What Is Social Commerce? A Trend That Keeps Heating Up

eCommerce has become an integral part of our daily lives, offering unparalleled convenience and access to a vast array of products. However, as the industry continues to grow, so does its environmental footprint. From excessive packaging waste to carbon emissions from shipping, the environmental impact of eCommerce cannot be ignored. This brings us to the concept of sustainable eCommerce—a transformative approach that seeks to minimize the negative environmental effects of online retail while promoting ethical business practices.

Sustainable eCommerce is not just a trend; it’s a response to the increasing consumer demand for environmentally friendly and socially responsible products. A survey shows that 72% of respondents reported that they were actively buying more environmentally friendly products than they did five years ago, while 81% said they expected to buy even more over the next five years.

In this blog, we will delve into the essence of sustainable eCommerce, explore its importance, examine the growing demand for it, and provide practical steps on how you can become a responsible merchant.

What is sustainable eCommerce?

Sustainable eCommerce refers to the practice of conducting online business in a way that minimizes environmental impact and promotes social responsibility. At its core, it involves making mindful decisions at every stage of the business process, from product sourcing and manufacturing to packaging, shipping, and customer engagement. The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint, minimize waste, and ensure that ethical standards are upheld throughout the supply chain.

Key components of sustainable eCommerce

There are some common components in the eCommerce sustainability, including:

Eco-Friendly Products

Offering products that are made from sustainable materials, are biodegradable, or have a lower environmental impact is crucial. This means choosing materials that are renewable, such as organic cotton or bamboo, over conventional materials that may deplete natural resources or cause pollution. Additionally, promoting products that are ethically sourced ensures that they are produced under fair labor conditions, respecting workers’ rights and contributing to social sustainability.

Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable packaging involves using materials that can be recycled, are biodegradable, or are made from recycled content. For instance, using cardboard boxes made from recycled paper or packing peanuts that are biodegradable can greatly reduce the environmental footprint. This approach not only minimizes waste but also appeals to environmentally conscious consumers.

Energy Efficiency

Reducing energy consumption in the warehousing and logistics aspects of eCommerce is another critical component. This can be achieved by:

• Using Renewable Energy: Powering warehouses and offices with solar, wind, or other renewable energy sources.
• Optimizing Delivery Routes: Using route optimization software to minimize fuel usage and emissions during delivery.
• Investing in Energy-Saving Technologies: Implementing LED lighting, energy-efficient HVAC systems, and other technologies that reduce overall energy consumption.

Waste Reduction

Minimizing waste throughout the entire eCommerce process is essential. This involves:

• Efficient Inventory Management: Using systems that prevent overstocking and reduce the likelihood of unsold goods going to waste.
• Recycling Programs: Implementing robust recycling programs in warehouses and encouraging customers to recycle packaging materials.
• Designing Durable Products: Creating products with a longer life cycle, which reduces the need for frequent replacements and lowers the overall waste generated.

Ethical Business Practices

Ensuring that all business practices are ethical and transparent is fundamental to sustainable eCommerce. This includes:

• Fair Labor Practices: Treating all employees and suppliers fairly, ensuring safe working conditions, and providing fair wages.
• Supporting Fair Trade: Sourcing products that adhere to fair trade principles, which support better prices, decent working conditions, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in developing countries.
• Transparency: Being open and honest with consumers about the sustainability efforts and practices of the business. This can build trust and loyalty among customers who value ethical and responsible business operations.

By integrating these key components to strategies, eCommerce businesses can significantly reduce their environmental impact, support social responsibility, and meet the growing demand from consumers for more sustainable and ethical products.

Why is eCommerce sustainability important?

Understanding the importance of eCommerce sustainability is crucial for businesses looking to thrive in today’s market. Here are several reasons why adopting sustainable practices in eCommerce is vital:

Environmental Impact

The environmental impact of traditional eCommerce practices is significant. From the excessive use of plastic packaging to the carbon emissions from shipping and logistics, the eCommerce industry contributes to environmental degradation. By adopting sustainable practices, businesses can significantly reduce their carbon footprint, decrease pollution, and help conserve natural resources. Sustainable eCommerce practices, such as using eco-friendly packaging and optimizing delivery routes, play a vital role in mitigating the industry’s environmental impact.

Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is shifting towards sustainability. More and more customers are becoming environmentally conscious and prefer to purchase from brands that align with their values. Studies show that a growing number of consumers are willing to pay a premium for products that are sustainably produced and packaged. By adopting sustainable practices, eCommerce businesses can meet this demand, attract a broader customer base, and enhance customer loyalty. Being a responsible and eco-friendly brand can also differentiate a business in a crowded market.

Business Benefits

Sustainable eCommerce practices can lead to significant business benefits. These include cost savings from reduced waste and energy consumption, improved brand reputation, and increased customer loyalty. Businesses that prioritize sustainability can also access new markets and opportunities, such as partnerships with other eco-friendly brands and certifications that can enhance credibility. Additionally, sustainable practices can lead to innovation, as companies find new ways to reduce their environmental impact and improve efficiency.

Regulatory Compliance

Governments and regulatory bodies are increasingly implementing stricter environmental regulations. Businesses that do not comply with these regulations risk facing fines, penalties, and damage to their reputation. By adopting sustainable practices, eCommerce businesses can stay ahead of regulatory changes, ensure compliance, and avoid potential legal issues. Proactively embracing sustainability also positions businesses as leaders in their industry, setting an example for others to follow.

Long-Term Viability

Sustainability is essential for the long-term viability of businesses. As natural resources become scarcer and environmental issues become more pressing, companies that do not adopt sustainable practices may face higher costs and supply chain disruptions. By integrating sustainability into their business model, eCommerce companies can ensure they are resilient to future challenges and are better prepared for a changing market landscape. Sustainable practices also contribute to a positive corporate image, which can attract investors and stakeholders who prioritize responsible business operations.

How to become a sustainable eCommerce business

Becoming a sustainable eCommerce business involves implementing practices that minimize environmental impact and promote social responsibility. Here are key steps to help you achieve sustainability:

Optimize Supply Chain

Optimizing your supply chain is crucial for sustainability. This involves sourcing materials and products from suppliers who adhere to ethical and environmental standards.

• Ethical Sourcing: Choose suppliers that provide eco-friendly materials, such as recycled or renewable resources. Ensure that these suppliers follow fair labor practices and maintain high environmental standards.
• Local Suppliers: Whenever possible, source products locally to reduce the carbon footprint associated with long-distance transportation.
• Supplier Audits: Regularly audit your suppliers to ensure they comply with your sustainability criteria and make improvements where necessary.

Optimize Shipping Strategy

Shipping is a significant contributor to the environmental footprint of eCommerce. Optimizing your shipping strategy can help reduce emissions and improve efficiency.

• Route Optimization: Use software to plan the most efficient delivery routes, reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
• Eco-Friendly Shipping Options: Offer customers eco-friendly shipping options, such as slower shipping methods that are less carbon-intensive.
• Carbon Offsetting: Invest in carbon offset programs to compensate for the emissions generated by shipping activities. This can include projects like reforestation or renewable energy initiatives.

Offer Recyclable Packaging

Packaging is a major source of waste in eCommerce. Switching to recyclable packaging can significantly reduce environmental impact.

• Sustainable Materials: Use packaging materials that are recyclable, biodegradable, or made from recycled content, such as cardboard, paper, or compostable plastics.
• Minimal Packaging: Design packaging to be minimal yet protective, reducing the amount of material used.
• Customer Education: Include clear instructions on how customers can recycle or dispose of packaging materials responsibly. You can also encourage customers to reuse packaging for other purposes.

Join Environmental Charities

Supporting environmental charities and initiatives can enhance your sustainability efforts and demonstrate your commitment to making a positive impact.

