Skip to Content
Shopify logo
  • By business model
    • B2C for enterprise
    • B2B for enterprise
    • Retail for enterprise
    By ways to build
    • Platform overview
    • Modular commerce
    • Shop Component
    By outcome
    • Growth solutions
    • Shopify
      Platform for entrepreneurs & SMBs
    • Plus
      A commerce solution for growing digital brands
    • Enterprise
      Solutions for the world’s largest brands
  • Customer Stories
    • Everlane
      Shop Pay speeds up checkout and boosts conversions
    • Brooklinen
      Scales their wholesale business
    • ButcherBox
      Goes Headless
    • Arhaus
      Journey from a complex custom build to Shopify
    • Ruggable
      Customizes Headless ecommerce to scale with Shopify
    • Carrier
      Launches ecommerce sites 90% faster at 10% of the cost on Shopify
    • Dollar Shave Club
      Migrates from a homegrown platform and cuts tech spend by 40%
    • Lull
      25% Savings Story
    • Allbirds
      Omnichannel conversion soars
    • Shopify
      Platform for entrepreneurs & SMBs
    • Plus
      A commerce solution for growing digital brands
    • Enterprise
      Solutions for the world’s largest brands
  • Why trust us
    • Leader in the 2024 Forrester Wave™: Commerce Solutions for B2B
    • 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce
    • Leader in the 2024 IDC B2C Commerce MarketScape vendor evaluation
    What we care about
    • Shop Component Guide
    • Principals of a Modern Commerce OS
    How we support you
    • Premium Support
    • Help Documentation
    • Professional Services
    • Technology Partners
    • Partner Solutions
    • Shopify
      Platform for entrepreneurs & SMBs
    • Plus
      A commerce solution for growing digital brands
    • Enterprise
      Solutions for the world’s largest brands
  • Latest Innovations
    • Editions - June 2024
    Tools & Integrations
    • Integrations
    • Hydrogen
    Support & Resources
    • Shopify Developers
    • Documentation
    • Help Center
    • Changelog
    • Shopify
      Platform for entrepreneurs & SMBs
    • Plus
      A commerce solution for growing digital brands
    • Enterprise
      Solutions for the world’s largest brands
  • Get in touch
  • Get in touch
Shopify logo
  • Blog
  • Enterprise ecommerce
  • Total cost of ownership (TCO)
  • Migrations
  • B2B Ecommerce
    • Headless commerce
    • Announcements
    • Unified Commerce
    • See All topics
Search
Type something you're looking for
Log in
Get in touch

Powering commerce at scale

Speak with our team on how to bring Shopify into your tech stack

Get in touch
blog|Case studies

Revenues Spike After Showcase Integrates Their Proprietary Technology With Shopify

You know the feeling...The kind you get in your gut when you know you've fallen behind regarding technology.Despite wanting to point a finger at someone, letting time pass us by is no one's fault but ours.That's exactly the spot the entrepreneurs featured in today's post found themselves in when they woke up one day and realized they were really late to ecommerce.Fortunately, they've been able to catch up extremely quickly and now they're revealing the tools they used to get ahead so you can make up lost ground as well...

by Nick Winkler
feature

The platform built for future-proofing

Get in touch

The trend technology used to predict the next big thing…

Those complex algorithms that have helped make Showcase home to the hottest shopping trends in the world and the largest retailer of its kind.

Well, they have humble beginnings and were born decades ago with little more than an open ear, a pad of paper, and a fax machine.

“Twenty years ago when our customers wanted something we didn’t carry our founder had staff write down each of the requests,” Josh Davis, the Web Marketing Manager at Showcase says. “The list would be faxed to headquarters, analyzed, and that’s how we would spot trends before everyone else.”

Today, the company known originally as Canada’s “As Seen On TV” store, now has become the country’s home of health, beauty, home, and toy trends. The secret is proprietary trend technology, which pours through volumes of internal and external big data, from both online and offline sources, to correctly anticipate the items people are likely to purchase next.

“Our buyers are not guessing about what people are going to buy next,” Davis says. “We identify trending items people are already thinking about buying. Then we use our nimble supply chain and our fun and interactive store experience to bring the trend to life.”

Successfully executing means moving faster than everyone else in retail.

And marrying your physical and digital presences.

A Rare Level of Agility

Showcase was created to give consumers who were disappointed in items they blindly purchased based on television commercials an opportunity to try those items before they bought them.

The company established a brick and mortar presence in Canada’s best shopping malls, allowed people an opportunity to test drive products they saw advertised on television, and quickly became the go-to place for consumers interested in an item but too skeptical to purchase without experiencing it firsthand.

Revenues Spike After Showcase Integrates Their Proprietary Technology With Shopify Plus

Today, the company has evolved into a one-stop-shop for the hottest new products that span a wide range of interests, uses, and tastes. Recent hits correctly predicted by the company’s trend technology include:

  • Disney’s Frozen- Showcase was first to market with the largest selection of Frozen branded movie items
  • Shopkins- Showcase correctly predicted the potential of this wildly popular collectible children's toy, and now offers Canada’s largest selection.
  • The DAFNI Brush- a hair-straightening brush that is 95% faster than a traditional flat-iron.

