Quad Lock, an award-winning leader in smartphone mounting solutions, transformed from a Kickstarter startup into a global ecommerce powerhouse that successfully completed a $500 million acquisition deal by Thule.
With rapid international expansion, a growing B2B channel, and complex product operations, the Melbourne-based brand needed a platform that could scale with their ambitions. Shopify’s Plus plan empowered Quad Lock to build a lean, high-performance business model that now operates across 12 global storefronts, six warehouses, and both B2B and DTC channels.
With Shopify, Quad Lock has seen:
- 15% increase in D2C revenue, YoY
- 25% increase in D2C sales across the US and Europe, YoY
- 12 regional and B2B expansion stores launched
The challenge: Scaling internationally required region-based customisation
From its early days, Quad Lock sold 100% of its products direct to consumers (DTC) on Shopify. But as global demand surged and product categories grew, their operational model became increasingly complex. A single global storefront wasn’t enough to accommodate the custom currency, language, and inventory requirements needed across different regions.
For instance, customers in Europe needed pricing in euros and localised checkout flows, just as they needed to see region-relevant imagery, such as vehicles driving on the right-hand side of the road. Canadian buyers expected French-language options; and managing regional stock levels required store-specific controls tied to local warehouses.
Simultaneously, Quad Lock was scaling their B2B operations. But their original wholesale process relied heavily on email ordering and outdated apps, leading to missed opportunities and inefficient sales processes. As the company expanded, it became clear they needed a more robust system to power global commerce and scale B2B sales.
Without Shopify’s Plus plan and the expansion stores it gives us, we would have struggled to scale internationally at the pace we have. Expansion stores gave us the control we needed to manage regional operations effectively.
The solution: A scalable platform to drive global growth
Quad Lock upgraded to Shopify’s Plus plan in 2019 and gained access to key capabilities like expansion stores and B2B on Shopify while making the most of features such as Shopify’s one-page checkout. This upgrade enabled the brand to build a multi-store setup in which each store was integrated with their own respective regional warehouse, improving inventory management. Each of these storefronts serves a specific region with tailored languages, pricing, content, and backorder messaging.
Using expansion stores, the team launched 12+ regional and B2B storefronts across markets including the US, Canada, UK, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Shopify’s organisation admin, which provides a unified backend, allowed them to manage these efficiently, while the Shopify Translate & Adapt app supported automatic language customisation, driving efficiencies.
Shopify’s expansion stores give Quad Lock far greater control over how effectively we engage customers and convert sales in multiple regions. When we introduced new languages on our European store, for instance, we could see improvements in conversion rates almost immediately.
The technical team also leveraged Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility to customise site-specific checkout flows, such as postcode-level delivery restrictions for products with batteries in them. Shopify Flow automates Slack notifications, such as out of stock alerts for the inventory team to reorder products, streamlining internal communications processes..
Shop Pay has boosted conversion rates thanks to the quick, single-page checkout journey it enables, and dedicated expansion stores support Shopify POS for pop-up stores at key sports and motoring events. This is key to supporting fast set-up at events with a complete product catalogue and up-to-date pricing at the point of sale, along with inventory synchronisation.
B2B on Shopify was a game changer for Quad Lock. The company now offers wholesale customers a seamless, self-service portal with tailored product catalogues (e.g., motorcycle or car-specific ranges). This shift moved most B2B orders from most small and medium-sized retailers away from manual email-based processes toward an automated experience that mirrors their DTC ease of use.
The B2B journey is completely different to DTC. With B2B on Shopify, we’ve created a fast, frictionless experience that meets wholesale buyers where they are. Instead of email orders, retailers can now access custom pricing, reorder in clicks, and move through checkout without waiting on our team. It's the same frictionless experience our DTC customers expect, available for B2B.
The results: Global reach, lean teams, and acquisition success
Today, Quad Lock runs 12 Shopify storefronts, including six B2B stores, each aligned to a regional warehouse. Shopify’s scalability has supported rapid growth for the business, which has seen its operational footprint grow from 20 to around 130 employees since 2019. Over this time, the platform has been instrumental in maintaining Quad Lock’s lean ecommerce team efficiency, even at global scale.
Beyond just international reach, Shopify has enabled deeper localisation, improved customer satisfaction, and operational consistency across complex regions. By tailoring content, photography, and pricing per region, Quad Lock has enhanced trust and boosted engagement. For instance, customers now see road-side accurate imagery and shop in their local language, a feature that’s helped to drive a measurable increase in conversion.
The ease of deploying pop-up stores with Shopify POS has enabled Quad Lock to elevate their brand at events, including high-profile motorsports events like the F1 Australian Grand Prix and Bathurst 1000. With expansion stores now supporting POS transactions in the US and across Europe, this event activation strategy scales globally.
Internally, automations powered by Shopify Flow and seamless integrations with apps like Matrixify and Polar Analytics have allowed the lean ecommerce team to scale the business without having to scale headcount to the same degree. Product data, stock updates, and marketing insights are now shared efficiently across teams, ensuring responsiveness and agility.
The Shopify platform supported our growth every step of the way, all the way through to our $500 million acquisition by Thule.