• Partnerships: Partner with environmental organizations to support projects like reforestation, conservation, or clean energy. This not only contributes to environmental sustainability but also enhances your brand image.
• Donations: Allocate a portion of your profits to donate to environmental causes. Publicize these efforts to show customers that their purchases contribute to a greater good.
• Employee Engagement: Encourage your employees to participate in environmental volunteer activities and promote sustainability within your organization.

By implementing these strategies, your eCommerce business can significantly reduce its environmental impact, meet the growing demand for sustainable practices, and build a loyal customer base that values social responsibility. Adopting sustainability is not only good for the planet but also beneficial for your business’s long-term success.

Final words

eCommerce sustainability is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Consumers are increasingly prioritizing eco-friendly and socially responsible brands, and businesses must adapt to meet this demand. Embracing sustainable eCommerce practices, businesses can make informed decisions that contribute to a healthier planet.

Building upon the narratives in parts 1 and 2, this third part invites you to delve into the stories of the remaining brands within the series of 14 that migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus. Explore how this strategic decision has led to their success in terms of sales and paved the way for sustainable growth in the future.

1. Alternative Brewing

Alternative Brewing is a leading brand in Australia specializing in providing high quality coffee making equipment and utensils. After operating on WooCommerce, Alternative Brewing encountered a problem. WooCommerce eCommerce websites require constant maintenance, causing a lot of worry on shopping occasions like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Within 4 months of converting to the Shopify Plus platform, Alternative Brewing’s new eCommerce website loaded faster and had faster checkout, helping the brand significantly increase average order value. Shopify Plus platform with an intuitive, user-friendly interface, Alternative Brewing does not need to deal with a lot of complicated code. This allows the Alternative Brewing team to focus on growing their business and make more informed decisions with Shopify’s in-depth reports and analytics.

Website: https://alternativebrewing.com.au/

Industry: FnB

Traffic: 919,295/month

Rank: #3,071 (Australia) & #144,195 (Global)

2. Duradry

Duradry is a leading personal care brand that offers effective antiperspirant products. Operating on WooCommerce costs Duradry a lot of money when testing many different marketing campaigns. The brand migrated to the Shopify Plus platform to take advantage of many exclusive tools and solutions that help them optimize operations and deploy marketing processes more effectively.

Duradry also leverages Shopify Collabs to partner with popular content creators to drive marketing success, bringing Duradry products to more potential customers. The result was 250 content creators joining Duradry’s community, $50k in sales through Shopify Collabs in less than 7 months.

Website: https://duradry.com/?view=hero-a

Industry: Beauty & Cosmetics

Traffic: 386,080/month

Rank: #119,405 (USA) & #445,775 (Global)

3. AMR Hair & Beauty

AMR Hair & Beauty is one of the leading suppliers of hair care and beauty products in Australia. Established in 2004, AMR has quickly grown to become a trusted destination for hair salons and individual consumers.

Although WooCommerce has served AMR Hair & Beauty well for many years, with the rapid growth of the business, the platform began to show its limitations. Among them are limited scalability, difficult order management, poor security, and suboptimal customer support.

After switching to Shopify Plus, AMR Hair & Beauty leveraged the B2B on Shopify solution to build a wholesale store and further customize advanced search features and filtering options. This means AMR Hair & Beauty’s B2B customers can quickly narrow down search results and view products along with prices and offers. As a result, AMR Hair & Beauty increased sales by 200%, average B2B order value by 77%, and conversion rate by 93%.

Website: https://amr.com.au/

Industry: Beauty & Cosmetics

Traffic: 258,448/month

Rank: #8,360 (Australia) & #381,873 (Global)

4. Abode Living

Abode Living was founded in 1991 and since then the brand has become Australia’s leading supplier of luxury bed linen, using the highest quality European fabrics and sewing products in its own factories. I’m in Australia.

With the need to increase online sales in Australia and other markets, and upgrade customer experience. However, the previous platform the company used, WooCommerce, did not offer enough flexibility to customize advanced features. WooCommerce also doesn’t give Abode Living the ability to add international marketplaces to its existing eCommerce system. Switching to Shopify Plus met all of Abode Living’s goals. The brand saw a 15% increase in average order value, faster page load speeds, and faster responses.

Website: https://www.abodeliving.com/

Industry: Home Funishing

Traffic: 16,645/month

Rank: #57,874 (Australia) & #2,352,607 (Global)

Final Words

So, SECOMM has gathered insights from 14 representative brands that courageously stepped out of the “WooCommerce world” to revamp their eCommerce websites with Shopify Plus. These brands prioritize customer experience and streamlined processes, inspiring others to confidently opt for platform migration.

Contact SECOMM or call directly at (+84)28 7108 9908 for advice and implementation of the eCommerce migration process from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus today!

When it comes to brands that re-platformed from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus, it’s good to read their success stories in sales behind.

In the second part of this series, let’s continue to delve into more brands that chose to migrate their eCommerce platforms from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus, and explore how this decision paved the way for boundless success.

1. HiSmile

HiSmile is a globally renowned brand for teeth whitening products, aiming to help customers achieve a bright, confident smile. Founded in 2014 in Australia, HiSmile quickly gained attention due to its high-quality, easy-to-use, and effective products.

In the early days of its eCommerce operations, HiSmile’s WooCommerce website performed well. However, as HiSmile gained recognition and became more popular, website traffic began to surge, especially during sales events. Page load issues and site crashes cost the HiSmile team a lot of money in repairs and maintenance. Therefore, they decided to seek a more robust and stable solution and chose Shopify Plus.

With the new Shopify Plus website, HiSmile boosted its social media sales strategy and expanded into the global market. To date, HiSmile has attracted over three million social media followers, 5.5 billion social media impressions, and over 1.5 billion views on its social media videos. These numbers demonstrate the brand’s extensive customer reach. Additionally, global sales have significantly increased since the transition.

Website: https://int.hismileteeth.com/

Industry: Beauty & Cosmetics

Traffic: 4.55M/month

Rank: #10,390 (USA) & #33,392 (Global)

2. Muscle Nation

Muscle Nation is renowned in the fitness and sports fashion industry, established with the goal of providing high-quality products tailored to the needs of fitness enthusiasts. The Muscle Nation team focuses on delivering an optimal customer experience and implements social media sales strategies. In its first year, the brand earned $1 million in revenue. At that time, Muscle Nation only had a basic website with eCommerce integration, which led to performance issues and a decline in sales.

Since transitioning to the Shopify Plus platform, Muscle Nation has leveraged the superior ecosystem of apps and tools offered by Plus to customize customer experiences and specific features. The brand uses Shopify Flow to manage high-risk orders and tag customers, Launchpad to handle product releases and event launches, and Peoplevox for warehouse management.

As a result, Muscle Nation generated over $4 million in revenue on Black Friday 2019 and handled more than 208,000 customers shopping simultaneously without any website issues.

Website: https://musclenation.org/

Industry: Fashion

Traffic: 961,900/month

Rank: #2,676 (Australia) & #137,488 (Global)

3. Junglück

Junglück is a renowned cosmetics brand in Germany, known for its natural and environmentally friendly skincare products. Initially, Junglück used WooCommerce to manage its online store. However, with the brand’s rapid growth, WooCommerce began to show limitations, including slow page load speeds, poor website performance, and restricted integration and scalability.

The cosmetics brand decided to switch to the Shopify Plus platform. This transition allowed Junglück to seamlessly integrate with various third-party systems such as CRM and ERP, enhancing operational efficiency. As a result, Junglück increased its revenue sevenfold since implementing the Shopify Plus website, boosted average order value by 22%, and improved conversion rates by 34%.

Website: https://junglueck.de/

Industry: Beauty & Cosmetics

Traffic: 355,059/month

Rank: #12,653 (Germany) & #308,899 (Global)

4. LVLY

LVLY is a prominent brand in the gift and fresh flower arrangement industry, known for its sophistication and modern style. Each LVLY product is meticulously designed and delivered promptly to the recipient, perfectly conveying messages of love and care.