“Our trend technology first spotted the Dafni brush on Facebook after the woman who designed it posted a video that went viral,” Davis recalls. “We called her, struck a deal to be the exclusive distributor in Canada, and were stocked with demonstration stations across Canada only one month later.”

Revenues Spike After Showcase Integrates Their Proprietary Technology With Shopify Plus

That speed and agility are what sets Showcase apart. “It’s rare to be as agile as we are,” Davis says. “We’ll turn around a product in days which is something that can take traditional retailers three to six months to accomplish.”

Showcase now has a physical presence in more than one hundred of Canada’s finest malls. Like its trend prediction technology, the company has both the sourcing and marketing of items down to a science:

  • Sourcing- the company’s buyers have deep-rooted relationships and partner early with product manufacturers and brand owners.
  • Marketing- people who have already demonstrated an interest in emerging trends find Showcase on their own or the company gets creative to draw consumers into its stores

Here’s an example of that creativity:

Many retailers offer popular hoverboards for sale, but few go the extra mile to create a unique customer experience like Showcase did. Davis describes the Showcase difference this way:

“Hoverboards present a unique challenge for a ‘try it before you buy it’ store like us. There’s no real good way of allowing people to try out a hoverboard in a store without the potential risk of them getting hurt. So we designed a special in-store demo that allowed people to experience what it’s like to be on a hoverboard but without the possibility of falling off- think of it like bicycle training wheels but for a hoverboard.”

 

Revenues Spike After Showcase Integrates Their Proprietary Technology With Shopify Plus

No one else can match the experience Showcase offers which drives people to the stores and provides the company an edge in a competitive marketplace. It’s a big win for a traditionally brick and mortar retailer with a significant shopping mall footprint.

Showcase may be early to almost all of the big retail trends.

But it was late to ecommerce.

Truly Omni-Channel

Showcase has been running an ecommerce site for the last eight years, but it wasn’t integrated with the company’s backend business systems. “We might sell an item online and only realize afterward that the inventory we sold didn’t exist in our warehouse,” Davis says.

To shed its identity as just the “As Seen On TV” retailer, grow its brand, and establish Showcase as a formidable ecommerce player Davis needed a platform that could scale quickly and grow as Showcase grows. “I didn’t know if Shopify could scale with us,” Davis admits. “Is Shopify really for the enterprise user?”

Despite the questions, Showcase launched its new ecommerce store in July of 2014 on Shopify, online traffic and sales spiked. For the first time in the company’s history, Showcase had become a truly omni-channel retailer and was reaping the financial rewards.

I did have some fear when we launched with Shopify, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I worried Shopify wouldn’t be able to keep up, but they proved me wrong.”

Revenues Spike After Showcase Integrates Their Proprietary Technology With Shopify Plus

Davis credits Shopify’s ability to easily integrate with third party applications and systems such as Showcase’s SAP Business One platform. Syncing the two helps Davis pull data and run reports that reveal key customer insights as well as making sure the company can keep the promises it makes online.

“One example is that the integration prevents us from overselling,” Davis says. “Say we have twenty units in our National Distribution Centre. The integration automatically ensures we stop selling products when we run out of inventory.”

Davis also credits Shopify’s robust application store, and the willingness of app developers like Instant Search to modify or customize their apps to meet specific needs and improve the user experience. “They’re just so eager to work with you,” Davis says of the team at Instant Search. “It’s a great app off the shelf, but we needed a small tweak and within a day, they had changed the code and created a custom solution just for us.”

Even more importantly, Showcase now has a loyalty program fast approaching 1 million members that simultaneously drives online traffic to the company’s physical stores and coaxes in-store traffic online for a multidimensional customer experience.

Remember the in-store hoverboard demo that allows people to try it out without falling?

Customers who purchase the hoverboard in-store are directed to the Showcase website where they can upload video and pictures of their epic hoverboard wins and fails for a chance to be reimbursed for their purchase. The contest winners are chosen via the company’s social media channels and provide an incentive for in-store customers to go online.

Prior to the company’s relationship with Shopify, ecommerce accounted for just 1% of sales. Today, ecommerce is 6% of overall sales and Davis expects that to increase to 10% by year’s end.

Our partnership with Shopify is really exciting. The platform is scaling bigger than expected.

Reinventing with Each New Trend

Establishing an ecommerce presence has not only been good for the top and bottom lines but is also helping Showcase grow its brand as the place to turn to for the newest and most popular trends in retail.

“We’re not just that unique store in the mall anymore,” Davis says proudly. “Increasingly, people recognize Showcase as a national brand that bring the hottest trends to life.”

 

Revenues Spike After Showcase Integrates Their Proprietary Technology With Shopify Plus

Expanding the loyalty program, which offers incentives for in-store customers to opt-in to the company’s email database and online customers to visit physical stores for unique experiences, will likely drive the company’s growth for years to come.

