How Pura Vida Bracelets Scaled 50% YoY with Shopify Plus

Introduction

Pura Vida Bracelets transformed a $100 experiment into a multimillion-dollar B2C brand by leveraging Shopify Plus. In 2010, co-founders Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman returned from Costa Rica with 400 artisan bracelets. They tapped social media to share an authentic mission: every purchase funds fair wages for makers. When growth stalled, they upgraded their tech stack to Shopify Plus and layered in advanced email, chat and subscription tools, sparking sustained expansion.

The Challenge

Rapid social success made Pura Vida a hot brand, but they struggled to scale without complex infrastructure. They needed to move beyond generic blasts, recover carts more effectively, and build a predictable revenue base. The co-founders wanted a lasting business that could withstand market ups and downs.

The Solution

On Shopify Plus, Pura Vida connected Email Aptitude, Bronto and Bluecore to send triggered, personalized campaigns tied to each customer’s purchase history. They added ShopMessage to fire abandoned-cart reminders through Facebook Messenger. And they launched the Pura Vida Club with Bold Subscriptions, offering exclusive items on auto-ship.

The Results

Within months, revenue jumped 50% year-over-year. Email subscriber counts were up 350% and email-driven revenue was 4× higher. Messenger flow delivered a 26% clickthrough rate, recovering lost carts and boosting top-line sales by another 10%. Subscriptions now grow faster than ever, adding steady, predictable income.

Key Learnings

• Personalized email triggers drive far better engagement than one-size-fits-all blasts.
• Messenger-based reminders outperform email cart recoveries by a strong margin.
• Subscription clubs offer stability, locking in loyal customers and smoothing cash flow.
• Combining multiple specialized apps amplifies impact when they work in concert.
• Data from each channel informs smarter campaigns and continuous improvement.
• A mission-driven brand story fuels authentic word-of-mouth and lasting loyalty.