Previously, LVLY used the WordPress platform and WooCommerce plugin to build its eCommerce website. The brand encountered many customization limitations, and the basic features gradually failed to support expansion. Particularly during major shopping events, the system became overloaded and couldn’t handle the high traffic volume. LVLY decided to switch to the Shopify Plus platform. The platform migration took less than 90 days without reducing the conversion rate. The scalability of Shopify Plus helped LVLY achieve its biggest Valentine’s Day sales ever in 2023. Personalization options and add-ons, which LVLY could not implement on its previous platform, also played a crucial role in the cross-sell/up-sell strategy during this shopping event.

Website: https://www.lvly.com.au/

Industry: Gifts & Flowers

Traffic: 354,352/month

Rank: #6,734 (Australia) & #334,427 (Global)

5. Mandaue Foam

Since its establishment in 1971, Mandaue Foam has become an indispensable name in the furniture industry in the Philippines. After four years of using the standard Shopify version, Mandaue Foam upgraded to Shopify Plus to seek solutions for expansion and customization.

The brand utilized LaunchPad – an exclusive feature of Shopify Plus – to schedule marketing campaigns and automate product price updates and discounts. Because LaunchPad allows tracking the performance of each campaign in real-time, the Mandaue Foam team can understand customer behavior and adjust campaigns accordingly.

Next, with Shopify Flow, Mandaue Foam automated its order management process by creating a workflow where, as soon as an order is placed, one of the 28 physical locations with inventory for that product is notified to process the order. This process ensures order fulfillment speed while eliminating the need for manual order tracking.

The platform switch and the implementation of eCommerce automation have helped Mandaue Foam increase order volume by 200%, total sales by 151% YOY, and customer return rate by 16%.

Website: https://mandauefoam.ph/

Industry: Furniture

Traffic: 486,503/month

Rank: #2,745 (Philippines) & #170,520 (Global)

Final Words

Here are the next 5 brands in the series re-platform from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus. Throughout SECOMM’s process of executing platform conversion projects, whether from WooCommerce or any other eCommerce platform to Shopify Plus, the pivotal factor determining success is a detailed and well-structured conversion plan.

Contact SECOMM or directly call the hotline at (028 7108 9908) to collaborate on devising the optimal plan for the platform migration to Shopify Plus.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, eCommerce has become a crucial aspect of how businesses operate and grow. As global internet access and adoption rapidly increase, with over five billion internet users worldwide, the number of people making purchases online is ever-increasing. In 2024, retail eCommerce sales are estimated to exceed 6.3 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide, and this figure is expected to reach new heights in the coming years.

Knowing this, companies are constantly seeking ways to enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and provide a seamless customer experience. This is where eCommerce automation comes into play.

By leveraging advanced technologies and tools, businesses can automate repetitive tasks, streamline operations, and scale their efforts without the need for proportional increases in manual labor.

In this blog, we’ll dive into the concept of eCommerce automation, exploring its benefits and drawbacks to help you understand how it can transform your online business. Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, understanding eCommerce automation can be a game-changer in optimizing your operations and staying competitive in the market.

1. What is eCommerce Automation?

At its core, eCommerce automation involves the use of software, tools, and technologies to streamline and automate various aspects of online business operations. This includes a wide range of tasks, from inventory management and order processing to marketing campaigns and customer service.

Essentially, eCommerce automation aims to reduce the need for manual intervention in repetitive and time-consuming processes, allowing you to operate more efficiently and effectively. By automating routine tasks, you can free up valuable time and resources, enabling them to focus on strategic initiatives, innovation, and providing exceptional customer experiences. Whether it’s automatically updating inventory levels, sending personalized marketing emails, or providing instant customer support through chatbots, eCommerce automation empowers your team to work smarter, not harder, in today’s digital marketplace.

2. Five tasks you should automate

There are numerous tasks ripe for automation, but here are five crucial ones: inventory management, order processing, marketing campaigns, customer service, and reporting/analytics.

2.1 Inventory Management

Imagine you run an online store selling various products. Keeping track of inventory levels manually can be time-consuming and prone to errors. With automation, you can set up systems that automatically update your stock levels whenever a purchase is made or new stock arrives. Additionally, you can configure alerts to notify you when certain items are running low, prompting you to reorder them before they run out.

2.2 Order Processing

When a customer places an order on your website, there are several steps involved in processing and fulfilling that order. Automation can streamline this process by automatically routing orders to the appropriate fulfillment center or warehouse. It can also generate packing slips and shipping labels, ensuring that orders are processed quickly and accurately. With automated order tracking, both you and your customers can easily monitor the status of their orders from placement to delivery.

2.3 Marketing Campaigns

Marketing is essential for promoting your products and attracting customers to your online store. Automation can help you save time and reach a larger audience by automating email marketing campaigns and social media posts. You can set up automated email sequences to welcome new subscribers, nurture leads, and recover abandoned carts. Similarly, you can schedule social media posts in advance, ensuring consistent engagement with your audience across different platforms.

2.4 Customer Service

Providing excellent customer service is crucial for building trust and loyalty with your customers. However, managing customer inquiries and support tickets manually can be overwhelming, especially as your business grows. Automation can help lighten the load by using chatbots and automated response systems to handle common inquiries and support requests. These systems can provide instant responses to frequently asked questions, route complex queries to human agents, and even offer 24/7 support, improving the overall customer experience.

2.5 Reporting and Analytics

To make informed decisions and track the performance of your online store, you need access to accurate data and analytics. Manually collecting and analyzing data from various sources can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Automation can simplify this process by automatically collecting data from your website, sales platforms, and marketing channels. It can then generate customized reports and dashboards, providing valuable insights into your sales performance, customer behavior, and marketing ROI. With automated reporting and analytics, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your eCommerce operations and drive business growth.

By automating these five key tasks, you can streamline your eCommerce operations, improve efficiency, and focus your time and resources on growing your business and providing exceptional customer experiences.

3. Benefits of eCommerce automation

Adopting eCommerce automation can brings your business many benefits. Here are some of them

3.1 Efficiency

Automation streamlines your business processes by taking care of repetitive tasks, freeing up your time to focus on more strategic activities. Instead of manually updating inventory or processing orders, automation tools can handle these tasks quickly and efficiently, allowing you to operate more smoothly and effectively.

3.2 Accuracy

By reducing reliance on manual data entry and human intervention, eCommerce automation helps minimize the risk of errors. Whether it’s updating inventory levels or processing customer orders, automated systems can perform tasks with a high level of accuracy, ensuring that your business operations run smoothly and your customers receive the correct products on time.

3.3 Scalability

As your eCommerce business grows, automation allows you to scale your operations without a proportional increase in workload. Whether you’re handling a handful of orders or thousands of transactions per day, automated systems can adapt to the increasing demands of your business, ensuring that you can meet customer needs efficiently and effectively.

3.4 Cost Savings

While there may be initial investments required to implement automation tools and systems, the long-term cost savings can be significant. By streamlining your operations, reducing errors, and improving efficiency, eCommerce automation helps lower your overall operational costs, allowing you to allocate resources more effectively and invest in other areas of your business.

3.5 Enhanced Customer Experience

In today’s competitive eCommerce landscape, providing exceptional customer service is essential for building brand loyalty and driving repeat business. Automation plays a key role in enhancing the customer experience by providing quicker and more consistent service. Whether it’s responding to customer inquiries instantly with chatbots or delivering personalized marketing messages based on customer preferences, eCommerce automation helps create a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience for your customers, ultimately leading to higher satisfaction and loyalty.

By leveraging the benefits of eCommerce automation, you can streamline your operations, reduce costs, and deliver a superior customer experience, ultimately driving growth and success in the competitive online marketplace.

