Channel expansion is critical to building a legacy brand

For new businesses, launching an online store is like planting a seed. It’s where your business grows roots. It’s a place for potential customers to learn your story and buy a piece of it.

To flourish, though, brands need more.

As shopping trends evolve, merchants might not reach their full potential through a single channel. Think of the untapped opportunity. If your target audience is shopping on TikTok and you’re not there, they’ll find your competitors first. If there’s a viable market for your product overseas and you’re not shipping cross border, someone else will. Brands with staying power know to stay close to their customers’ behavior—including where they shop.

“Retail is back,” says Uncle Studios co-founder Shirin Soltani. “With paid advertising getting so expensive, the cost of acquiring new customers has skyrocketed.” Brands like hers are turning to retail as an untapped opportunity to find more customers—and build community. It’s a move that’s in line with consumer sentiment, with 60%* saying they buy small items online but head in-store for larger purchases.

And young buyers are showing a strong affinity for shopping on social media. Fifty-five percent* cite Instagram as their channel of choice, just ahead of TikTok. Brands like BK Beauty are listening. Their creator-first approach has led to massive success as they’ve expanded into social sales channels.

Just behind extending product lines, channel expansion is the second highest priority** for merchants as they set themselves up for the next selling season. Here’s how they’re doing it.

Capturing markets through creator-led channels

Lisa Jauregui, known to fans as Lisa J, grew her audience through a decade of sharing practical beauty advice on YouTube. As with other creators like her, she took the natural next step: selling to that audience.

Alongside her husband Paul, Lisa launched BK Beauty, a makeup brush brand that aligned with her content and expertise.

Five years in, BK Beauty is shipping 50,000 orders per month. But until a year ago, the brand sold primarily through its online store. Expanding into social channels—a natural fit for a creator-led company—has unlocked even more growth.

Paul and Lisa added the TikTok channel in 2024. “We view [Shopify] as the hub to all these spokes. It allows us to continue to operate our business in a very familiar way by bringing in all these other channels,” says Paul.

The move has proved successful. In fact, as of September 2024, BK Beauty was the number one shop on TikTok.

Since then, the brand launched its products on both the YouTube and Amazon sales channels—both linked to its Shopify store.

Social channels work for BK Beauty because of its focus on community. Allowing customers to check out natively on the platforms where they already engage helps the brand cement the relationship.

“I was always the big believer that the sale takes place while the consumer is watching and consuming the content,” says Paul.

With its rapid expansion, BK Beauty surprisingly still manages fulfillment in house. It’s another way Lisa and Paul can stay connected with their customers—and their roots. “We started in our living room. I was receiving pallets of goods on my driveway,” says Paul.

BK Beauty is ramping up for another busy Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. In preparation, the founders opened a new warehouse this year. This expansion was critical to the global brand’s operations—BK Beauty was shipping to 65 countries from the jump.

When Shopify Markets international sales tools launched, Paul and Lisa’s business was a perfect fit for selling cross-border. “We were one of the first brands to get in on initial rollout. And it just streamlined everything for us,” says Paul.

Success with channel expansion is just one of the reasons Lisa and Paul expect a huge response this coming holiday season. They’ve also stuck to their creator-first approach, finding the right collabs and partnerships with influencers to build audience trust and increase reach.

Being in the right place at the right time has paid off for BK Beauty, says Paul. “We plan for big things, but they always seem to exceed my expectations.”

Digital darling does downtown

Friends since college, Shirin and her co-founder Allegra Shaw have always been into fashion. Neither had any experience in the industry—or in business. This didn’t stop them from pursuing the dream. “We just naively decided to start a business together,” says Shirin.

While the duo didn’t want to be seen as a creator-led brand, Shirin admits that it’s been beneficial to lean on Allegra’s community of almost 375K Instagram followers.

Uncle Studios has grown primarily through its online store. But the founders have dabbled in physical retail. “We usually do one to two pop-ups a year and the response is overwhelmingly positive,” says Shirin. And as the brand expands its collection, the demand for an in-person experience is growing.

As Shirin and Allegra were walking along their favorite street in Toronto, they spotted a storefront for lease. Retail wasn’t on the roadmap at the time, but it felt like a sign.

Shirin is excited for the community-building opportunity a permanent physical space will bring. It also aims to solve several pain points. While the brand uses a third-party logistics company to handle shipping, the store will allow them to keep inventory on hand and bring fulfillment in house. “People always ask for same day pickup,” she says. “It'll be really nice to be like, ‘You can pick it up in store.’”

Uncle Studios will open its doors in November ahead of Black Friday.

The brand participates in the shopping holiday because, Shirin says, you have to. “It’s really when you're getting your biggest push on hitting your revenue targets.” Though she says the “circus” of Black Friday doesn’t align that well with the brand’s ethos, it’s an opportunity for price-sensitive customers to snag a coveted piece. “We've tried to do it in a tasteful way.”

As sales ramp up close to the end of the year, so do returns and exchanges. Shirin says she’s hopeful her return rates will decline once the retail store opens. “I am excited to have something that will allow people to feel more confident when they go check out.”

Seamless, integrated commerce

Brands that cling to a single-channel approach are leaving money on the table. Success this holiday season relies on meeting customers where they are—whether that’s online, in-person, and on their favorite social networks.

It’s never been easier to experiment with channels and cross-border selling tools that integrate directly with Shopify. Both Uncle Studios and BK Beauty have taken this approach, allowing them to manage their sales and inventory in one place.

As these brands demonstrate, expanding into new channels not only increases reach within target audiences. It can also reduce friction for business owners—and their customers.

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*Survey conducted among 18,000 consumers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. The interviews were conducted online by Sapio Research in August 2024 using an email invitation and an online survey.

**Survey among 13,337 standard merchants from the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, conducted between May 29th and June 12th, 2024 by Shopify.