10 inspiring Shopify success stories unveiled

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There are countless Shopify success stories from businesses across the globe, and we’ve selected some of our favorites to show you the breadth of them. By showcasing these brands, you’ll see the approach these businesses take, while getting a dose of inspiration for your own online store.

Shopify is one of the biggest ecommerce platforms in the world, with a 27% market share in the US alone. With apps to help you increase sales, boost revenue, and enhance customer loyalty, it’s no wonder that so many online merchants choose it over other platforms.

With that all said, let’s take a closer look at 10 Shopify store success stories and what they’re doing well.

Naked and Famous

Founded by Brandon Svarc in 2008, Naked and Famous is a Canadian denim company. It sources its denim material from Okayama Japan, the home of traditional denim craftsmanship.

Here the brand gets raw denim material, woven using rare traditional machines and a particular eye for quality. It then sells these products on its well-designed Shopify ecommerce platform.

What are they doing well?

Authenticity is what sets Naked and Famous apart from its competitors and makes it a big success story. 

As opposed to many businesses in the denim industry, Naked and Famous has ample knowledge of its products. It thrives in the details, down to the thickness and weight of its denim material and all of this is reflected in its products and listings. 

This and creativity in the variety of denim it produces has only helped the growth. In addition to this, the marketing is centered around readily-available customer support. It also provides ample information about its products to its clients.

The marketing is further enhanced by its email marketing platform, which easily integrates with Shopify. This helps the team to send automated email campaigns, cart abandonment emails, and more, resulting in boosted conversion rates.

Key takeaways

Here are the key takeaways from this Shopify success story:

• Your first focus should be on the quality of the items you produce and or sell
• Ensure your customers have the best experience
• Offer holistic product experience advice 
• Have an effective marketing strategy

Black Halo

Black Halo is an LA clothing line that sells luxury clothing for women. Founded by Laurel Berman in 2002, it’s known for brands such as Jackie O and other contemporary dress designs.

It’s an ecommerce wholesaler of tailor-made dresses, two-piece clothes, and jumpsuits for business events, galas, cocktails, and evening parties. 

It’s one of the many Shopify clothing stores that have found success on the platform. Here’s how it managed that.

What are they doing well?

Black Halo was formed to reach a particular market niche, the high-end market. For instance, its Jackie O dress, which has earned publicity, has been worn by celebrities like Meghan Markle. 

Besides having a specialized market niche, Black Halo’s pieces were made with specific occasions in mind. Therefore, its target audience is even more niche.

Through the Shopify platform, this brand has been able to create a website design that represents its glamorous image. Most of its pictures are crisp and the site is easy to navigate.

Key takeaways

Black Halo produces the kind of quality that instills confidence in its buyers and drives this success story. This shows that it knows its audience’s needs and seeks to fulfill them. The result is building a brand that attracts markets, just by its quality.

Part of Black Halo’s success is due to its narrowed-down niche as well, which makes the marketing more specific.

SM Global

This Shopify website is the official ecommerce website for SM Entertainment, a South Korean Multinational Entertainment Company. It sells K-pop artiste merchandise, albums, and other accessories.

Some of these K-pop bands include EXO, Girls Generation, and Super M. 

What are they doing well?

SM Global’s Shopify success story can be attributed to several factors, including its name, digital presence, and marketing strategies. 

It utilizes emails and SMS-based solutions for its marketing campaigns, as shown below:

These alerts inform clients of items such as:

• Promotions and discounts
• Cart abandonment reminders
• Welcome messages

When you’re doing email marketing on Shopify, finding software such as Omnisend that easily integrates with the platform is essential. 

Besides its text alerts and email campaigns, SM Global also maximizes its reviews to keep its client base. More reviews mean more people are using its products, and this creates some level of credibility for the brand which then drives the success story.

The brand has numerous reviews on its site, as shown below:

Key takeaways

Using marketing plugins maximizes your client’s reach. Shopify’s ability to integrate with other software makes this easy for your ecommerce store. The success of SM Global Shop’s email and SMS campaigns is a testament to this. 

