From webshop
to hub with Code: Sneakin’s journey

Real sneakerheads already know all about Sneakin. This is the story of how a 16-year old high schooler’s side hustle grew into a full-fledged, international, online sneaker store. Since 2021, Code has been helping Sneakin with their Shopify Plus webshop and with Klaviyo email marketing campaigns.

CLIENT

Sneakin

INDUSTRY

Fashion

TECHNOLOGY

Shopify plus webshops Klaviyo

PACKAGE

Webshop migration

Services we provided

Code x Sneakin

Shopify Plus and Klaviyo Partner

Founder & CEO, Vincent, discovered that he was able to sell the exclusive sneakers he bought by “pretty much sleeping in front of the store” to his friends and classmates for a nice margin. His dad, an entrepreneur as well, told him that he should do something with that. Vincent involved his cousin, Jason, and Sneakin was born. An international e-commerce business for sneakerheads with exclusive, limited edition sneakers that “people happily wait in line for,” according to Vincent.

Since 2021, Code has been helping Sneakin with their Shopify Plus webshop and with Klaviyo email marketing campaigns. This way, Code supports Sneakin’s ambitions to become “an international fashion brand and hub for sneaker fans”.

Migrating from Lightspeed to Shopify Plus

At first, Sneakin ran on Lightspeed. However, this e-commerce platform couldn't handle the growth that Vincent and his cousin Jason wanted to realize and didn’t offer the functionalities that they needed to distinguish themselves from the competition. What really stung, was how the Lightspeed template that Sneakin used was constantly abused to copy their site, which meant that they basically made their own competitors. There had to be another way. Vincent did some research and discovered that Shopify Plus had everything they wanted and more.

Because Vincent and his team had come to the conclusion that they “can’t do everything themselves and aren’t the best at everything”, they went out looking for a partner that could realize the migration and set up their Shopify Plus webshop.

The right Shopify Plus partner

With a carefully composed shortlist of agencies, Vincent set out to talk to everyone. Sneakin chose Code, because we had the best portfolio, instilled confidence and have the knowledge, experience and means to realize his “crazy ideas”. So far, the collaboration has been a success. His dedicated Code team puts in the work when coming up with solutions, even for requests that seem impossible at first.

Special features: Raffle and Release Calendar

A couple of the crazy ideas that Vincent had were organizing a Raffle and creating a Release Calendar. With the Raffle, sneaker fans can sign up for a raffle in which they can win the chance to buy a pair of exclusive, limited-edition sneakers at purchase price. The Release Calendar lets fans know exactly when a new sneaker drops.

Back in the day, Vincent used MailChimp to send out marketing emails to his international fan base. Not anymore though! Code introduced him to Klaviyo, which he is very excited about:

“Klaviyo works like a charm!” One of the things that Klaviyo can do is define if-then-based flows, making the possibilities almost endless. A dedicated team of 3 Klayvio experts takes care of everything for Vincent, leaving his hands free to handle orders, since every email blast generates hundreds of them.

Wondering how we use Klaviyo for Sneakin and what the results are? Download our Email Marketing Inspiration Book.

Sneakin’s future plans

With the new brand image and platform that Code realized for Sneakin, the brand is ready for the future. A future beyond e-commerce. Vincent wants Sneakin to become a complete, international hub for sneakerheads: “Everything should be possible here. You want to read about sneakers? Check out our blog. You want to know when a shoe drops? Check out our calendar. You want to buy them? See you in our shop.” In addition to that, Sneakin will launch its own clothing line next year. They’re also planning on opening more physical locations of their online fashion store internationally over the coming years.

It’s up to Code to match the in-store experience online, and to make sure that the platform continues to evolve and scale in stride with the company’s growth (and Vincent’s crazy ideas). Can’t wait!