How P&Co Scaled an Apparel Brand with Shopify Plus Automation

Overview

P&Co launched in 2013 as a passion project sketched on a café napkin by two friends in Birmingham. They saw a gap in the market for apparel that truly spoke to explorers and adventure-seekers. From day one, they focused on direct-to-consumer sales via Shopify, building an engaged social following that applauded their bold designs and authentic storytelling.

The Challenge

In early 2017, a catastrophic warehouse fire destroyed all their inventory overnight. Orders piled up. Fans anxiously waited. With limited stock and no time to waste, the team had to rebuild fast. They relaunched their entire brand identity and storefront in just two weeks. Yet that relaunch was only the start—keeping pace with sudden demand spikes and global shipping needs required a stronger backend.

Solution

One year after the blaze, P&Co migrated to Shopify Plus, unlocking custom checkout, discount automation via Shopify Scripts, and order-management features. They added Shopify Flow to automate stock alerts: the moment an item hit a threshold, purchasing and marketing teams got notified. They also deployed a back-in-stock app to capture emails and drive pre-orders. To reach customers offline, they rolled out Shopify POS at pop-ups and events, tying every sale back to their central platform.

Results

With automation handling routine tasks, the team focused on new products and markets. They saw a 112% increase in revenue year-over-year following the fire, transactions doubled after moving to Plus, and European sales jumped 300%. Conversion rate rose by 3.2% and overall revenue climbed 40% from 2018 to 2019. Tens of thousands of orders now ship to 36 countries seamlessly.

Looking Ahead

P&Co continues to expand its homewares and accessories line while keeping the platform solid and the community connected. Their approach shows that rapid recovery, paired with strategic automation, can turn a crisis into a launchpad for global growth.