Andie Swim’s Leap from Swimwear to Vacation Destination with Shopify Collective

How Andie Swim Expanded into a Vacation Retail Powerhouse

Andie Swim was built on one simple idea: design swimsuits that actually fit and feel great on real women. After years of intense fit testing and customer feedback, the team realized there was room to offer more than bikinis and one-pieces. Towels, cover-ups, hats—these extras were driving traffic, but only a handful of brands could deliver quality products on demand without tying up inventory.

Enter Shopify Collective. Instead of spending weeks uploading product photos, HS codes, country-of-origin details and then manually syncing changes, Andie’s team could import item data automatically. Within hours they had dozens of new products on their site. Better yet, every drop-shipped item plugged seamlessly into their Loop returns system, and their merchandising engine treated partner items like native inventory.

The Operational Pain Points Andie Swim Faced

Before Collective, Andie Swim tried generic dropshipping apps. These required manual setup for each product and forced the team to track updates on third-party dashboards. That meant inconsistent product pages, missing images, wrong HS codes—and an out-of-sync store whenever a supplier changed a description or price. Returns were a nightmare, too: drop-shipped items didn’t flow through Loop, so customers saw different policies depending on where a product shipped from.

All this manual data wrangling cost the team hours every week and created friction in the customer journey. They needed a native solution that would import complete product information, handle returns uniformly, and give them flexibility to work with the brands they loved.

Streamlining Partnerships with Shopify Collective

Shopify Collective’s discovery tool let Andie Swim search for complementary brands that matched their aesthetic and quality standards. They filtered by product category, supplier ratings, and shipping regions. When they found Sunshine Tienda, it took less than ten minutes to add their cover-ups and hats to the Andie store. All images, weights, dimensions, HS codes and origin info flowed in automatically.

Because Collective plugs directly into Shopify’s commerce engine, Andie Swim didn’t need separate systems for inventory or returns. Loop handled all return labels and refunds the same way, whether an order shipped from Andie’s warehouse or a partner’s facility. Andie Swim’s merchandising platform presented drop-ship items alongside in-house stock with no special flags or caveats, creating a unified shopping experience.

Results: Bigger Baskets and Fresh Faces

Once Collective products went live, Andie Swim saw: an 8% lift in average order value whenever a partner item was in the cart, and nearly half (49%) of those transactions came from first-time visitors. Instead of buying just swimwear, customers added a towel or cover-up—items they might never have tested if the purchase required a separate checkout.

The success with Sunshine Tienda inspired Andie Swim to onboard more brands. They now rotate seasonal partners, testing summer hats one month and beach tote makers the next, all without holding a single extra SKU. This approach drives engagement, keeps the assortment fresh, and aligns perfectly with Andie Swim’s mission: make vacation shopping easy.

Key Lessons Learned

• Automate product data imports to save manual hours and avoid inconsistencies.
• Use native integrations for returns so every item follows the same customer experience.
• Present drop-ship items as part of your core catalog, not a separate section.
• Test new categories with partner brands to gauge demand before holding inventory.
• Highlight complementary items at checkout to boost average order values.
• Rotate partnerships seasonally to keep your store dynamic and engaging.