4. Drawbacks of eCommerce automation

While eCommerce automation offers numerous benefits, there are also some drawbacks to consider.

4.1 Initial Costs

Implementing eCommerce automation systems can incur significant upfront expenses. You may need to invest in software licenses, hardware infrastructure, and training for employees to effectively use these systems. For enterprises with limited financial resources, or don’t want to invest too much in this aspect, these initial costs can be a barrier to adoption.

4.2 Complexity

Adopting eCommerce automation often involves navigating complex systems and technologies. You may encounter challenges in integrating automation tools with your existing workflows and processes. Additionally, employees may require time and training to familiarize themselves with the new systems, leading to potential productivity disruptions during the transition period.

4.3 Over-reliance

While automation can enhance efficiency and streamline operations, your team risk becoming overly dependent on technology. Reliance on automated systems may leave you vulnerable to disruptions such as technical failures or system downtimes. Without proper contingency plans in place, these disruptions could significantly impact business operations and customer satisfaction.

4.4 Customization Limits 

Off-the-shelf automation solutions may not always fully align with the unique needs and requirements of every business. Customizing and tailoring automation tools to fit specific business processes can be challenging and time-consuming. You may find yourself constrained by the limitations of pre-built automation solutions, hindering your ability to fully optimize your eCommerce operations.

4.5 Impact on Jobs

One of the most significant concerns surrounding eCommerce automation is its potential impact on employment. As your business automate repetitive and manual tasks, there is a risk of job displacement for workers whose roles are replaced by automated systems. This could lead to workforce reductions and require you to invest in reskilling and retraining programs for affected employees.

By understanding and addressing these drawbacks, you can make informed decisions about the extent to which you adopt eCommerce automation, mitigating potential challenges and maximizing the benefits of automation for your operations.

5. Case Study: Success Stories

5.1 Amazon

Background: Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, has evolved from an online bookstore to one of the world’s largest eCommerce platforms. With a vast array of products and a global customer base, Amazon’s success lies in its ability to innovate and optimize its operations continuously.

Automation Implemented: Amazon has heavily invested in automation across various aspects of its eCommerce operations.

• Inventory Management: To manage its extensive inventory efficiently, Amazon utilizes robots and automated sorting systems in its warehouses. These robots navigate through the aisles, retrieving items and bringing them to human workers for packing and shipping.
• Order Fulfillment: Amazon’s order fulfillment process is highly automated. Automated packing machines pack orders quickly and accurately, while conveyor belts transport packages to shipping stations. Robotic arms label and sort packages, ensuring that orders are dispatched promptly.

Results: Amazon’s automation efforts have yielded several significant benefits:

• Increased Efficiency and Speed: By automating tasks such as inventory management and order fulfillment, Amazon has significantly increased its operational efficiency. Orders are processed and shipped faster, reducing delivery times and improving overall customer satisfaction.
• Reduced Errors in Order Processing: Automation has minimized the risk of errors in order processing. With robotic systems handling tasks such as picking and packing, the likelihood of mistakes is greatly reduced, ensuring that customers receive the correct items in their orders.
• Enhanced Customer Satisfaction with Quicker Delivery Times: Faster order processing and shipping have led to quicker delivery times for Amazon customers. With the implementation of automation, Amazon can fulfill orders more rapidly, meeting customer expectations for speedy delivery and enhancing their overall shopping experience.

5.2 Sephora

Background: Sephora is a leading global beauty retailer known for its wide range of cosmetics, skincare, and fragrance products. With a strong presence both in physical stores and online, Sephora has built a reputation for offering high-quality products and exceptional customer service.

Automation Implemented: Sephora has leveraged automation to enhance its personalized marketing efforts, catering to the unique preferences of individual customers.

• Data-driven Product Recommendations: Sephora utilizes customer data to analyze purchase history, browsing behavior, and product preferences. Based on this data, Sephora’s website and mobile app generate personalized product recommendations for each customer, suggesting items that align with their interests and needs.
• Automated Email Campaigns Tailored to Individual Customer Preferences: Sephora sends automated email campaigns tailored to each customer’s preferences and shopping habits. These emails include personalized product recommendations, exclusive offers, and reminders about new product launches or promotions. By segmenting its customer base and sending targeted emails, Sephora ensures that its marketing messages resonate with each recipient.

Results: Sephora’s automation efforts have yielded several positive outcomes:

• Improved Customer Engagement and Loyalty: By delivering personalized marketing messages, Sephora has strengthened its relationship with customers, leading to increased engagement and loyalty. Customers appreciate receiving relevant product recommendations and exclusive offers tailored to their preferences, leading to a deeper connection with the brand.
• Increased Sales Through Targeted Marketing: Sephora’s targeted marketing campaigns have proven highly effective in driving sales. By delivering personalized recommendations and promotions, Sephora encourages customers to make additional purchases, increasing their overall spend and lifetime value. The combination of personalized marketing and seamless shopping experiences has resulted in higher conversion rates and revenue growth for Sephora’s eCommerce platform.

Final Words

eCommerce automation offers significant benefits like increased efficiency and enhanced customer satisfaction, but it also poses challenges such as initial costs and job displacement. However, by carefully implementing automation tools and strategies, businesses can streamline operations and drive growth. Case studies of companies like Amazon and Sephora demonstrate the transformative impact of automation on eCommerce success.

Ready to take your eCommerce empire to the next level? Contact SECOMM today!

Over the past decade, Magento has solidified its position as one of the leading eCommerce platforms in the market. With its robust capabilities, the platform serves not only B2C businesses but is also a popular choice for enterprises.

By combining Magento’s strength with the specific requirements of B2B Commerce, you can leverage this platform’s powerful benefits. In the following part of the article, let’s explore 10 reasons why Magento is the ideal choice for deploying this great business model.

1. What is B2B Commerce?

Business-to-business commerce (B2B Commerce) refers to the buying and selling of goods or services between businesses rather than between a business and end consumers (B2C). In the B2B environment, transactions often occur on a large scale and involve large orders, long-term contracts, and strategic partnerships.

This business model has distinct characteristics and requirements compared to B2C Commerce. In the B2B world, businesses typically have more complex demands regarding product management, order management, customer management, and compatibility with enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and other systems.

Additionally, the business model often requires features such as order confirmation, complex payment processes, batch ordering, and wholesale pricing. For B2B enterprises, choosing a suitable eCommerce platform is crucial to ensuring business efficiency and delivering the best user experience for their partners and customers.

2. What is Magento?

Magento is a powerful and flexible eCommerce platform developed by Magento Inc., a subsidiary of Adobe. Launched in 2008, it quickly became one of the top choices for you looking to build and operate professional online stores.

It allows you to create custom eCommerce websites. This platform provides a range of features, including product management, order management, payment integration, customer management, and many others, enabling you to easily manage and operate your online stores efficiently.

It is built on open-source code, meaning that you can access and customize the platform’s source code based on specific technical requirements.

3. Ten reasons why you should choose Magento for B2B Commerce

Reason 1: Customization and scalability

Magento’s open-source platform characteristic enables businesses to easily and effectively expand their business scale. This is particularly important as businesses grow and must enhance the system’s scalability.

Additionally, the platform provides high customization capabilities, allowing businesses to adjust to their specific business needs flexibly. This also means that the shopping experience can be customized to become unique and tailored to the target customers.

Reason 2: The Comprehensive B2B platform

In addition to offering built-in Magento B2B features, the platform allows businesses to seamlessly and quickly integrate with many third-party applications and systems, thereby creating a comprehensive and automated eCommerce system. Some integrated systems may include:

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
• Product Information Management (PIM) systems
• Point of Sale (POS) systems, and so on.

Reason 3: Order management

Magento B2B provides a variety of order management features, from creating and editing orders to tracking and processing orders efficiently. This helps B2B businesses easily monitor and manage their orders accurately and consistently.

