Sportswear brand Elite Eleven was founded in 2014 by Benn Martiniello and Lisandro Paz with a mission to create a truly original sports and lifestyle brand, where fitness and fashion collide. Based in Melbourne, Australia, the brand aims to celebrate both sports and the active lifestyle.
Starting out as a wholesale brand, Elite Eleven quickly shifted their attention to the direct-to-consumer (DTC) market. This saw the brand focus on their online sales channel, adopting Shopify in 2016 to enhance their engagement with customers. The brand has since expanded into retail, opening up brick-and-mortar stores in Melbourne, Sydney, and the Gold Coast, with more to follow.
As Elite Eleven started out on their retail journey, it quickly became apparent that the point of sale (POS) solution they were using could not provide the integration capability needed to marry in-store data with online data. Having upgraded to Shopify Plus in 2018, the brand adopted Shopify POS, which seamlessly integrated their online and in-store data for cross-channel visibility.
Since moving to Shopify POS, Elite Eleven has seen:
- 82% year-over-year total revenue growth
- 240% year-over-year retail POS sales growth
- 50% year-over-year online revenue growth
The challenge: Disconnected data makes for fragmented retail
Elite Eleven got their first taste of brick-and-mortar retail with pop-up stores in Melbourne, in-between COVID-19 lockdowns. By the time restrictions ended, the brand knew they wanted to continue the growth they’d experienced online during the lockdowns with a more permanent physical retail presence to further engage customers.
Using the POS system they’d employed in their pop-up stores, Elite Eleven launched their first permanent retail store. But the POS system didn’t integrate with the brand’s online store, which was powered by Shopify Plus, or their third-party inventory management system. This meant the stores contained data silos that made it difficult to gain a complete picture of the business.
As a result, Elite Eleven had two separate sets of customer data. Without a single set of data to draw upon, it quickly became difficult to gain a unified view of customers from which to create a seamless customer experience across both online and offline sales channels. The brand also had two sets of inventory data, which meant that maintaining appropriate stock levels and creating accurate forecasts was largely a matter of guesswork.
The solution: A unified platform for complete visibility
Having already implemented Shopify Plus with their agency partner Arkhi, Elite Eleven adopted Shopify POS in October 2021, in a bid to create a more unified customer shopping experience after opening their first permanent retail store.
With Shopify POS underpinned by the Shopify platform, Elite Eleven could immediately unify their in-store and online data through a single dashboard, gaining complete visibility of each customer and a comprehensive overview of inventory across the business.
Using Shopify’s open integration capabilities, Elite Eleven synchronized their in-store and online stock data with their third-party warehouse management system, Peoplevox, helping to ensure adequate stock levels for their retail stores. This also gave the brand the ability to offer ship-to-customer services to sell items that were available online but not held in store.
Previously, we had no ability to get a single view of inventory in store and online. After launching our first retail store, we had two sets of customer data. This fragmentation meant we weren’t able to stock stores very well. But with Shopify POS, we are able to sell products that aren’t in store and ship them to customers directly from our warehouse.
Combining their unified customer data with third-party Shopify App Store solutions such as Klaviyo and Yotpo, Elite Eleven was able to improve their omnichannel customer engagement with targeted emails and SMS communications, such as shopping cart reminder messages triggered at critical moments in the customer journey. This helped to improve the customer experience while also increasing sales.
The outcome: Omnichannel integration boosts retail growth
In the year after adopting Shopify POS, Elite Eleven experienced 200% year-over-year growth in overall sales revenue—a trend that has continued, with the brand seeing 240% year-over-year growth in sales revenue in 2023 for their retail POS transactions alone.
Unified commerce powered by Shopify POS has improved Elite Eleven’s omnichannel customer experience and increased sales. The brand can engage seamlessly with customers across various touchpoints and offer flexible shopping options regardless of the channel. Since implementing endless aisle, Elite Eleven typically processes 30 or more ship-to-customer orders per day, capturing up to $3,000 of incremental revenue.
With Shopify POS and endless aisle, we are able to provide customers with the option to ship any products that are not in-store directly to their homes. We are averaging over 30 ship-to-customer orders per day, which are sales we may have missed without this functionality.
Elite Eleven’s online revenue also saw a surge in 2023, recording 50% year-over-year growth, with the brand’s new retail stores helping to boost their presence and trustworthiness in the eyes of consumers, resulting in more customers buying online. This contributed to 82% total revenue growth in 2023, compared to the previous year.
With Shopify POS, Elite Eleven has the confidence to accelerate their retail strategy, with six stores launched since 2021 and more expansion on the horizon. Looking ahead, the brand is planning to roll out Shopify’s POS hardware, POS Go, which will allow them to take payment on the store floor and create an even smoother retail experience.
With Shopify POS, Elite Eleven saw results fast.
- 82% year-over-year total revenue growth
- 240% year-over-year retail POS sales growth
- 50% year-over-year online revenue growth
The move to Shopify POS was prompted by our investment in the retail channel, as we transitioned from pop ups to a permanent brick and mortar store. We needed to improve our inventory management and amalgamate customer data. Moving to the Shopify platform was a no-brainer — we now have one unified commerce system across online and offline stores to understand our customers and serve the most relevant products.
