Transforming a Sportswear Brand’s E-commerce with Shopify Plus

Topics Covered

Development

User Experience

Technology

Continuous Improvement

Loyalty Lion

Attraqt XO

Shopify Plus

Shopify Functions

Tapcart

The challenge

Montirex sought a partner to implement a state-of-the-art search and recommendations platform called XO by Crownpeak. Hamari initially started this project and subsequently carried on as a development partner, supporting their wider marketing team. During this period, the brand experienced astronomical growth rates through its e-commerce channel.

THE BRAND

Montirex, a sportswear brand founded in Liverpool by best friends Daniel Yuen and Kieran Riddell-Austin in 2019, has grown rapidly over the last six years and is projected to turn over close to £100 million in 2025. The brand specialises in stylish, high-performance activewear for men, women, and juniors. The company is known for its modern, functional designs catering to workout and everyday wear. Montirex aims to fill a gap in the market for sportswear that looks as good as it feels, appealing to those who want both functionality and style in their athletic clothing. The sportswear brand is stocked at major retailers such as Footasylum and JD Sports and recently opened its first store in its hometown.

State-of-the-art Search

We implemented the AI-powered search, merchandising and recommendation solution called Attraqt XO. The search solution included smart search algorithms, spell correction, and dynamic filtering. Montirex wanted to ensure that their customers can quickly find the right products for the gym, outdoor adventures, or everyday wear. The platform’s merchandising capabilities would enable their e-commerce team to automate daily tasks, such as optimising product listings, and allow Montirex to strategically promote new collections or higher-margin items, all while maintaining control over their brand presentation. Additionally, Montirex used AI-powered recommendations to personalise suggestions. For instance, if a customer were browsing or looking to purchase a running jacket and trail shoes the AI would analyse this behaviour with data such as their browsing history, purchase history, and even contextual factors such as season or current promotions to recommend related products such as matching leggings, hydration packs, or new arrivals in activewear. This solution ultimately increased conversion rates and the average order value for the brand.

Performance Reviews And Refinement

Once we completed a performance audit of the Montirex website, we understood the performance bottlenecks and took the relevant steps to improve the site. The improvements included several speed enhancements and technical refinements. For example, we removed legacy app code, such as an earlier implementation of Searchanise and Gempages, to eliminate code bloat. We replaced Shopify widgets with streamlined placeholders for the Attraqt XO integration, and we optimised category pages by reducing redundant Shopify loading processes. We also lazy loaded images on new collection and product pages to prioritise critical content rendering. At the same time, an audit of unused apps identified redundant plugins and associated code for removal, resulting in a leaner codebase that improved load times. These measures collectively enhanced site responsiveness, user experience, and scalability as the website was refined continuously.

Theme Edits

For the Montirex.com website, Hamari Agency led a comprehensive theme development project focused on enhancing alignment, navigation, and user experience across devices based on the feedback of the brand marketing team. We fully left-aligned key homepage elements to ensure visual consistency and applied similar alignment improvements to collection pages so that headers, copy, and product images are cohesively arranged. Navigation was made bolder for clarity, and carousel headings were custom-styled to achieve a smaller, more refined appearance beyond the theme's default settings. We introduced a fit guide on product pages to assist customers with sizing and integrated popular categories with images into category pages without compromising site speed. For mobile users, we developed a mega menu inspired by leading brands, featuring account management, order tracking, and locale selection while optimising the navigation by replacing the wishlist icon with a 'my account' logo and relocating wishlist functionality into the account section.

Localisation

We supported Montirex’s international expansion into the Netherlands and France by delivering several Shopify development and localisation services. Our team provided end-to-end translation support, including post-editing to ensure linguistic accuracy and consistency. We developed a tailored style guide and glossary to maintain brand voice across languages. We implemented language verification services to provide high-quality translations. We set up Crowdin as a centralised translation management platform to streamline translation workflows. We developed custom controls to display or hide content for specific territories to manage different markets. We leveraged Shopify Markets with the Translate & Adapt app, allowing us to localise and adapt content for each region. Finally, we recommended that they utilise a product information management (PIM) system. They decided to initially work with a custom Airtable app as a PIM, ensuring that they could efficiently handle multilingual product catalogues across all current and future markets they operate in.

Tapcart implementation

To enhance Montirex's mobile app experience, we implemented Tapcart with tailored components to ensure brand consistency and advanced functionality. We developed Custom components to align product detail pages (PDPs) with their website design, maintaining visual coherence across platforms. We built a "Complete The Look" feature using Tapcart's Custom Blocks, enabling personalised product recommendations directly within the app interface. Additionally, we developed a custom size-guide table so customers can understand what size is right for them. These tasks were achieved using Tapcart's low-code text editor, which allows you to write custom HTML, CSS, and Javascript for design flexibility.

Loyalty Lion implementation

We integrated LoyaltyLion into the website with adjustments, including geo-based exclusions (e.g., Ireland) to align with country strategies and mobile app optimisations to ensure rewards visibility across platforms. LoyaltyLion’s data-driven approach enables personalised rewards, increasing repeat purchases and reducing reliance on costly customer acquisition efforts. By incentivising high-value behaviours, the program resulted in an increase in customer lifetime value (CLTV) and retention rates. The mobile integration we worked on ensured seamless omnichannel experiences, driving higher engagement and sales through potential app-specific rewards and push notifications.

Result

Montirex partnered with us to elevate their e-commerce experience and support rapid international growth. We implemented advanced AI-powered search and personalised recommendations, optimised site performance, and enhanced the user experience across web and mobile platforms with a custom Tapcart app. Our localisation expertise enabled expansion into European markets through tailored translation management and geo-specific content controls. Additionally, we integrated LoyaltyLion to boost customer retention and lifetime value with personalised rewards. Together, these solutions helped Montirex triple their online sales and build a scalable foundation poised to reach £100 million in revenue, demonstrating how our strategic, end-to-end approach drove measurable growth for this ambitious brand.