How Swan Achieved 97% Revenue Growth with Shopify Plus

Introduction

Swan is a ninety-year-old home appliance brand that needed a modern platform to match its heritage. For years they used Adobe Commerce but found customizations and maintenance time-consuming. With online demand rising, Swan needed a system that let them move fast without fatal overhead.

Platform Limitations

Adobe Commerce provided flexibility but brought complexity. Every code change required deep developer involvement, and small tweaks could break front-end functionality or slow page loads. Marketing campaigns often had to wait on developer availability, causing missed revenue opportunities.

When COVID-19 drove traffic up, the team struggled to spin up new promotions or test user flows quickly. Bottlenecks grew as demand soared and the platform showed strain under traffic spikes.

Choosing Shopify Plus

In 2016, Swan decided on Shopify Plus for its promise of speed and simplified operations. The brand appreciated the hosted infrastructure and built-in scalability that reduced the need for constant platform tweaks.

Key factors in the decision included native tools for scheduling launches, seamless app integrations, and a dedicated support team available 24/7. These features aligned with Swan’s goal to focus on strategic growth, not server maintenance.

Implementing Key Features

• Dev Stores: Swan set up a sandbox environment to safely test theme updates and new apps before going live.
• Launchpad Scheduling: Sales, promotions and content changes were planned in advance and deployed automatically.
• Yotpo Integration: Added reviews and referral functionality to drive social proof and word-of-mouth trust.
• Klaviyo Email Flows: Created automated post-purchase and loyalty emails that re-engaged past buyers.

Testing and Launch

With dev stores in place, Swan’s team ran occassional A/B tests on new layouts, promotional banners and copy. Once the tests hit target metrics, they pushed changes to the live site effortlessly. Launchpad handled blackouts and flash sales without manual work.

Results

• 97% revenue increase year-over-year.
• 53% uplift in returning customer rate.
• 12% boost in overall conversion rate.

Freed from platform management, Swan expanded into new international markets and met surging at-home shopping demand during the pandemic. Support from Shopify Plus ensured any outage or question was resolved fast, keeping marketing and operations in sync.

Conclusion

By moving to Shopify Plus and leveraging its ecosystem of certified apps and built-in tools, Swan transformed its online channel. The simplicity of the platform enabled faster launches, reduced risk in updates, and ultimately fueled significant revenue and retention gains.