Additionally, it offers tools and features that allow tracking and analysing their orders’ performance. From generating overview reports to tracking order history and purchasing trends, the eCommerce model deployed, you can better understand your activities and make informed strategic decisions.

Reason 4: Payment and shipping options

Implementing Magento B2B allows you to offer more payment methods to customers, from online payments through electronic payment gateways to cash on delivery (COD).

Additionally, you can integrate various payment gateways through Magento, such as PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and many more. This ensures security and convenience in the payment process for both businesses and customers.

Reason 5: Segmentation

Magento B2B provides features and tools to implement customer segmentation strategies effectively. Among these, the most notable is the Advanced Reporting feature, which provides a dashboard for tracking and analyzing sales data.

With this feature, businesses can segment customers and customize experiences based on web browsing behavior, purchase history, and various other criteria.

Reason 6: Custom user roles and permissions

Customizing user roles and permissions is an important part of optimizing the B2B purchasing process. This feature allows B2B customers to create multiple accounts with different contact details for purchasing, ordering, quoting, negotiating, and payment. Additionally, Magento B2B allows sellers to create and assign admin accounts to manage specific customers.

Reason 7: Manage pricing through shared catalogs

In B2B Commerce, Magento helps manage quotations through shared catalogs, which effectively provides product information and prices to B2B partners and customers. These catalogs can be created based on criteria such as product type, product group, or other suitable business needs.

Within each shared catalog, administrators can define prices and special conditions for each product or product group. This helps create customized quotations that meet the specific requirements of each customer.

Reason 8: Advanced inventory management

Inventory management is a challenging task for businesses implementing B2B Commerce. The eCommerce platform provides advanced features to effectively manage and control your inventory levels. These features allow administrators to track inventory quantities and forecast future inventory needs.

Additionally, Magento B2B helps manage special types of inventory such as damaged goods, special inventory items, or batch inventory.

Reason 9: Enhanced security

Security is an important issue when building and developing online stores in general. Magento provides many advanced features to help B2B businesses to secure their eCommerce systems. Among these, PCI Compliance, 2FA, WAF, DDoS protection, and preventing CSRF and XSS attacks are notable.

Reason 10: Technical support

Technical support plays a crucial role in maintaining and operating an efficient online store. Magento B2B provides tools and support services to help users address technical issues and optimize the performance of their eCommerce websites.

This includes expert support via phone, email, or online. Additionally, Magento has a large and vibrant community of developers, experts, and end-users. You can search and ask questions on the forum to receive assistance from the community.

Build your first Magento B2B site today!

In the context of the increasingly developing and fiercely competitive eCommerce market, using a powerful eCommerce platform is extremely important to ensure the success. With its unique features and superior flexibility, Magento has proven to be a top choice for building and developing B2B stores.

Need more deep advice? Contact SECOMM or call (+84)28 7108 9908 now!

Upgrading to Shopify Plus is a strategic decision for growing ecommerce enterprises. Many merchants have encountered the challenges and opportunities this upgrade brings along their journey.

From optimizing business performance to expanding operations globally, upgrading to Shopify Plus isn’t just a technical step but also an opportunity to transform ecommerce activities into a springboard for market breakthroughs.

In this article, let’s explore the steps to upgrade to Shopify Plus and some critical considerations.

1. What is Shopify Plus?

This is the premium version of the Shopify platform, specially designed to meet the needs of large and rapidly growing ecommerce businesses. With Shopify Plus, you can experience many powerful features and services that help optimize operations, expand scale, and enhance customer experiences.

One notable aspect of Shopify Plus is its flexibility and ease of customization. You can leverage features such as multi-store management, integration with ERP and CRM systems, creating multilingual and multi-channel websites, as well as adjusting interfaces and features according to your specific needs.

In particular, Shopify Plus provides a secure and easily scalable infrastructure that is capable of handling large volumes of traffic and online transactions robustly. With Plus, you can ensure that your website operates smoothly and seamlessly, even during peak shopping seasons.

2. Why upgrade to the Shopify Plus plan?

Upgrading from the standard versions of the Shopify platform to the Plus version is a significant milestone in the transformation of ecommerce businesses. Below are eight benefits and also eight main reasons driving businesses to undergo the transition:

Enhanced customization & scalability

Shopify Plus offers a range of powerful features and tools to customize and expand ecommerce websites flexibly and efficiently. These include customizing checkout pages, personalizing customer experiences, and customizing product displays.

Additionally, you can utilize some exclusive solutions, such as LaunchPad, Shopify Scripts, and Shopify Functions, to customize shopping experiences and automate sales processes.

Increased bandwidth and staff accounts

High traffic volumes will require a large amount of bandwidth to maintain a stable website. Shopify Plus allows you to access unlimited bandwidth, 200TB of storage, and unlimited staff accounts to handle large transaction volumes efficiently.

Optimized transaction costs

Upgrading to Shopify Plus can help optimize transaction costs. If you use Shopify Payments, transaction fees are the lowest in all Shopify pricing plans but will be customized based on geographical regions. Conversely, Plus merchants must pay 0.2% per transaction for security and compliance costs.

Deploy Headless Commerce

In the Plus version, you’ll be provided with tools and solutions to build a Headless ecommerce website. Through the Hydrogen + Oxygen solution, you can leverage the power of Headless architecture to create more customized and flexible customer experiences.

Deploy B2B Commerce

Shopify Plus provides features and tools to expand your B2B operations. The recent Shopify Editions Winter ’24 update introduced new features to optimize B2B Commerce activities.

From Headless B2B and advanced order management to integrated payment systems and unique features for B2B customers, Shopify Plus helps you streamline your operations and enhance customer relationships.

Expand international sales

With Shopify Plus’s multilingual and multi-channel capabilities, you can efficiently expand your operations to international markets. Shopify Plus provides tools and features to customize websites according to each market’s needs, from handling currencies to managing orders and shipping.

Ultilize POS Pro

The Plus merchants can utilize the exclusive POS Pro system for free. With advanced features, POS Pro allows seamless integration of multi-channel sales operations into the website, enables unlimited staff account access, and provides professional retail reports. This helps enhance customers’ shopping experience and optimize your offline and online sales activities.

Advanced customer support

When upgrading, you can expect more in-depth customer support services, especially in terms of consultation and technical support by a team of experts. Through hotlines, emails, and live chat, you can access the 24/7 support team.

Additionally, to help clients better understand this platform, Shopify offers a free learning program called Shopify Plus Academy. There, you can access detailed tutorials on setting up stores, customizing store interfaces, and much more.

3. When to upgrade to the Shopify Plus plan?

You currently on one of Shopify’s standard pricing plans may consider upgrading to Shopify Plus under the following circumstances:

• Monthly revenue exceeds $800,000 with over 100 transactions per minute. In such cases, a more robust system is needed to handle high traffic volumes without compromising user experience, and to effectively manage and optimize business performance.

• Expanding sales to international markets requires flexibility in managing multilingual, multi-currency, and region-specific inventory.

• Desire to harness the advantages of Headless Commerce architecture to enhance user experience and achieve deeper customization of user interface and technical infrastructure.

4. What to prepare before upgrading to Shopify Plus?

Before deciding to upgrade to Shopify Plus, there are four important steps that businesses need to take to ensure a smooth and effective upgrade process:

Define business goals

Firstly, you have to clarify your needs and wants. This includes evaluating the current and future growth of the business, as well as the necessary features to meet specific needs.

Prepare the data and Infrastructure

Next, you’ll need to prepare data and technical infrastructure for the transition process. This may involve backing up current data, checking the compatibility of current applications and features, as well as ensuring that the technical infrastructure is robust enough to satisfy your requirements.

Define features and tools in need

Finally, you’ll identify the specific features and services you desire from Plus. This may include considering features such as multi-store management, integration with ERP and CRM systems, multi-language and multi-currency support, as well as special features like deploying Headless Commerce and accessing POS Pro systems.

