Whilst other headphone manufacturers strive for an isolated listening experience, Shokz is paving the way for open listening. Sleek and lightweight in design, Shokz’s headphones use bone conduction technology to provide users with an elevated listening experience, while letting them remain aware of their surroundings. With models tailored to different sporting activities like running and swimming, the China-headquartered brand has become a favorite for sports-enthusiasts globally, winning multiple awards along the way.
Challenge
As word of Shokz’s cutting-edge headphones spread around the world, the brand knew it needed localized online stores to help raise awareness with international audiences. Shokz spent five years experimenting with a number of different website developers and service providers only to end up with disjointed channels causing flawed functionality. The resulting sites didn't offer the seamless experience Shokz wanted to provide for its customers. Payment methods were insufficient, offering either a clunky user experience or insecure payment terminals and checkout processes, or both. Shokz needed a solution that simplified its back-end processes, and provided customers with a sophisticated and performant digital experience.
Solution
In 2018, Shokz saw many Chinese brands building their official websites using Shopify, and began its own process of evaluating Shopify’s potential. Drawn to the maturity of Shopify Plus’ functionality and ability to support up to 10 international stores, the brand decided on the platform. Shokz enlisted the help of Shopify Plus partner SainStore to support implementation and enable the brand to fully realize all the benefits of Shopify Plus.
Shokz wanted a tailored experience for each market, which aligned the shopping, membership, and after-sales experiences with local customer behaviors and preferences. Because Shopify Plus supports personalized settings across multiple websites, it was easy for Shokz to customize focus, layouts, languages, and product-descriptions. For example, for the brand’s American and European websites, Shokz focused on sporting imagery, but adopted a more technology-oriented approach – highlighting product details – for its Japanese site.
Results
With the help of Shopify Plus and SainStore, Shokz now has an online presence in North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Each of the eight new sites benefits from rich plug-in functionality, allowing for personalized user experiences with currency localization.
With SainStore’s guidance, Shokz adopted Launchpad to help manage different peak buying seasons around the world. The brand can now preset product and sales release timings, and set personalized promotional pricing for each international website. For Shokz, these Shopify Plus functions proved critical in supporting and improving conversions during busy sales seasons.
With Shopify Plus, Shokz saw results fast:
- 8 fully optimized and market-localized websites launched in three years
- 82% growth in customer database in 2022
- Significant resource efficiencies achieved with the use of Launchpad
Our business strives to offer customers a seamless online experience—from the moment they land on our site to when they checkout. Shopify Plus empowers us to deliver personalized and effective experiences globally to keep our customers engaged.
