Ninja Transfers needed an ecommerce platform that could keep pace with their ambitious growth plans while supporting a lean team. For a small, agile operation with big ambitions, efficiency and speed weren't just preferences—they were the foundation of their competitive advantage.
By building on Shopify, Ninja Transfers achieved:
- 143% year-over-year growth in returning customers
- 10-15 hours saved per week on routine site management, freeing the team to focus on growth
- 90% reduction in total product count after gaining access to 2,000+ variants, dramatically improving site speed
The challenge: Finding a platform that enables speed without sacrificing customization
For Ninja Transfers, choosing the right ecommerce platform from day one was crucial. The team—backed by 23 years of ecommerce experience across multiple companies—knew exactly what they needed: a platform that could scale with them, support rapid feature deployment, and provide the flexibility to customize every aspect of the customer experience.
As a small, agile team, efficiency was paramount. They couldn't afford to spend excessive time on backend infrastructure or waste development resources building features that should be out-of-the-box. Yet they also needed the ability to get as granular as they wanted with customizations, from adjusting copy and styling details to building sophisticated features with their five full-time developers.
"We are a small team and our attention is valuable. Spending less time on the back end is truly impactful," explained Head of Sales Josh Hannum. The team needed a platform that would let them move fast and deploy new products without implementation concerns, while still maintaining complete control over the customer experience when needed.
The platform choice also needed to inspire confidence for the long term. "We’ve seen Shopify as the ecommerce platform of choice for the largest sites in the world, many that we've shopped on ourselves," says Josh. They weren't just looking for a solution for today—they needed a platform that could support them as they scaled into a major ecommerce operation.
We are a small team and our attention is valuable. Spending less time on the back end is truly impactful.
The solution: “The ecommerce platform of choice for the largest sites in the world”
Shopify provided Ninja Transfers with the perfect balance: an ecommerce platform powerful enough for the world's largest brands, yet simple enough to let a small team move incredibly fast. The platform's ease of use, mobile-friendly design, built-in payment processing, and extensive app ecosystem meant they could implement new features and integrations at a pace that would be impossible on other platforms.
The implementation speed was transformative. Leveraging Shopify’s native features as well as the app ecosystem, the team deployed capabilities almost instantly—from a loyalty program built with Yotpo to image optimization, popup email collection, cookie compliance, Shopify Planet, an affiliate program, cross-sell features, and live chat. What might have taken months of custom development on other platforms was accomplished in record time. "Using apps we have been able to get things done almost instantly. We always try to rely on an app first," says Josh.
"The platform's flexibility has allowed us to deploy new products without concern for implementation. The simple interface and app ecosystem means we can seamlessly integrate all our new offerings and scale rapidly," says Josh.
With five full-time developers on staff, Ninja Transfers takes full advantage of Shopify's customization capabilities. The platform's theme customization tools allowed them to endlessly refine their messaging and user experience. They could get as granular as they wanted—adjusting everything from copy to CSS styling—or let the theme handle the heavy lifting when speed was the priority. This flexibility allowed them to allocate development resources strategically.
"Everything from the copy under a heading to the line weight around a button. We can get as granular as we want with custom CSS, or leave everything alone and let the theme do the heavy lifting," explains Josh. "This allows us to efficiently deploy our time and keep everyone on task."
The native integrations with critical marketing tools delivered immediate value. Clean data flowing between Shopify and their marketing stack—including Klaviyo, Google Analytics, Google Ads, Shopify Audiences, and Triple Whale—meant better targeting, more accurate attribution, and improved marketing performance from day one.
"I firmly believe a ton of our revenue is tied to TripleWhale showing us where the lower CAC is and moving our budget there," says Josh. "Investing in the best performing channels keeps our dollars focused on bringing in new customers, and those customers' LTV is what helps drive our revenue up year over year."
Shop Pay proved particularly valuable, streamlining the checkout experience and making it effortless for customers to complete purchases and return for future orders. "Normally our business would be built with an entire My Account section and saved credit cards, otherwise the site would feel retail, but with Shopify we can make a retail forward site feel B2B and wholesale with its cart and Shop Pay. It's incredible," says Josh.
Additionally, Shopify’s support team became an extension of Ninja Transfers' own team, providing expert guidance when needed. They helped troubleshoot speed issues, identify scripting problems, and even provided early beta access to features the company needed—like support for 2,000+ product variants.
The platform's flexibility has allowed us to deploy new products without concern for implementation. The simple interface and app ecosystem means we can seamlessly integrate all our new offerings and scale rapidly.
The result: Growth in returning customers and operational efficiencies
The results demonstrate both immediate wins and long-term strategic advantages. Ninja Transfers’ returning customer rate increased by 143% year-over-year.
"We service a lot of small businesses who are the frontline bringing in their own new orders every day," explains Josh. "By being a reliable, fast, 24/7 business we have developed deep partnerships with our customers who come back more and more. As their businesses grow, we grow with them—that's the beauty of what we do. A lot of our customers started small but now have grown into very successful businesses with us."
The operational efficiency gains have been substantial. The team estimates they save 10-15 hours per week on routine site management—time that would otherwise be wasted without Shopify's streamlined backend. This freed capacity goes directly toward growth activities and customer experience improvements.
Early access to 2,000+ variants proved transformational for their business model. With a significant portion of their business centered on reselling blank apparel products—each available in multiple sizes and colors—the previous variant limits forced them to hack multiple products together to display all options. "Now we are able to accomplish the same thing with 10% of the product count, which also helps our site run significantly faster," Josh notes.
Beyond the metrics, the platform has given the team complete confidence in their technology foundation. After researching alternatives, the verdict was clear.
"We've researched other platforms and there are no platforms like Shopify. They might look like they have Shopify's features, but once you dig into it and you add software developers to it, it is the clear winner and operates in an entirely different universe than every other ecommerce platform. It has almost no limits whatsoever," says Josh. "It is the very best in ecommerce and Shop Pay is amazing."
The combination of speed, customization, and support has allowed Ninja Transfers to build exactly the experience they envisioned while maintaining the agility to evolve as their business grows. For a small team with big ambitions, Shopify has proven to be not just a platform, but a competitive advantage.
We've researched other platforms and there are no platforms like Shopify. It is the very best in ecommerce.