Set up a Shopify Plus store

Setting up a Plus store will differ from deploying previous standard pricing plans. Plus usage fees start from $2,300 per month, and this price isn’t fixed but customized based on each case’s specific needs. Therefore, you’ll need to contact the Shopify Plus team for advice. When collaborating with a Shopify Plus agency, the developer will work with the platform to provide a specific pricing quote.

5. The six-step process to upgrade to Shopify Plus

Below are six specific steps for the entire process of upgrading your ecommerce website system from a lower version to Shopify Plus:

Step 1: Partner with a professional Shopify Plus agency

The first and most important step is collaborating with experienced teams specialising in Shopify Plus to optimize the upgrade process and post-operation, especially concerning costs.

To select a suitable Shopify Plus development partner, you should consider previous Shopify Plus projects they have completed, how they identify and solve problems in each project, and feedback from previous clients regarding those projects.

Step 2: Evaluate and plan

The next step is equally important as it determines the effectiveness of the conversion and future operations. You and your development partners need to clarify business goals, identify necessary features and data to be transferred, and develop a specific deployment schedule based on these goals.

You’ll also need to ensure data backup and updates are safely conducted to avoid data loss during the conversion process.

Step 3: Execute deployment

After assessment and planning, proceed with upgrading to Shopify Plus. The development partner will set up and configure new features, migrate data from the old platform to the new one, and test compatibility to ensure the website operates smoothly.

Step 4: Test and adjust

After deployment, test and adjust the Shopify Plus website to ensure all features and functions work correctly. The development partner’s QA/QC team will collaborate with you to check the quality of the website experience as actual end-users and correct any issues that arise.

Step 5: Golive

Once testing is complete, the new ecommerce website will be launched into the market, and promotional campaigns will be deployed to attract initial traffic and orders.

Step 6: Train staff

Finally, employees should be trained to use and manage the new website on the Shopify Plus platform. You’ll provide detailed instructions on new features and how to use them to optimize the performance. Additionally, since Plus has unlimited staff accounts, personnel allocation should be reasonable and planned accordingly.

The Final Words

While upgrading to Shopify Plus can be complex, it significantly benefits business growth. From high flexibility and customization to scalability and deep customer service, Shopify Plus is the perfect choice for expansion.

Various insights and a systematic 6-step deployment process make the upgrade process more manageable. However, to increase efficiency and maintain the stability of the new website, businesses need a professional development partner to accompany them.

Contact SECOMM or call us at (+84)28 7108 9908 to plan your deployment today!

According to research by Harvard Business Review, only 15% of professionals feel they have a comprehensive view of their customer data, making it extremely challenging to create effective online experiences. A common problem is data silos existing between Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and Product teams. Today, this issue can be resolved with a CDP. So, what is a CDP? How does it differ from CRM, and which platform suits your business best? 

1. What is a CDP? 

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a customer data management system that collects, unifies, and analyzes data from various sources such as websites, mobile apps, social media, CRM systems, and point-of-sale (POS) systems. CDPs enable businesses to create a comprehensive 360-degree customer profile, providing a full view of the customer journey and allowing for personalized experiences at every touchpoint. 

Unlike isolated storage systems, a CDP automatically gathers, cleanses, and synchronizes first-party data (directly owned by the business) in real-time, creating a solid foundation for data analysis and marketing automation. 

Benefits of Implementing a CDP in Business 

By adopting a CDP, businesses gain numerous advantages: 

• Consolidation of multi-source data: CDPs gather data from diverse systems, eliminate departmental data silos, and allow comprehensive customer behavior analysis. 

• Creation of a unified customer profile: By merging all data about each customer into a centralized profile, businesses can easily personalize messages and experiences. 

• Enhanced personalized marketing: With accurate and complete data, CDPs enable marketing campaigns to target individual customer needs precisely, increasing conversion rates and revenue. 

• Cost and resource savings: Businesses reduce data duplication, target audiences more effectively, optimize ad spend, and cut down manual tasks. 

• Improved analytics and forecasting: CDPs provide a centralized analytics platform, helping businesses develop loyalty programs, plan customer care, and expand customer lifetime value (CLV). 

Who Should Use a CDP? 

CDPs are ideal for medium to large businesses that pursue customer-centric strategies or are undergoing digital transformation. 

Specifically: 

• Omnichannel businesses need unified data from websites, social media, stores, hotlines, etc., for a consistent customer view. 

• Companies in eCommerce, finance, telecommunications, and retail aim to deploy large-scale personalized marketing. 

• Marketing and customer service teams want to reduce IT dependency and independently run campaigns based on unified data. 

Application of CDP in eCommerce 

Personalized Multichannel Marketing Campaigns
An eCommerce company uses a CDP to gather customer behavior data from its website, social media, email, and mobile app. When a customer frequently searches for sports products, the CDP automatically segments them and sends personalized email recommendations and timely promotions, delivers relevant content on Facebook, and displays personalized banners during website visits. This leads to significantly higher conversion rates and sales across marketing channels. 

Optimizing Sales Processes and Upselling
Sales teams access consolidated CDP data: purchase history, interaction frequency, product search behavior to identify prospects likely to buy during weekends. The system can send short-term offers or related product promotions, increasing upsell and cross-sell opportunities. 

Customer Journey Coordination and Performance Measurement
CDPs help marketers design seamless customer journeys from discovery to purchase and post-sale care. Businesses can identify and act on customers’ “golden moments” (e.g., purchase decisions triggered by free shipping vouchers). Detailed reports on conversion rates, average order value (AOV), customer acquisition cost (CAC), and effective customer segments optimize marketing strategy and budget. 

CDP vs CRM Comparison

What is CRM? 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software or solutions help businesses store, organize, and manage contact information and interaction histories with customers, potential clients, and current clients. CRMs track calls, emails, appointments, transactions, and service feedback and automate many sales and customer service processes. This supports improving customer experience, increasing revenue, and better customer retention. 

Read more: https://secomm.vn/what-is-crm-top-5-benefits-of-using-crm-software/

CDP vs CRM Comparison 

When to Use CDP or CRM? 

• CDP: Ideal when businesses seek deep customer behavior insights, marketing automation, and personalized multi-channel marketing with real-time data management. 

• CRM: Suited for companies focusing on managing existing customer care, sales pipeline or increasing customer satisfaction. 

In Conclusion 

In today’s competitive market, delivering a personalized customer experience is no longer optional; it’s a key driver for optimizing marketing efforts and accelerating business growth. Whether you choose a CDP or a CRM platform, selecting the right solution for your specific business needs is essential to improving operational efficiency and customer engagement. 

If you’re looking for a trusted partner to help you implement, operate, and optimize your eCommerce ecosystem, don’t hesitate to reach out to SECOMM. We’re here to support you with expert guidance and tailored solutions to power your long-term growth. 

FAQ 

What is a CDP and how does it work?

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a technology system that connects, collects, cleans, and analyzes customer data from various sources to create a unified customer profile. This supports personalization and optimization of the customer journey.

What’s the main difference between CDP and CRM?

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a technology system that connects, collects, cleans, and analyzes customer data from various sources to create a unified customer profile. This supports personalization and optimization of the customer journey.

Which businesses should use a CDP?

CDPs fit omnichannel businesses with multiple customer data sources aiming for personalized marketing or marketing automation. If you need centralized data management and marketing optimization, CDP is the right choice.

Is CDP implementation complex and what is needed?

Implementing a CDP requires quality source data, standardized data input processes, cross-department collaboration, and selecting software that fits your business scale. Having a clear digital transformation plan, objectives, and reliable vendors is essential.

Does CDP guarantee increased leads or revenue?

A CDP optimizes data usage and campaign effectiveness but does not guarantee lead or revenue growth. Business outcomes depend on strategy execution and marketing capability.