Divatress

This is one of the many Shopify stores that has found success after switching from a different ecommerce platform. Divatress is a retail online store that sells everything hair, from wigs, braiding hair, and hair extensions to hair care products.

Its market niche is mostly African-American. After 10 years of using Magento, the founder, Rob Lin, moved the site to Shopify, and it has been an upward trend from there.

What are they doing well?

The store has everything under one roof. In addition to hair products, it sells beauty products as well. 

Furthermore, on moving to Shopify, Divatress moved its email marketing functions from Mailchimp to Omnisend. It stopped using basic email marketing functions and opted for a more automated solution that would support its growing business.

It also embraced SMS marketing. Part of this landing page email and SMS marketing strategy involved using popups to get more visitors to convert. Here’s what that looks like.

Key takeaways

With Shopify and Omnisend, Divatress has been able to manage its growing customer base with limited staff.

Part of the challenge of being a small business is not being able to employ enough people as the business grows. But with automated marketing functions, part of the staff’s work is taken care of.

Island Olive Oil Company

Island Olive Oil Company is a Hawaii-based business that sells olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and other accessories.

It was founded in 2012 but acquired by its current owners in 2016. Angel and Brian are certified olive oil sommeliers who have since propelled the company’s digital presence following the pandemic.

What are they doing well?

This brand’s major drive is to provide customers with the best shopping experience. This involves providing the best products as well as maximum customer support.

Island Olive Oil Company always aims to maintain a physical feel, even on the ecommerce platform. It has partly managed to do this through its welcome emails and personalized email campaigns to its customers.

Part of this also involves using popup sales promotions, as shown below:

Key takeaways

The said practices have led to increased conversions for a company that, barely a few years ago, did not focus on ecommerce. This, in turn, has given the company a revenue boost.

It has also switched to stable email marketing weekly schedules to leverage customer interactions to the fullest.

Floof

Hannah Perry always had a pipe dream of starting a cotton candy company. Floof started from humble beginnings, with Hannah making cotton candy tubs, before cotton candy cakes were discovered almost by accident — turning over a tub filled with cotton candy and revealing what looked like a compact little cake.

Floof gained traction when an instructional video on TikTok went viral, with lots of comments and emails from people wanting their own cotton candy cake.

What are they doing well?

Having originally used Wix, Floof moved to Shopify in search of a website that could handle more visitors. In doing so, it achieved a much more professional appearance. The Floof website is fast, slick, and easy to navigate. It uses an in-built delivery date app, allowing customers to choose a delivery date that suits them when ordering Floof Cakes, Push Pops, and more.

As well as the shop, the Floof website also includes a handy events section, reflecting the other side of Hannah’s business. To minimize hassle, the events page includes an inquiry form, where visitors can provide all the details of their event, allowing the Floof team to give them a quote much more easily.

Key takeaways

In 2020, Floof was a pipe dream in a residential kitchen. Fast-forward to 2024 and it has a commercial kitchen with a storefront. The next aim for the business is to make it a household name, with Hannah citing people with food allergies as a key target market. Her cotton candy cakes are made without any gluten or eggs, making them ideal for practically anyone.

In an interview with Shopify, Hannah urges people to follow their passion: “If you have in your soul this art that you want to share and this idea that you know could be good, really go for it. Know that it’s going to be a lot of work, but there is so much strength and freedom in doing your own thing and being able to put your heart and soul into something.”

Lulu and Georgia

Lulu and Georgia is a home and decor company based in Los Angeles. It sells both interior and exterior home items, from furniture, rugs, throw pillows, and light pendants to everything in between. It also sells decor services.

What are they doing well?

The website is a one-stop-shop for everything decor. Furthermore, there is a variety of items to pick from and the decor ideas are sourced from all over the world. 

The website is packed with images, which fit this product niche. Similarly, it also uses promotional popups, email marketing, offers, and referrals to encourage purchases.

Key takeaways

The Lulu and Georgia website is designed to attract and engage customers. It’s a perfect example of how to use images to boost your ecommerce sales.

