Before Lazer Technologies was even Lazer Technologies, they were focused on omnichannel commerce experiences. By working with founders and executives to build products, the team of designers, engineers, and technologists found their footing in optimization, front-end, and back-end work. Now, the design and development studio based in Toronto, Canada, helps some of the world’s largest merchants—such as Alo Yoga, Universal Music Group, Authentic Brands, Fig.1, and Rubino Shoes—create experiences on Shopify.
While Lazer makes the most of Shopify’s extensive ecosystem of apps and new products, they also see the partnership as an opportunity to push the boundaries and create unique experiences.
“Merchants don't really have to consider building things themselves. Shopify has got you covered,” said Jahmal Gittens, commerce and growth lead at Lazer. “Of course, they're not going to be able to do everything, which is why Lazer really shines for some merchants. We can actually act as a technical arm for them, helping them design and develop and extend what Shopify can do natively.”
By being a Shopify partner, Lazer Technologies has:
- Created new Shopify POS offerings and service lines, increasing revenue by 5x because of Shopify's platform extensibility
- Grown agency revenue to $5 million GMV
- Worked with large customers like Authentic Brands, Alo Yoga, OVO, Fig.1, and Rubino Shoes
- Grown as a brand new agency to a team of over 60 engineers and designers
The challenge: Cultivating unified commerce
Brands that approach Lazer face a common challenge. They want to have a better, more unified experience for their customers, but they previously couldn’t because of the legacy or disjointed systems—like their online store or point of sale—that they had invested in.
Lazer solves these problems with Shopify. Because it’s one single system for both point of sale and ecommerce, everything is connected and makes unified commerce easy.
“A lot of merchants are in the state where they want to provide a better experience, but they just don't have the technical know-how or they don't have the tech stack that allows them to really deliver that new experience,” said Jahmal. “With [Shopify] Point of Sale (POS), because Shopify is such a powerful system, you're able to have that unified commerce experience where [merchants can say], ‘I have my online store, and I have my in-person store, and they talk to each other.’”
Lazer stresses the concept of the endless aisle where unified and connected commerce give customers a seamless, continuous journey. When merchants have an online store and want to open a physical storefront, Lazer takes the opportunity to shift merchants’ thinking to what they can do for buyers across different channels. They encourage them to use their omnichannel strategy to drive a lifestyle change for customers by interacting with the brand in unified, meaningful ways—all on Shopify.
"[Shopify is] the best platform for merchants right now to really take those capabilities and grow their business because no longer do [they] have to think about, ‘I have my online store and now I need to think about opening a store, and I have a different system for that. And now I need to do B2B, and now I need a different system for that.’ You can really consolidate everything and have one source of truth for your business."
—Jahmal Gittens, Commerce and Growth Lead, Lazer Technologies
The solution: Working out of bounds
As a cutting-edge agency, Lazer prides themselves on using the best tech. And for them, that means using Shopify. “If we weren’t using Shopify, we’d be falling behind on being able to deliver the best experiences that our merchants want to deliver,” said Jahmal.
Specifically, Lazer aims to push the envelope with what Jahmal calls the three Xs—expansion, experimentation, and extension. “If I'm using a platform, and it only lets me go so far, I've grown as far as I possibly can. Whereas Shopify really allows you to extend past the finish line,” said Jahmal. “It allows you to work out of bounds—which I think is where greatness happens, where growth happens. We couldn't do that without Shopify and the power of Shopify behind merchants.”
It’s because of the extensibility of the Shopify platform that Lazer has endless opportunities to grow. With high market demand for customization, they’re able to offer new services and unique offerings to their clients. For example, the agency worked with a merchant that sells literal dirt—rocks, mulch, and other products used for landscaping. Unlike goods like T-shirts or sneakers where customers buy discrete units, their customers buy fractional quantities and products that are sold by weight. Lazer was still able to unify their online and in-person stores, while building experiences to accommodate these unique pricing structures.
