How waterdrop® Scaled to 30+ Countries with Shopify’s Commerce

Overview

waterdrop® launched in Vienna in 2016 with a simple mission: ditch plastic bottles by offering Microdrinks, little cubes packed with vitamins, plant extracts and natural flavors. These cubes turn plain water into a healthy, zero-sugar beverage and reinforce the brand’s sustainable ethos. Rapid online demand drove the founders to search for a platform that could flexibly scale and handle sudden traffic surges without breaking a sweat.

Challenges

Before Shopify, waterdrop’s own infrastructure creaked under high-traffic events. A TV appearance on Die Höhle der Löwen sent visitor numbers skyrocketing from tens of thousands to 130,000 in a single day, threatening site outages. At the same time, the team needed to expand into multiple markets — each with its own currencies, languages and payment preferences — while preserving a coherent brand identity and seamless customer experience across online and offline touchpoints.

Solution

Moving to Shopify provided a single, cloud-hosted platform able to handle unlimited traffic peaks and integrate all channels. Shopify Markets let the team spin up localized storefronts in record time. Shopify POS unified online and in-store data, so every purchase flowed into a central dashboard. Custom apps built with Shopify’s open APIs automated order management and personalized marketing workflows. Better data insights empowered targeted campaigns, and native uptime guarantees removed infrastructure headaches entirely.

Results

Since adopting Shopify, waterdrop® has operated without downtime even during Black Friday blasts, sustained a 40% average annual growth rate, and launched in over 30 countries from the US to Japan and Australia. Its omnichannel approach now includes 40+ brand stores worldwide. By streamlining launch, localization and peak-load handling, Shopify helped waterdrop reach more than 3 million customers, drive projected 2024 revenues of €140 million, and keep sustainability at the core of its global expansion.

Key Takeaways

• A cloud-hosted commerce platform can absorb TV-driven traffic spikes of over 100,000 visitors per day without outages.
• Launching multiple localized markets is faster when you use built-in tools for currencies, languages and local payment options.
• Unifying online and offline sales through a single POS system streamlines operations and enriches customer data.
• Custom apps built on open APIs allow you to automate back-end processes and tailor the experience to your brand’s needs.
• Consistent uptime and performance at key events maintain customer trust and drive repeat purchases.
• Data-driven marketing and analytics tools help you refine campaigns for different regional audiences.