How Molekule Supercharged Growth with Shopify Plus

Background

Molekule launched in 2014 with a clear mission: harness proprietary PECO-HEPA technology to clear indoor air at a molecular level. Over time, the brand became known for sleek, science-driven air purifiers. After initial success on Shopify, the team moved to a custom Adobe Commerce solution for advanced control. But a growing maintenance burden and high costs started to pull resources away from marketing and product updates.

The Challenge

Adobe Commerce gave the team power to customize, but every change—whether it was running a promotion or tweaking a product detail page—required expert outside developers. Subscription features were cobbled together in-house, causing glitches and wasted hours. When a platform update slowed the checkout page to over a minute, buyers abandoned carts en masse. Behind the scenes, managing subscriptions, returns, and customer reviews felt like building ecommerce software rather than focusing on growth.

Choosing a New Platform

In the middle of an acquisition, Molekule’s leaders decided to move back to Shopify Plus. They needed a setup where core features arrived out of the box and integrations were plug-and-play. With a joint discovery process, Shopify’s team mapped out how the Molekule site, NetSuite ERP, and key apps would work in harmony. The project kicked off with clear milestones for migrating data, setting up subscriptions, and launching with minimal downtime.

Implementation and Integrations

Several custom tools on Adobe Commerce were replaced by apps in Shopify’s ecosystem. Recharge handled recurring orders on Shopify’s Subscriptions API. Loop automated returns and exchanges. Okendo brought customer reviews into product pages. Klaviyo’s deep Shopify integration unlocked new email and SMS flows. To sync everything, Molekule added Celigo as middleware, letting apps and ERP share data without breaking the site. The entire transition—from planning to launch—wrapped up in just three months, faster than anyone expected.

Results

Immediately after launch, Molekule saw major uplifts. Device conversion rates climbed 75%. Net subscribers rose 7%. Overall site traffic grew 10%. Page load times dropped significantly, cutting bounce rates and recovering revenue lost on Adobe Commerce. When wildfires drove a 61% traffic spike in June 2023, the team quickly updated messaging and highlighted relevant products, turning demand into sales without calling a developer.

Looking Ahead

With Shopify Plus managing the heavy lifting, Molekule’s marketing and product teams can focus on innovation. The expansion stores feature will support new international storefronts. As subscription revenue grows, the brand plans to test more onsite experiments and refine the checkout experience further. The platform switch didn’t just solve a technical headache—it unlocked new paths to scale.