About SodaStream

SodaStream is the leading home carbonation system manufacturer that transforms ordinary water into sparkling beverages. Founded in Israel, SodaStream is an eco-friendly alternative to packaged beverages and plastic bottle waste. SodaStream sells popular soda makers and flavor syrups in over 45 countries worldwide. The 2018 acquisition by PepsiCo allowed SodaStream to expand its operation. The company continues to grow as a prominent global brand in the beverage industry, leveraging its innovative marketing technologies. In addition to its B2B roots, SodaStream has successfully adopted a direct-to-consumer business model.


Challenges

SodaStream encountered several challenges with its previous ecommerce platform as it transitioned to a direct-to-consumer model. These challenges included:



  •  Global Expansion: Sodastream faced the challenge of expanding its online presence quickly. However, their previous platform made each new website build an intensive project from start to finish. The separate maintenance required for each site also added substantial overhead. This rigid system prevented the agile growth they required. They needed a more flexible solution that allowed efficient scaling without excessive extra work.


  • Efficient Customer Support Processes: 

         Streamlining worldwide customer support processes and enhancing customer experience was a pressing challenge. SodaStream needed a unified system to 

         handle customer inquiries, issue resolution, and ticket management more efficiently, so representatives could provide solutions to multiple countries.


  • Rapid Code Maintenance and Updates: The need for swift code maintenance and the ability to make rapid branding updates was another critical challenge. Adapting to changing market dynamics required a platform that offered flexibility.


  • Cloud-Based Operations: SodaStream aimed to operate in a cloud-based environment and avoid the complexities of managing updates, security, and servers. This transition to the cloud posed an additional challenge in selecting the right technology stack and service providers.


Solutions


SodaStream partnered with us, then a small Shopify agency, the first in Israel, to address these challenges. Here's how they tackled each one:



a) Global Expansion: We implemented a single code base for the Shopify Plus theme, enabling SodaStream to maintain a consistent brand experience across different markets. Today, we manage 14 languages, accommodating right-to-left orientations within the same code base. Advanced and modern deployment tools simplify the process, allowing for rapid releases.


b) Customer Support Integration: we developed a custom Zendesk application seamlessly integrated with Shopify to streamline customer support. This application empowered support agents to access and manage Shopify orders and customer information directly within Zendesk. It also offered multi-language support to serve global customers effectively.


c)  Rapid Code Maintenance and Branding Updates: Isolated solutions were developed for each unique market requirement to ensure compatibility. This approach allowed for efficient code maintenance and rapid implementation of branding updates, simplifying the process and enabling flexibility for future changes.


Results

Through implementing Shopify Plus, SodaStream streamlined global ecommerce operations and enhanced customer support. Today, direct-to-consumer sales account for around 20% of total revenue, with over 9 million engaged consumers across 16 sites we developed and maintained since 2018 till today. SodaStream's remarkable DTC growth demonstrates the success of its ecommerce transformation that our collaboration empowered. By leveraging Shopify Plus' unified codebase and integrations, we simplified branding consistency and customer service for SodaStream worldwide. Our expertise in Shopify Plus was pivotal in facilitating SodaStream's shift to a consumer-focused model, combining global reach with regional flexibility. This transformation showcases the power of a strategic platform partnership in evolving to direct-to-consumer ecommerce by establishing efficient scalability and a consumer-centric foundation for continued expansion.


Core Technologies

Liquid, Vue, React, PHP, NodeJS