Orthofeet runs a nine-figure DTC business on Shopify without an internal developer. DTC has grown to become the primary engine of Orthofeet’s multi-channel business, driving the majority of customer growth. For over a decade on Shopify, the team has kept commerce technology manageable enough to stay focused on product and marketing, and on understanding what customers need next.
Orthofeet began with founder Ron Bar solving a need he understood personally. After losing his lower leg, Ron used his biomedical engineering background to create footwear that better supported his own life. He and his brother Michael founded the company in 1984. Launching DTC on Shopify in 2015 gave Orthofeet a direct relationship with its customers.
Over a decade of customer learning is now shaping Orthofeet’s move into retail. Their research identified broader brand awareness as the largest opportunity, followed by the chance to let shoppers try shoes before buying. The team is using DTC data and Sidekick to choose the location for its first owned store, where customers can discover the brand and receive the in-person fitting guidance they asked for.
With Shopify, Orthofeet has:
- Grown DTC to be its primary sales channel
- Built a nine-figure DTC business without an internal developer
- Reduced an hour of manual research and workflow setup to seconds with Sidekick
- Captured high-intent sales directly from emerging AI search
- Gave 80% of Orthofeet’s organization access to Shopify as a shared operating system
Operating at scale with a lean commerce team
DTC gave Orthofeet a direct way to serve customers and learn what they needed. Search became the foundation of online growth because shoppers often began by looking for a solution to a specific comfort or fit need.
As the business grew, Orthofeet expanded beyond lower-funnel marketing into public relations, connected TV, and social media to build broader awareness. The brand stayed focused on their core customer while adapting how the message appeared across channels. Younger shoppers also discovered Orthofeet on their own or bought products for parents and partners.
Orthofeet’s products often require more guidance when choosing the right fit than conventional footwear. The buying experience has to make materials, features, and fit differences easy to understand so customers can choose the right product for their needs.
Supporting those buying decisions meant continually refining the online experience. Shopify gave Orthofeet the flexibility to update the site's design, merchandising, and functionality while keeping checkout familiar and connecting the storefront to the systems behind the business.
Shopify also became part of day-to-day service. Customer-service teams use Shopify admin to check inventory and create draft orders for people who prefer to order by phone. Many of these orders come from Orthofeet’s long-time, 55-plus customer base, which the team serves directly through phone support and draft orders.
Orthofeet has kept their internal commerce model deliberately lean. External development support handles selected work, while the internal team concentrates on product, marketing, customer understanding, and growth. Sparky led Orthofeet’s 2025 ecommerce rebuild, and Sparky’s case study covers that work in more depth.
The ease [Shopify provides] in helping us stand up the website for effectively a decade kept our focus on product and marketing.
Turning Shopify data into faster decisions
As the DTC business grew, so did the number of questions moving through ecommerce. GianKarlo uses Sidekick for one-off data questions that would otherwise require at least 15 minutes of analysis. Allison Lau, ecommerce manager at Orthofeet, uses it for general questions and workflow building that she estimates can take 15 minutes to more than an hour manually. Customer-service teams can also use Sidekick for Shopify questions instead of bringing every one to the ecommerce team.
I use [Sidekick] pretty much on a daily basis.
Extending Orthofeet’s search strategy into AI-led discovery
Search has long been one of Orthofeet’s strongest acquisition channels because customers often begin with questions about comfort, support, or fit. That search behavior helped build the DTC business and taught Orthofeet how customers describe the needs their products serve.
AI assistants are now another place for similar research. Orthofeet is improving website content, product information, and third-party references so AI systems can better understand when the brand is relevant. As consumer discovery shifts to conversational AI, Orthofeet is optimizing its rich product data to maintain strong organic visibility across both specialized support and general comfort search queries.
Orthofeet plans to use Sidekick in upcoming product detail page work and is evaluating how paid placements may emerge in AI environments.
As of July 2026, the brand has already generated 6-figure year-to-date sales from agentic commerce.
Choosing owned retail through customer research
The first-store decision started with a direct customer question: “What is the main reason you don’t buy Orthofeet?” The survey identified broader brand awareness as the largest opportunity. The ability to try shoes before buying ranked next.
Each finding pointed to a different way to grow. Broader marketing could introduce more people to the brand. A retail store could introduce Orthofeet to more shoppers while providing product education and fitting support that's hard to replicate online.
DTC remains the largest part of the business, and Orthofeet’s core customers already shop online. Owned retail adds another experience alongside the channel that built the business.
We don’t want to be a brand that loses sight of the customers that got us here.
Orthofeet chose an owned store to control the product line, service, and fitting experience directly. Wholesale, including medical wholesale, remains part of the broader business, while the new store will present the full Orthofeet product line and service model in one place.
The next decision was where to put the first store. Orthofeet had a national customer base and many possible markets. The team asked Sidekick to identify Orthofeet’s strongest ZIP codes. They used those insights to narrow the markets and designated market areas, weighing customer concentration, real estate, medical networks, and other location criteria.
Part of how we decided on a location was asking Sidekick what our best ZIP codes were.
Designing owned retail around fit and service
The store is designed to give Orthofeet’s fitting guidance a physical setting. Customers will be able to compare products, ask questions, and experience the differences in fit and support with help from trained associates.
The concept pairs footwear with services that reflect Orthofeet’s category expertise.
We want to build a specialized fitting destination, not a traditional shoe store.
One planned feature would make the fitting process visible. Foot scans could inform custom insoles produced in the store, with the production area open to customers. Appointments and specialist fitting are also available.
With customer consent, the store could also connect fit preferences and purchase history to customer profiles. Those insights could improve future service, make repeat purchases easier, and inform future product development.
Orthofeet plans to connect the new retail store to their ecommerce operation through Shopify POS. Because both online and in-store will be managed from the same Shopify platform, the team expects simpler setup and more time to focus on the physical space, associate expertise, fitting services, and customer experience.
The fitting experience is expected to happen throughout the store. Associates will use mobile checkout to complete an order while serving the customer. Orthofeet also plans store pickup for online orders and omnichannel returns.
Associates will need extensive product and fitting knowledge. Orthofeet expects Shopify POS to be the straightforward part of training, leaving staff more time to learn how to help customers choose the right product.
Moving from DTC into retail with confidence
Shopify first supported Orthofeet’s DTC storefront. Today, customer service works in Shopify admin, the ecommerce team uses Sidekick for daily questions and market analysis, and the retail plan is being built around Shopify POS.
Roughly 80% of Orthofeet’s organization, including customer service and finance, has access to Shopify as a shared operating system beyond ecommerce and marketing. Orthofeet expects the same foundation to connect the first store to DTC while the team concentrates on customers, products, and the physical experience.
Shopify gives us the confidence to move quickly on any business idea that we consider.
Letting the first store shape what comes next
Orthofeet began with Ron Bar solving a need he understood personally. The first store will test whether the company can bring that same attention to fit and service into a physical setting at scale.
The store will give Orthofeet new information about how customers use fitting guidance, which services influence a purchase, and whether a physical location expands awareness and retention in the surrounding market.
More than a single retail destination, the first store will mark the beginning of Orthofeet’s connected-channel strategy, positioning the brand to expand its physical footprint alongside its thriving digital business.