Is the data stored on a CDP secure?

Most CDP software complies with high data security standards and regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Businesses should choose providers with proper certifications and implement internal data controls.

In today’s eCommerce world, staying ahead of the competition requires not only a great product but also effective tools to manage and optimize your store’s operations. Shopify, one of the leading eCommerce platforms, offers a variety of features designed to help businesses thrive. Among these is Shopify LaunchPad, a powerful tool aimed at automating and streamlining promotional events. 

In this blog post, we’ll dive into what Shopify LaunchPad is, how it works, and the key features that make it a valuable asset for online store owners. We’ll also explore the benefits and drawbacks of using this tool, helping you decide if it’s the right fit for your business needs. Whether you’re planning a major sale, a product launch, or a special campaign, understanding the capabilities of Shopify LaunchPad can help you execute your strategies more efficiently and effectively. 

1. What is Shopify LaunchPad? 

Shopify LaunchPad is a specialized feature within the Shopify platform designed to facilitate the management and execution of promotional events for e-commerce businesses. It serves as a comprehensive toolset that allows store owners to automate the setup, scheduling, and execution of events such as product launches, flash sales, and holiday promotions.  

Essentially, Shopify LaunchPad enables businesses to plan and implement their marketing strategies more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks and ensuring timely execution of events, thereby enhancing overall store management and customer engagement.

2. How does it work?

There are two common ways to utilize Shopify LaunchPad. One is creating new events, another is modifying the existing events. Let’s break it down: 

To create a new LaunchPad event, you’ll follow these steps: 

• Access the dedicated section within your Shopify dashboard for LaunchPad events. 

• Specify event details such as event type (e.g., sale, product launch), start and end dates, and discount percentages. 

• Customize other parameters relevant to your promotional strategy. 

• Confirm the setup to automate the activation and deactivation of events based on scheduled dates. 

To modifying the existing LaunchPad events, you’ll need to: 

Navigate to the LaunchPad events section in your Shopify dashboard. 

• Locate the event you wish to modify. 

• Adjust event details such as dates, discounts, and promotional content as needed. 

• Save the changes to update the event, ensuring your promotions remain relevant and effective throughout the campaign period. 

3. Key features of Shopify LaunchPad 

Shopify LaunchPad offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance the management and execution of promotional events for eCommerce businesses. 

Automated Event Scheduling: LaunchPad automates the activation and deactivation of events based on preset start and end dates, eliminating the need for manual intervention and ensuring timely execution of promotional campaigns. 

Event Customization: Businesses can extensively customize their promotional events within LaunchPad. This includes defining event types such as sales, product launches, or holiday promotions, setting specific start and end dates (including time zones for global campaigns), configuring discounts (whether percentage-based or fixed amounts), excluding certain products or collections, and customizing promotional messaging and banners to align with branding strategies. 

Integration Capabilities: Shopify LaunchPad seamlessly integrates with other Shopify features and third-party apps. It syncs with Shopify’s inventory management to ensure accurate stock availability during promotions, integrates with email marketing tools for targeted promotional campaigns, and connects with analytics platforms to track campaign performance and customer behavior. 

Performance Analytics: The platform provides robust analytics and reporting capabilities, offering insights into event performance metrics such as total revenue generated, units sold, average order value, click-through rates, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, top-performing products, best-selling categories, and geographic sales distribution. This data empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions to optimize future promotions and marketing strategies. 

4. Benefits of using Shopify LaunchPad 

Using Shopify LaunchPad offers several key benefits for eCommerce businesses: 

Time-saving through automation: Shopify LaunchPad automates the entire process of setting up and managing promotional events. This includes scheduling events to start and end at specific times, activating discounts or special offers automatically, and deactivating them once the event concludes. By automating these tasks, businesses can save significant time that would otherwise be spent manually coordinating promotions. 

Improved sales management: By automating event activation and deactivation, LaunchPad ensures precise control over sales periods, product launches, and promotional campaigns. Businesses can schedule events in advance, allowing for strategic planning and coordination across different channels. This capability not only improves the efficiency of sales management but also enhances the effectiveness of promotional efforts by ensuring timely execution and optimized sales strategies. 

Enhanced customer experience: Streamlined and well-managed promotional events contribute directly to a better shopping experience for customers. With LaunchPad, businesses can communicate promotions clearly and effectively to their audience, reducing confusion and improving transparency. Timely execution of promotions also enhances customer satisfaction by delivering on expectations and providing a seamless shopping experience. 

Reach new potential customers: Shopify LaunchPad is instrumental in helping businesses reach new audiences and expand their customer base. Whether through targeted promotions, cross-channel campaigns, or innovative marketing strategies, LaunchPad enables businesses to attract and engage with new potential customers effectively. 

5. Limits of Shopify LaunchPad 

While Shopify LaunchPad offers significant benefits, it also has certain limitations that businesses should consider: 

Dependence on Proper Setup: The effectiveness of LaunchPad heavily relies on the accurate setup of events, including dates, discounts, and promotional content. Improper configuration or oversight in setup can lead to inconsistencies in promotions or missed opportunities to maximize sales. 

Analytics and Reporting Depth: While LaunchPad provides basic analytics and reporting on event performance, businesses looking for advanced analytics capabilities or deeper insights may find the built-in features somewhat limited. Integrating with external analytics tools may be necessary for more comprehensive data analysis. 

6. Real-world examples 

• Cheak 

Cheak, an innovative sportswear brand, leveraged Shopify LaunchPad to streamline its product launches and manage seasonal sales effectively. By scheduling product releases and flash sales in advance, Cheak was able to create buzz and anticipation among its customer base. The automation provided by LaunchPad ensured that promotions started and ended precisely as planned, enhancing the overall shopping experience and boosting sales during peak periods. By using Shopify LaunchPad, Cheak increased 20% month-on-month growth in online store traffic, 100% month-on-month rise in Malaysian expansion store visits, and reduced product launch time, from 1 week to 2 days. 

• Bauer 

Bauer, a renowned hockey equipment manufacturer, used Shopify LaunchPad after re-platform from Salesforce Commerce Cloud to coordinate large-scale promotional events across multiple regions. By utilizing LaunchPad’s scheduling and automation features, Bauer was able to synchronize discounts and special offers for major events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This approach not only simplified the management of these complex campaigns but also maximized their impact, resulting in significant increases in both online traffic and sales. 

Shopify Plus and the LaunchPad feature has helped Bauer with 60% revenue increase, 30% order increase, 20% cost savings, 18% conversion rate increase since moving to Shopify, within 6 months year-over-year. 

• Cozykids 

Cozykids, a popular children’s clothing retailer, implemented Shopify LaunchPad to manage its frequent sales and special promotions. The brand utilized LaunchPad to automate discount application and promotional messaging, ensuring a seamless and consistent customer experience. With LaunchPad, Cozykids could easily modify ongoing events and respond quickly to market trends, leading to improved customer engagement and satisfaction. By using LaunchPad, Cozykids has seen: 40% site traffic increased, 82% revenue increased, human error reduced and stock management efficiency increased.

7. Final Words 

Shopify LaunchPad is a powerful tool that can transform the way eCommerce businesses manage and execute promotional events. By automating event scheduling, enhancing sales management, and improving customer experiences, LaunchPad offers significant benefits. However, it also has limitations that businesses need to consider. Real-world examples like Cheak, Bauer, and Cozykids showcase its potential to drive sales and engagement effectively. Overall, Shopify LaunchPad is a valuable asset for any eCommerce store looking to streamline its promotional strategies and achieve better results. 

Want to implement Shopify LaunchPad right now? Contact SECOMM for free consultation! 

In today’s digital age, eCommerce automation not only helps businesses optimize their sales processes but also creates a seamless shopping experience for customers. Shopify Plus has become one of the most popular SaaS eCommerce platforms, helping both large and small brands automate and enhance their business efficiency. Below is a list of leading brands that have successfully automated their eCommerce with Shopify Plus. 

