CQL Acquires Riess Group to Become the Leading Global Shopify Agency for Unified Commerce. Read the Press Release
CQL Acquires Riess Group to Become the Leading Global Shopify Agency for Unified Commerce. Read the Press Release
Footwear sits at the intersection of performance, style, and fit, making it one of the most demanding and innovation-driven categories in commerce. Success depends on delivering fast, mobile-first shopping experiences that support extensive size and color variants, rapid product launches, and real-time inventory visibility across channels. Today’s shoppers expect confidence when buying footwear online, which increasingly includes virtual sizing tools, fit guidance, and immersive product experiences that reduce uncertainty and help customers move from discovery to purchase with ease.
The global footwear market is projected to exceed $530 billion by 2027, fueled by ecommerce growth, direct-to-consumer expansion, and rising demand for both performance and lifestyle footwear. In the United States, ecommerce now accounts for more than 40 percent of footwear sales, as shoppers research fit, compare options, and purchase online. Virtual fitting tools, personalized recommendations, and rich product experiences are helping brands innovate faster, improve conversion, and scale digital growth in a category where precision and customer confidence are critical.
Shopify provides footwear brands with a modern commerce platform built to support innovation across both ecommerce and retail. As shoppers move between online discovery and in-store try-on, brands need unified visibility into inventory and customer activity across every touchpoint. CQL specializes in helping footwear brands unify commerce, streamline operations, and create the foundation for scalable, long-term growth.
Global Footwear Market Projecting by 2027 (Statistica, Global Footwear Market Revenue Forecast)
Percent of Ecommerce Total Footwear Sales (Statistica, Footwear Ecommerce Share of Total Sales)
Percentage of Ecommerce Footwear Traffic on Mobile (Statistica – Mobile Ecommerce Share)
Percent of Consumers Researching Footwear Before Purchase (Think with Google – Retail Shopping Behavior Trends)
ALDO Group sought to modernize its digital ecosystem to streamline operations, empower brand teams, and accelerate time-to-market across its global portfolio. A digital transformation to Shopify enabled ALDO Group to unify its ALDO, Sperry, and Call It Spring brands on a single, scalable platform to streamline operations and accelerate time-to-market. The retailer’s flexible multi-brand framework, modern tech stack, and dynamic design system powers growth, creativity, and long-term efficiency across its global commerce ecosystem.
Gregoire Baret
Focusing on their DTC growth strategy, TOMS explored a platform shift from Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) to Shopify to reduce costs, optimize site performance, and create a nimble eCommerce environment that adapts to industry and customer needs.
TOMS migrated from Salesforce Commerce Cloud to a multi-site Shopify Plus Hydrogen architecture with a headless visual CMS, Builder.io, ultimately reducing licensing costs and delivering a best-in-class experience with Shopify’s high converting checkout and ShopPay payment options.
Superfeet, a leader in the insole industry, partnered with trusted advisor Arcadia Digital and CQL to embark on an ambitious digital transformation to Shopify that streamlined operations, elevated the shopping experience, and provided the agility to adapt to the evolving global needs of its diverse customer base.
The results? An 18.5% increase in revenue.
With the opportunity to upgrade its technology and replace its ecommerce platform to drive new growth in a cost-effective and timely way, leading specialty retailer of women’s apparel Coldwater Creek leveraged a replatform as a catalyst for a complete digital transformation. Coldwater Creek’s digital vision was brought to life with a flexible, modern architecture built on BigCommerce, a best-in-class seamless customer experience with improved omni-channel touchpoints, efficient merchandising and management of the site, an impressive total cost of ownership, and an ecosystem designed for growth both globally and in new channels.
The Largest Salesforce Commerce Cloud Replatform in History
Wolverine needed an ecommerce platform that could accommodate its global expansion and absorption of a variety of new brands. Given a strong history of successful implementations and integrations, and CQL’s team of certified and experienced Salesforce Commerce Cloud developers, the multi-billion dollar retail company chose CQL to migrate several of their disparate platforms onto Salesforce Commerce Cloud (formerly Demandware). It was the largest Commerce Cloud implementation in history. Commerce Cloud enabled Wolverine to manage these brands with a single, one-stop solution.
50% Reduction in Costs
Stride Rite partnered with CQL on a transformative redesign to Shopify. Its new tech stack is designed for future growth and stability, plus lower technical expenses, all while empowering the brand to focus on content, marketing, and acquisition to cultivate deeper relationships with customers.
Flexible Monthly Support
CQL partnered with SHOE SHOW, INC. through a support agreement, featuring UX & design enhancements, training & education, search & product listing refinements, support scale-up for end of the year traffic, integrations with Google Merchant Center, data cleanup, and site optimization.
A Trendy, Modern Look
André Assous leveraged Shopify’s 2.0 framework, providing a cleaner code base with better app management, improving site speed and performance, and optimizing customer and brand experience. The new website revitalized the André Assous brand personality with a digital brand refresh.
Reaching New Demographics
Frye & Co., a brand by The Frye Company, strategically targets a younger demographic with a focus on providing accessible luxury footwear and apparel at a more affordable price point. Launching with a limited number of products to test the new target market, the new website is built to easily expand as more product lines are added.
A New D2C Growth Strategy
BareTraps®, a comfort brand under Footwear Unlimited Inc., recognized the opportunity for a D2C growth strategy that required enhancement of their e-commerce capabilities, technologies, and customer experiences. The new site included a best-practice UI, improved backend systems, and efficiencies in content & merchandising.
Acquisitions Made Easy
Following its acquisition by Vida Shoes, Bruno Magli’s Shopify technical ecosystem needed to be reconfigured to integrate with Vida Shoes’ backend operations, including order management systems, returns processing, growth marketing apps, and more. Within weeks, Vida Shoes launched Bruno Magli with its standard tech stack.
CQL has helped dozens of footwear brands create high-performing footwear experiences online, driving new growth, reducing returns, and building customer confidence. In this whitepaper, you’ll learn the 6 Steps to Success in Footwear Ecommerce, including:
As a leading digital commerce agency and Shopify Platinum Partner, CQL builds stunning, high performing commerce experiences for high-end enterprise brands with complex requirements in both eCommerce and physical retail. With a solution-oriented mindset, we align your business goals with the right mix of technology and partners, guiding when to innovate and how to maximize out-of-the-box solutions. Together, we elevate your brand, accelerate growth, and create seamless customer experiences in-store and online.