Lazer has also seen cases where merchants want to deliver unique in-store experiences. For example, one of their merchants operates primarily as a gym, but they also sell branded clothing and offer a smoothie bar. Using the Shopify POS UI extension, Lazer built an app that provides one seamless journey where customers can both buy clothes through a typical ecommerce experience and order smoothies as they would with a cafe ordering app.
"It unlocks these really interesting little ways to interact with your brand and interact with your customers that didn't exist before, and I don't think really exist now…. [Shopify] puts those two things together so it's easy, and it's seamless. Customers don't notice anything, and your staff also doesn't notice anything. It's easy to sell…. And I think that's what obviously commerce is all about."
—Jahmal Gittens, Commerce and Growth Lead, Lazer Technologies
Lately, brands have been coming to Lazer wanting experiences for themselves that they’ve seen created by other brands. What the agency points out is that, more often than not, those experiences were built on Shopify—and that makes Shopify an easy sell.
"When we're talking to merchants, it makes it really easy for us to talk about Shopify…. We're able to look back and say, ‘Hey, look at what these really great brands are doing. Look at the brands that you're shopping with right now. Look with the brands that your friends, your family, whoever it might be, are shopping with right now. And look how well they're doing it. Look what we can do for your brand.’ It makes it really easy for us to talk about Shopify in a natural way."
—Jahmal Gittens, Commerce and Growth Lead, Lazer Technologies
The results: Grow your business, don’t just stay afloat
When it comes to merchants running their businesses, Jahmal likens it to sailing a ship. They’ve found that when merchants use competing technology, they spend a lot of resourcing on their tech and development teams just to keep their business afloat. As Jahmal puts it, “If I was sailing a ship, [and if] my ship was constantly sinking, and my entire job is plugging holes, I'm not really sailing.”
Instead, Lazer helps their merchants find success by shifting the focus from chasing after their business to scaling, growing, and extending it on Shopify.
“Where Shopify does the same thing way better than any of the competitors is that they have a team of people that are plugging those holes for you,” said Jahmal. “The build yourself versus buy conversation goes away because Shopify already has that. I don't need to worry about building it myself, and I don't have to have a team that's going to create it for me or uphold it for me, so now my team can actually focus on building the business.”
Without having to allocate resourcing toward keeping the business afloat, on Shopify, merchants find that their total cost of ownership improves. Instead, those resources can be put toward growing their business.
“You don't want to be in a place where you're constantly trying to update and keep things up to speed with what your competitors are doing. You're setting the speed and your competitors are having to chase after what you're doing,” said Jahmal.
Every time Shopify adds a new feature or functionality, it becomes a new offering that Lazer can bring to their clients. And with hundreds of new features launched every year, Shopify fuels Lazer to keep growing. They’re also given access to Shopify leadership and resources to learn what’s happening in the industry—all to help position themselves and their merchants for long-term success.
“We shouldn't get so caught up building your business just so it exists tomorrow,” said Jahmal. “Let's grow your business… and have it exist 50 years from now or 100 years from now.”
This growth is reflected by Lazer’s own success. They’ve grown from a brand new agency to a team of over 60 engineers and designers. They now work with larger brands, like Authentic Brands, Alo Yoga, OVO, Fig.1, and Rubino Shoes. And because of Shopify's platform extensibility, they’ve been able to create new offerings and service lines that have increased their revenue by 5x to $5 million GMV.
As for their own goals, Lazer has their sights set on growing their practice and becoming one of the best Shopify agencies in the partner ecosystem.
"Shopify has always been the platform that allows us to expand. We're a cutting edge agency, and we want to push boundaries. Shopify gives us the ability, and the muscle, and the tools to do that. So, when it comes to building out the best commerce experiences that are connected, unique, standout, and really, genuinely convert, Shopify is the [platform] to use and place that we want to grow…. We have the ability and openness of the platform to let us take the reins and build the coolest things that we possibly can."
—Jahmal Gittens, Commerce and Growth Lead, Lazer Technologies
Watch the entire interview
Watch the full video interview with Jahmal Gittens, commerce and growth lead at Lazer Technologies, and Sayed Saber, director of retail partnerships at Shopify, for a deeper dive into the Lazer Technologies story.
