Keep It Simple And
Make Commerce Better
Written by Franco Varriano.
“Once you have a steady flow of traffic and a solid customer base, then it’s time to invest in more complex features.”
1. Overview
Simplistic is not your typical Shopify Plus Partner. From working with high profile Shark Tank stores like Simply Fit Board, debuting My M&M’s on Good Morning America, and powering General Electric’s C by GE. Today, we have Andrew Gordon to talk about the unique model behind the agency’s growth and unique strategy.
What is the model? Flash Stores for a flash sale and enterprise level e-com services at an affordable price. On the Flash side, Simplistic provides tech solutions for for brands that are featured on ABC’s Good Morning America and The View. They help brands handle the influx of traffic, manage inventory across time zones, and most importantly, maximize conversions. In addition to guiding 100’s of brands through their biggest sale days of the year, Simplistic has built some of the biggest stores on the Shopify Plus platform, including sites for Nine West and Ellen DeGeneres. Simplistic focuses on creative services, front end development custom app development exclusively on the Shopify platform.
2. The Interview
Taylor: Hey Andrew, thank you for taking part in our series. To start, can you please give us a background on how Simplistic was born?
Andrew: In early 2014 our founder’s wife’s jewelry company was featured on Good Morning America. After being referred to a super-expensive tech company for a micro-site, Brian realized that there was an opportunity to offer more affordable solutions by leveraging Shopify’s amazing infrastructure to handle the high traffic events. Shortly thereafter, Simplistic became the exclusive flash sale provider for GMA and The View. We started the agency side of our business after several of our flash clients inquired about migrating their main sites to Shopify.
Taylor: What is it like working with some of these iconic brands?
Andrew: I think it really speaks to the power of Shopify that these world class brands are wanting to move to the platform. It’s especially great when these brands want simplistic to be intricately involved in their e-com strategy and creative direction. It’s easy to add-value for startups, but when your ideas come to life for the likes of Nine West and GE, that’s an awesome feeling.
Taylor: I can’t help to point that you worked with Ellen. How was that experience (if you’re able to speak on it)?
Andrew: I’d be lying if I said I ever interacted directly with Ellen. But her director of e-com, Paxton, is a cool guy!
Taylor: Can you run us through the Simplistic process. Assuming, I am well known fashion brand thinking of a novel way to launch my winter collection. I reached to you for help, what are the next steps?
Andrew: First and foremost we need to understand the brand’s goals, demographic and existing e-com strategy. We try to limit the number of new clients we take on so that we can really focus our time and energy getting to know the brand. We pride ourselves on providing simple, effective solutions.
Taylor: What are your top 3 tips for ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Andrew: I notice a lot of ecommerce startups have a “build it and they will come” attitude when it comes to developing a new site. Without a steady flow of customers, the best site in the world isn’t going to perform. So if you’re a startup with a fixed budget, build a simple site and invest the rest in marketing. Once you have a steady flow of traffic and a solid customer base, then it’s time to invest in more complex features.
On top of that, I always advise our brands to focus on the data. You may like way something looks, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to perform. We’re lucky to have amazing, simple to use analytics tools at our disposal. Use them!
Lastly, I’d say being the BEST at a few things is a lot better than being good at a lot of things. As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve learned the hard way to not spread yourself too thin. Focus on what you’re great at, and invest your time and energy there. I think that applies to any business.
Taylor: Why did you choose Shopify Plus as the platform of choice?
Andrew: Shopify Plus has been an amazing partner. We started working with Shopify for our flash sales, and quickly learned that the platform can handle almost everything. It’s scalable, easy to use and their support is unbelievable.
Taylor: What should we expect from Simplistic in 2017?
Andrew: While our core competency is design and front end development, we’re really looking forward to growing our partnership with Rare. We plan on launching a small marketing team and continuing to migrate big brands to Shopify Plus!
3. Conclusion
If you’re an ecommerce merchant and don’t have automated email marketing campaigns setup for your store, you’re losing money. Right now.
Rare.io makes it easy to start using automated email campaigns for common challenges like: Welcome Series, Abandoned Carts, Order Follow-up emails and more! You can learn more about our powerful email marketing automation features here or go ahead and get started right away by using Rare.io for FREE.
And if you’re one of the thousands of merchants who are already using Rare’s Smart Email Marketing software and want to see how our Customer Success Team can work with your brand to grow your revenue – feel free to book a call at your convenience here.
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