1. Good American

Good American, the renowned fashion brand co-founded by Khloé Kardashian, achieved $1 million in sales on the first day of operating its sales system on the Shopify Plus platform. Building on this success, the brand established multiple automated processes to eliminate manual tasks, allowing its team to focus on providing customers with a rich shopping experience and excellent support services. 

Good American utilized Shopify Flow to automatically tag products as “Out of Stock” on their website for items that are sold out and “Low Stock” for items that have reached a certain inventory threshold. This not only improved inventory management but also encouraged customers to purchase items that were running low. Additionally, for out-of-stock products, customers could sign up to be notified when the items were back in stock, helping Good American reclaim potential lost sales. 

With Shopify Flow, Good American was able to create nine automated processes in less than a day, significantly contributing to the overall efficiency of their eCommerce operations. 

• Website: https://www.goodamerican.com/en-vn/ 
• Industry: Fashion 
• Traffic: 2.9M/month 
• Rank: #9,462 (USA) & #48,565 (Global) 

2. Boody

Boody is an Australian brand specializing in eco-friendly clothing, founded in 2012. After operating on the complex Magento platform for several years, the brand decided to switch to Shopify Plus for its specialized solutions and user-friendly interface. This transition allowed Boody to easily customize and provide their customers with a more engaging and seamless online shopping experience while expanding into international markets. 

After switching platforms, Boody leveraged Shopify Flow to automate several key eCommerce processes, including order processing, email marketing, payments, and inventory management. This automation enabled Boody’s team to focus more on business strategies and market expansion. As a result, Boody has expanded to 10 different international stores and increased its online revenue share from 0% to 70%. 

• Website: https://www.boody.com.au/ 
• Industry: Fashion 
• Traffic: 1.1M/month 
• Rank: #1,420 (Australia) & #85,881 (Global) 

3. Paperlike

Paperlike is known for producing and supplying accessories for iPads. Given the small team and limited technological resources at Paperlike, operational efficiency is a top priority for their eCommerce activities. After running their eCommerce website on the standard Shopify platform for a long time, Paperlike switched to Shopify Plus to find solutions to handle their increasing sales volume. 

Despite having a small team, Paperlike successfully operates their Shopify Plus store thanks to unique automation tools such as Flow, LaunchPad, and Script. 

• Website: https://paperlike.com/ 

• Industry: iPad accessories 

• Traffic: 1.1M/month 

• Rank: #68,046 (USA) & #149,026 (Global) 

4. Mandaue Foam

Since its establishment in 1971, Mandaue Foam has become an indispensable name in the furniture industry in the Philippines. After four years of using the standard version of Shopify, Mandaue Foam upgraded to Shopify Plus to seek solutions for expansion and customization. 

The brand utilized LaunchPad—a feature exclusive to Shopify Plus—to schedule marketing campaigns and automate product price updates and discounts. Since LaunchPad allows real-time tracking of each campaign’s performance, the Mandaue Foam team could understand customer behavior and adjust their campaigns accordingly. 

Additionally, using Shopify Flow, Mandaue Foam automated their order management process. They created a workflow where, once an order is placed, one of their 28 physical locations with inventory for that product is notified to process the order. This ensured swift order fulfillment while eliminating the need for manual order tracking. 

The platform switch and the implementation of eCommerce automation helped Mandaue Foam achieve a 200% increase in order volume, a 151% year-over-year increase in total sales, and a 16% increase in customer return rate. 

• Website: https://mandauefoam.ph/ 

• Industry: Furniture 

• Traffic: 486,503/month 

• Rank: #2,745 (Philippines) & #170,520 (Global) 

5. Fathead

Fathead is a provider of decorative products and decals featuring famous cartoon characters, superstars, and top athletes. The eCommerce system at Fathead encountered numerous issues over time, including frequent errors, poor performance, and time-consuming manual processes. 

To address these challenges, Fathead decided to migrate to Shopify Plus for its easy and flexible customization options on a user-friendly interface. Fathead leveraged Shop Pay to simplify the checkout process, providing a streamlined shopping experience and boosting conversion rates. The brand also utilized Shopify Flow to set up multiple automated processes, including optimizing order processing. As a result, Fathead increased average order value by 46%, conversion rates by 10%, and overall revenue by 50%. 

• Website: https://fathead.com/ 
• Industry: Sport 
• Traffic: 478,683/month 
• Rank: #45,624 (USA) & #268,411 (Global) 

6. Doe Beauty

Doe Beauty is a beloved Korean cosmetics brand across Asia. From the early days of eCommerce, Doe Beauty built its website on the Shopify platform. Later, witnessing rapid growth and the need for system expansion, Doe Beauty decided to switch to Shopify Plus. Since then, 80% of the operations on their Shopify Plus store have been automated. 

Thanks to Shopify Flow, Doe Beauty’s team can focus on creative and strategic business aspects. The order processing and inventory management are optimized and automatically monitored, enabling faster delivery. As a result, Doe Beauty provides customers with a smooth and convenient shopping experience. E-commerce automation with Shopify Plus has helped the Doe Beauty team save an average of 4 hours and increase the average order value by 5%. 

• Website: https://doebeauty.com/ 

• Industry: Cosmetics 

• Traffic: 294,315/month 

• Rank: #47,193 (USA) & #291,920 (Global) 

7. Jack Rogers

For over 60 years, Jack Rogers’ sandals and shoes have been loved by generations of consumers across the United States. Dissatisfied with their existing eCommerce system, Jack Rogers switched to Shopify Plus. This move provided access to a comprehensive infrastructure and outstanding solutions, optimizing inventory management—a persistent issue for Jack Rogers over the years. 

After transitioning to the Shopify Plus store, the brand leveraged Shopify Flow to automate several operational processes, freeing their team from time-consuming manual tasks. The intuitive and user-friendly interface of Shopify Plus allowed the Jack Rogers team to easily add and edit products and categories, set up sales campaigns, and run advertisements. This led to remarkable growth in a short time, with website traffic increasing by over 60% and conversion rates by more than 30%. 

• Website: https://www.jackrogersusa.com/ 

• Industry: Fashion 

• Traffic: 257,196/month 

• Rank: #54,465 (USA) & #340,679 (Global) 

8. Cozykids 

Cozykids is a popular destination for children’s products in Greece. The old WordPress-based system at Cozykids faced numerous issues due to manual operations and inadequate performance. As a result, Cozykids switched to Shopify Plus in search of a solution for performance and automation problems. 

By using Shopify Flow, Cozykids automated inventory management for out-of-stock and low-stock products, eliminating the need for staff to manually monitor inventory levels. Additionally, Cozykids used Flow to automate customer interactions with out-of-stock products, allowing customers to pre-order at a discounted price and sign up for notifications when the products were back in stock. This automation was particularly important for the marketing team, as it helped them know when to stop promoting low-stock items and focus on other products. 

For launching and promoting new products, Cozykids used Shopify LaunchPad to automate these processes. With both Flow and LaunchPad, Cozykids increased eCommerce website traffic by 40% and revenue by 80%. Additionally, the automated processes significantly reduced the time staff spent monitoring inventory levels, decreased errors from manual operations, and enhanced operational efficiency. 

• Website: https://cozykids.gr/en 

• Industry: Children’s products 

• Traffic: 61,781/month 

• Rank: #12,177 (Greece) & #1,386,032 (Global) 

Final Words 

eCommerce automation not only helps brands optimize their operational processes but also creates a better shopping experience for customers. The aforementioned brands have successfully used Shopify to enhance business efficiency and build customer trust. Shopify has proven to be a powerful and flexible tool, supporting businesses of all sizes and across various industries. 

Need advice on implementing eCommerce automation with Shopify Plus? Contact SECOMM today!