Rothy’s

Rothy’s uses 3D knitting technology to make washable footwear and bags from eco-friendly materials. Its products have been worn by various celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow.

What are they doing well?

Rothy’s provides a clear overview of its different products, making it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for. The menu includes a “Trending Now” section to spotlight new products.

Rothy’s site also features a dedicated sustainability section to highlight its zero-waste commitments. This includes more than 60 million plastic water bottles being turned into products, which are made from 85% recycled materials. Its shoeboxes are also designed to be shipped without unnecessary, extra packaging.

Key takeaways

Rothy’s has an estimated value of $700 million with annual revenue of $140 million. It has also expanded its brick-and-mortar stores, with over 20 in the US just six years after opening its first San Francisco store in 2018.

Pot Gang

Pot Gang is a subscription service that makes it quick and easy to grow your own fruit, vegetables and herbs at home — without the need for lots of equipment or experience.

The company was founded during the UK COVID lockdowns when gardening skyrocketed in popularity — not least because people were stuck at home for so long. 

What are they doing well?

Pot Gang hasn’t just capitalized on the extra demand for gardening supplies. It’s also taking advantage of the huge popularity of subscription boxes in recent years. 

Customers get everything they need to grow their own produce, including seeds, compost, pots, and advice. Seeds change each month, giving people an array of different seasonal fruit, veg, and herbs throughout the year.

Key takeaways

The refreshingly simple Shopify website displays the flagship subscription “The Box” alongside “Gift Subscriptions” and a small shop for “Gardening Gear.” There are now over 45,000 customers and a 4.9-star rating on Google.

GiveMeTap

The idea behind GiveMeTap is simple: we should make the most of the clean tap water we have available. As well as selling high-quality refillable bottles, the company has established a network of free refill stations in more than 800 shops.

What are they doing well?

The challenge for GiveMeTap’s website is to showcase its product range while also explaining multiple missions. Alongside its free refill network, the company uses profits to install water pumps in countries like Ghana, Malawi, and Namibia. 

The site has a simple drop-down menu that includes bottles, impacts, and story, along with a cobrand bottle offering — allowing businesses to put their brand on GiveMeTap bottles.

Key takeaways

Using 20% of the company’s revenue, GiveMeTap has provided clean water for life to over 50,000 people. It also estimates that more than 45 million plastic bottles have been replaced thanks to its products.

How much can I realistically make with Shopify?

According to HulkApps, Beginners on Shopify can expect to earn up to $1,000 per month in profit as they grow their brand. This can increase to up to $10,000 per month for established brands, with the most successful stores earning up to six figures or even more.

What is the success rate of Shopify?

The success rate for businesses on Shopify is thought to be between 5-10%. That means around five to 10 businesses will succeed out of every 100 on the platform. 

Don’t be discouraged, though. With the right products, customer service, and marketing strategy, there’s nothing stopping your business from entering that top 10% — as you can see from the many success stories above.

How hard is it to be successful on Shopify?

With around one in 10 Shopify businesses succeeding, it’s clearly easier said than done. However, by taking the right steps you can give yourself every chance of being successful.

In addition to market research and selling a quality product, customer service is one of the most common pitfalls for growing businesses. For example, 96% of customers have said they will leave a company because of bad service.

By committing to giving your customers an exceptional experience, you’ll stand out in the market and keep more customers on board.

What is the most successful business on Shopify?

With annual revenue exceeding $500 million, Gymshark is thought to be the most successful business on Shopify. The fitness-fashion brand has grown exponentially since its humble beginnings in 2012, and its sleek online store has certainly played an integral part.

Final thoughts

These Shopify success stories are an example of what successful brands do to thrive on the platform. Some key points to consider are:

• Authenticity: With serious product knowledge and attention to detail
• Customer support: Providing ample information about products with responsive support when needed
• Brand image: Reflecting your values throughout your website, whether that’s premium quality or a commitment to sustainability
• Email and SMS campaigns: Using text alerts and email campaigns to grow your client base and keep existing customers happy

Combining these strategies will increase your chances of attracting and retaining customers — not to mention joining the growing list of Shopify store success stories across the globe.