift away from brick and mortar and their jump to a digital-first e-commerce approach. However, with international expansion in mind for most, Shopify Plus was the clear choice as a long-term platform.
As e-commerce continues to adapt to the change in consumer demands, so does Shopify Plus, which recently launched over 100+ new features to elevate existing stores and excite brands looking to migrate. If you think Shopify Plus is the platform to take your brand to new heights, reach out to our team - we’ll talk you through the migration process and all your options!
