How Shokz Scaled Globally with Shopify Plus

Overview

Shokz makes bone conduction headphones that let athletes and on-the-move users enjoy music while staying aware of surroundings. As demand rose in Europe, North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia, the team struggled with multiple codebases, inconsistent payment flows, and slow launch cycles.

Challenge

Over five years Shokz tried different developers and service providers, ending up with fragmented sites that delivered a hit-or-miss user experience. Some markets saw clunky checkouts, limited payment options or insecure terminals. Each update meant juggling multiple dashboards and patching broken code, instead of focusing on marketing and design.

Solution

In 2018 Shokz evaluated Shopify Plus and teamed up with Shopify Plus partner SainStore. The platform supported up to ten international stores, flexible payment methods and a unified back end. For each country the team tweaked layouts, languages and product details. In the US and Europe sporty visuals and customer stories took center stage, while the Japanese site highlighted technical specs and craftsmanship.

Implementing Localization at Scale

SainStore guided the integration of multi-currency plugins, regional payment gates and local tax settings. They set up Launchpad to schedule global product drops, flash sales and timed promotions. The team tested checkout flows in sandbox accounts, making sure orders, coupons and gift cards processed smoothly in each market.

Results

In three years Shokz launched eight fully localized sites. The customer database grew by 82% in 2022 as load times shrank and payment errors dropped. Support tickets around checkout issues plunged by 60%. Today the team manages all stores from one Shopify Plus dashboard, freeing hundreds of hours each month to push new campaigns and optimize messaging.

Lessons Learned

Consolidating on Shopify Plus removed the need for multiple hosts and dev teams. Market-specific imagery and accurate currency details built shopper trust. Launchpad’s scheduling tools made it simple to coordinate sales worldwide. A specialized partner accelerated the rollout and shared best practices, letting Shokz focus on brand storytelling.