Brands that use Shopify Plus as their e-commerce platform typically know a thing or two about the best tech for hacking growth.
After all, Shopify Plus is designed exclusively for larger brands who are dealing with high volumes and have a proven track record of scaling successfully.
With tech evolving at lightning speed, we know staying on top of the best tech for fuelling growth can be a challenge.
So, in this blog, we’ll hear about three successful Shopify Plus brands and reveal the tech that runs to the heart of their businesses (and has ultimately helped drive their growth)
1. CyberJammies
- Online nightwear brand
- YoY growth: 300%
- Top tech tools: Brightpearl, Shopify Plus, Shipstation
CyberJammies was recently crowned as the fastest growing fashion brand in Britain, and the 10th overall fastest growing online retailer according to Brightpearl’s Lightning 50 – a definitive list of the 50 fastest growing e-commerce brands over the past 12 months.
The omnichannel nightwear brand, which primarily reaches customers directly via its successful Shopify Plus webstore but also via leading retailers including John Lewis, Next and Very – went from impressive 50% year-on-year growth to trebling its revenue in the months after the pandemic took hold.
So what are the tech tools that have helped CyberJammies achieve such impressive growth?
Shopify Plus has been a key tool. In contrast to Shopify, which is designed for SMEs, Shopify Plus is created for larger enterprises that want to take their store to the next level. It’s built to be incredibly flexible, but still user-friendly.
The platform helps omnichannel brands like CyberJammies get new projects to market quicker. For many bigger businesses, like CyberJammies, Shopify Plus isn’t just a key tool for growth – it’s one the most cost-effective ways of achieving it.
Brightpearl’s scalable, built-for-retail operations platform, that integrates ‘out of the box’ with all the brand’s existing tech tools – including Shopify Plus, has also proven to be a powerful driver of growth for CyberJammies.
“Brightpearl sits at the heart of our tech stack and makes everything run like clockwork,” said Brand Director, Mark Tweed.
For many fast-growing brands like CyberJammies, Brightpearl’s advanced Automation Engine is a standout feature. It automates repetitive manual tasks – saving hours every week and freeing up key players to stop firefighting day-to-day issues and start focusing on long-term growth.
Brightpearl’s cutting edge Automation Engine also typically reduces labor costs by 50%. At CyberJammies, it’s had even more of an impact…
“Despite trebling our business, I’ve only had to hire one additional person – and that’s because Brightpearl does such a great job,” Mark adds.
Brightpearl has been a key growth hack for the nightwear brand, and Mark agrees: “Brightpearl undoubtedly adds value for us. In fact, from a business perspective, it’s almost immeasurable how much of an improvement it’s made in how we operate.”
2. Flex Company
- Menstrual products brand
- YoY growth: 100%
- Top tech tools: Brightpearl, Shopify Plus, Klaviyo, QuickBooks
The Flex Company launched in 2016 with a revolutionary invention: a disposable menstrual disc; and a clear mission: to improve the lives of people who have periods.
The brand quickly won retail placements in top US stores, including Target, CVS and Walgreens, opened a Shopify Plus store in the UK to sit alongside its successful stateside DTC online store and established a reputation as a sector bestseller on key marketplaces, including Amazon.
With growth doubling year-on-year, the business credits Brightpearl for providing a dynamic ecosystem that has integrated seamlessly with its other tech tools and played a key role in The Flex Company’s impressive success.
“[Brightpearl] has been a powerful factor in our growth,” said the brand’s SVP of Supply Chain, Aaron Alpeter.
“It’s stitched everything together, it’s given us flexibility and resiliency – and, crucially, it’s enabled us to look at the business holistically.”
Tech tools such as email and SMS marketing automation platform, Klaviyo, have also helped The Flex Company turbocharge its growth. Klaviyo is a powerful marketing tool because it lets brands, including The Flex Company, easily segment audiences according to a range of customizable rules. Crucially, Klaviyo has been designed to store all of a business’ customer data in its system, so brands can offer a more personalized email marketing experience that ultimately drives more sales.
The Flex Company also names bookkeeping and accounting software QuickBooks as one of the tech tools that’s been instrumental to its success. QuickBooks is a and popular choice for rapidly-scaling brands like The Flex Company because it provides a number of ready-to-use templates business owners can use to create invoices, spreadsheets, charts and business plans.
3. Stitch & Story
- Crafting kits, supplies and gifts
- YoY growth: 300%
- Top tech tools: Brightpearl, Shopify Plus, Amazon
Stitch & Story was launched in the UK in 2012 by its founders Jennifer Lam and Jen Hoang as part of a mission to make craft simple – and to breathe new life back into traditional hobbies.
The business has grown rapidly to become a multi-channel brand that has successfully expanded into the US. It primarily sells direct to consumers via its Shopify Plus-powered website, however Amazon is one of the tech tools that has helped the brand ramp up its revenue and reach.
With 200 million unique monthly customers, Amazon is a growth tool of choice for lots of online brands like Stitch & Story.
By listing their products on Amazon, retailers can automatically gain credibility and trust. Amazon can help expand a customer base and, as one of the biggest and most trusted global selling and buying platforms, it also makes it easy to expand into new markets. It’s also worth mentioning that Amazon FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) which means brands can take a hands-off approach to selling on the marketplace by paying for Amazon to act as its inventory warehouse, manager, and shipper.
Finally, like the other successful brands mentioned in this blog, Stitch & Story also has Brightpearl at the heart of its tech stack as its robust Retail Operating System (ROS).
After an initial struggle to find a suitable tech partner that could handle large volume orders, Stitch & Story went live with Brightpearl in just four months.
“It was essential for us to find an operations platform that could integrate with Shopify as quickly as possible and with minimum hassle – and Brightpearl delivered,” Julian Tyrassek, the brand’s COO, said.
Thanks to Brightpearl and its other tech hacks, Stitch and Story has been able to enjoy 300% year-on-year growth and handle huge spikes in demand during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Julian added: “Now, we have a real time accurate overview of our inventory which has eliminated errors, streamlined operations and enabled us to deliver a seamless customer experience.”
