Scaling Global Reach with a Streamlined Shopify Program

Hill's Pet Nutrition, a global leader in pet nutrition, launched the Hill's Pro Staff Feeding (HPSF) initiative in 2022, providing discounts on food products to veterinarians to encourage product recommendations to pet owners.

Building on this success, the program expanded globally in 2024 as the Global Staff Feeding (GSF) project.

The project goal was to rebuild the program on Shopify to accommodate country-specific needs, streamline operations, and ultimately drive end consumers to the direct-to-consumer (DTC) website for purchases.

The Challenge

Scaling the HPSF model internationally through the GSF project required a multi-faceted approach: a full theme rebuild on Shopify to optimize performance, a configurable model to accommodate country-specific needs, and a rapid initial rollout, in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan within six months.

Key goals:

• Global Scalability & Localization: Scaling the model across 20+ countries while accommodating varying country-specific needs (shipping rates, B2C or B2B sites variations.
• Performance Optimization: Addressing performance issues of the original headless setup through a full theme rebuild on Shopify.
• Independent System Management: Handling different independent systems to manage weight-based quotas and varying discounts.
• Platform Self-Sufficiency: Making the platform more self-sufficient and easier to manage.
• Knowledge Transfer & Training: Training client team on the Shopify ecosystem to enable them to manage the platform more effectively.

The Solution

To enable Hill's Pet Nutrition to achieve its global expansion goals, we developed a scalable and localized Shopify platform that provides a configurable model for country-specific needs, orchestrates independent systems, and empowers Colgate's team to manage the platform effectively.

Configurable Model for Localization: Created a configurable model to accommodate the varying needs of different countries, such as shipping rates and the presence of B2C or B2B sites. This allows Hill's Pet Nutrition to easily adapt the platform to meet the specific requirements of each market.

Orchestration of Independent Systems: Orchestrated independent systems like Ordergroove and Colgate's internal systems to work cohesively for features like weight-based quotas and varying discounts. Ensuring seamless integration and efficient management of key program features.

Platform Self-Sufficiency & Knowledge Transfer: Made the platform more self-sufficient and provided comprehensive training to Colgate's team on the Shopify ecosystem, including development environment setup and theme deployments. Empowering Colgate's team to manage the platform more effectively and independently.

Scalable Subscription Functionality: While the Taiwan implementation served as a base, subsequent countries like Japan had additional requirements such as subscription functionality. This necessitated building new features on top of the existing framework, including managing subscription quotas using just-in-time calculations on login and leveraging webhooks for real-time updates, as well as integrating with Ordergroove for subscription details.

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The Outcome

By implementing a scalable and localized Shopify platform, we empowered Hill's Pet Nutrition to efficiently manage its Global Staff Feeding (GSF) program across multiple countries, streamline operations, and foster greater independence within its internal teams.

• Effortless Global Expansion: The configurable platform allows Hill's Pet Nutrition to easily launch and adapt its GSF program in new markets, regardless of local requirements.
• Streamlined Program Management: Seamless integration of key systems ensures efficient and cohesive management of quotas, discounts, and other essential program features.
• Reduced Reliance on External Support: Comprehensive training empowers Colgate's team to independently manage the platform, minimizing reliance on external resources and maximizing efficiency.
• Optimized Subscription Management: Scalable subscription functionality enables efficient management of recurring orders and allows Hill's Pet Nutrition to quickly adapt to evolving customer needs and market trends.

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