“Now we can market in segments,” Davis says. “It’s all about segmentation, and it’s the future of our business.”

Expect the company to slice and dice its customer database in ways that allow it to tailor its marketing language based on purchase history and improve conversions by creating highly relevant and personalized email marketing campaigns.

In this unique business, trends can come and go quickly.

But nailing the next big thing never gets old or goes out of style.

“We reinvent ourselves with every new trend,” Davis says.

Read more

  • John’s Crazy Socks, With $4M+ In Sales Over Just 22 Months, Is Not a Cute Story
  • ‘Localize, Don’t Internationalize’: How the U.K.'s Simba Hit $100M+ Going Global
  • After 10X Holiday Ecommerce Growth, Blenders Eyes More This Black Friday
  • A “Golden” Opportunity: How Activewear Brand Rhone Disrupted Itself Two Years After Launching
  • Ecommerce Migration Case Study: Leading UK Retailer Migrates 11.1M+ Data Points in 16 Weeks
  • How Whimsy Rose Uses the Shopify Plus API to Co-Create Personalized Fashion With Customers On Demand
  • Black Friday Scalability Allowed Bombas to Hit $50M in Annual Sales & Grow 300%
  • How This Lifeguard is Disrupting Women’s Athletic Swimwear
  • How DailySteals.com Used Shopify Plus to Resurrect Itself from the Dead & Generate Millions in Sales
  • Six Must-Have Technologies to Build the Best Ecommerce Tech Stack
NW
by Nick Winkler
Updated on 10 Jun 2016
Share article
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
by Nick Winkler
Updated on 10 Jun 2016

The latest in commerce

Get news, trends, and strategies for unlocking new growth.

By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify.

popular posts

Enterprise commerceHow to Choose an Enterprise Ecommerce Platform for Your Scaling StoreTCOHow to Calculate Total Cost of Ownership for Enterprise SoftwareMigrationsEcommerce Replatforming: A Step-by-Step Guide To MigrationB2B EcommerceWhat Is B2B Ecommerce? Types + Examples
start-free-trial

Unified commerce for the world's most ambitious brands

Learn More

popular posts

Direct to consumer (DTC)The Complete Guide to Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Marketing (2025)Tips and strategiesEcommerce Personalization: Benefits, Examples, and 7 Tactics for 2025Unified commerceHow To Sell on Multiple Channels Without the Logistical Headache (2025)Enterprise ecommerceComposable Commerce: What It Means and Is It Right for You?

popular posts

Enterprise commerce
How to Choose an Enterprise Ecommerce Platform for Your Scaling Store

TCO
How to Calculate Total Cost of Ownership for Enterprise Software

Migrations
Ecommerce Replatforming: A Step-by-Step Guide To Migration

B2B Ecommerce
What Is B2B Ecommerce? Types + Examples

Direct to consumer (DTC)
The Complete Guide to Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Marketing (2025)

Tips and strategies
Ecommerce Personalization: Benefits, Examples, and 7 Tactics for 2025

Unified commerce
How To Sell on Multiple Channels Without the Logistical Headache (2025)

Enterprise ecommerce
Composable Commerce: What It Means and Is It Right for You?

subscription banner
The latest in commerce

Get news, trends, and strategies for unlocking unprecedented growth.

Unsubscribe anytime. By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify.

Popular

Headless commerce
What Is Headless Commerce: A Complete Guide for 2025

29 Aug 2023

Growth strategies
How To Increase Conversion Rate: 14 Tactics for 2025

5 Oct 2023

Growth strategies
7 Effective Discount Pricing Strategies to Increase Sales (2025)

Ecommerce Operations Logistics
What Is a 3PL? How To Choose a Provider in 2025

Ecommerce Operations Logistics
Ecommerce Returns: Average Return Rate and How to Reduce It

Industry Insights and Trends
Global Ecommerce Statistics: Trends to Guide Your Store in 2025

Customer Experience
Fashion Brand Storytelling Examples to Inspire You

24 Mar 2023

Growth strategies
SEO Product Descriptions: 7 Tips To Optimize Your Product Pages

Powering commerce at scale

Speak with our team on how to bring Shopify into your tech stack.

Get in touch
Shopify logo

Shopify

  • About
  • Investors
  • Partners
  • Affiliates
  • Legal
  • Service status

Support

  • Merchant Support
  • Shopify Help Center
  • Hire a Partner
  • Shopify Academy
  • Shopify Community

Developers

  • Shopify.dev
  • API Documentation
  • Dev Degree

Products

  • Shopify Plus
  • Linkpop
  • Shopify for Enterprise

Global Impact

  • Sustainability
  • Build Black

Solutions

  • Online Store Builder
  • Website Builder
  • Ecommerce Website
  • USA
    English

Choose a region & language

  • USA
    English
  • Terms of service
  • Privacy policy
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Choices