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
Sporting goods is a performance-driven category where online success depends on experience, trust, and speed. Shoppers are not just buying products. They are investing in performance, confidence, and an active lifestyle. To compete, brands need fast, intuitive shopping experiences that support large catalogs, complex SKUs, and high expectations across mobile and desktop.
Ecommerce continues to play a growing role in the category’s expansion. The global sporting goods market is projected to grow from approximately $671B in 2024 to nearly $1.3T by 2033, with online channels accounting for an estimated 35 to 40 percent of U.S. sports equipment sales. As discovery and purchasing shift online, brands must deliver high-performing digital experiences that keep pace with demand.
To meet these expectations, many sporting goods brands are choosing Shopify – for ecommerce and retail POS. Shopify delivers the performance, scalability, and flexibility needed to support traffic spikes, global growth, and complex integrations. CQL partners with leading sporting goods brands on Shopify to design high-performing storefronts, optimize conversion, and unify commerce across channels, helping brands turn engagement into long-term growth.
Shopify Brands
Unifying 15 Brands to Shopify for a D2C Win
Established in 1927, Escalade Sports has grown its business to over 20 sporting goods brands. Escalade saw huge growth potential in the B2C marketplace, allowing customers to shop directly at EscaladeSports.com and their portfolio of brands. A common e-commerce architecture was needed for B2C expansion, featuring a multi-site framework, a consistent user experience, and content that reflected unique brand personalities.
Escalade Sports needed 1 platform to provide a common multi-site framework for all brands, ensuring a consistent UX and speed-to-market for existing brands and new brand acquisitions. On Shopify Plus, Escalade Sports built 10 new sites in under 11 months, launching into the D2C Market with unprecedented results.
“The No. 1 brand in the sport required a website that looked and performed as well as our products. In only 3 months working with CQL, the team helped take ONIX to the next level and transformed our eCommerce presence into both an outstanding shopping and player resource destination.”
Emily Patton
eCommerce Manager
ONIX Pickleball
Global Sporting Goods Marketing in 2024, doubling by 2033 (Shopify)
Percentage of Online Total Sporting Goods Sales (Market Growth Reports)
Ecommerce Sales in Sporting & Outdoor Goods by 2027 (ECDB)
Annual Growth Forecasted Over the Next 5 Years (eMarketer)
Bauer Hockey Corporation is known internationally for developing the most innovative products in the industry, starting with the first skates built in the 1920’s. As the market leader and most trusted brand in hockey equipment continued to grow, it became weighed down on a commerce platform with complex customizations, slow mobility to release new functionality, and heavy reliance on development.
CQL helped Bauer gear up with a digital transformation on Shopify and a new design, significantly lowering heavy IT support and providing a foundation to build out additional brands quickly and cost effectively. With a simplified technology stack, increased speed to market, lower costs, a custom MVP loyalty program, and exponential growth opportunities, Bauer has given its marketing team the ability to enhance the consumer experience daily, provide a dynamic onsite experience, and maintain its edge in growing the Bauer brand.
RUDIS launched in 2013 with a vision to create quality performance gear for wrestlers, and since has become the market leader in wrestling. After 10 years of growth, RUDIS is known throughout the sport for both reliability and innovation. Despite their growth, RUDIS was in tech paralysis after outgrowing their current platform. Their booming website could not support big product drops. RUDIS came to CQL to stabilize their website on Shopify and begin optimizing for brand growth in a competitive marketplace.
With a brand refresh, a new tech stack, and Shopify’s robust commerce platform, RUDIS launched a digital experience that improves commerce capabilities, technologies, and customer experiences. The new ecosystem serves as a foundation for new opportunities & growth: including an 80% YOY increase in revenue.
Kan Jam, EastPoint Sports’ flagship brand since 2006 and top-selling flying disc game sold by over 800 retailers, saw a huge opportunity to take the slammin’ jammin’ disc game direct-to-consumer (D2C), redefine the brand personality, and re-platform to Shopify.
With a focus on the Kan Jam community and tournaments, the KanJam.com introduces a wish-list of D2C features, including user generated content (UCG), enhanced search & navigation, product recommendations and accessories, user reviews, email and SMS integration with Klaviyo, and content areas describing Kan Jam rules and community events.
Gazelle Sports, the Michigan-based running specialty shop and athletic & fitness lifestyle retailer, strives to provide the best customer care, build relationships, and inspire others to move. Struggling with site performance on an old Shopify code base, Gazelle Sports came to CQL inspired to make a move of its own: launching a digital brand refresh and modernizing their online shopping experience.
The new website features a high-touch, modern design that maintains its inviting & inclusive community feel and focuses on Gazelle Sports’ high performance running gear. With a streamlined navigation & site taxonomy, advanced filtering, product variants that feature color swatches and new templates for brand, product listing, product, and educational pages, the site showcases industry leading ecommerce best-practices, easier product findability for shoppers, and Gazelle Sports’ expertise in embracing active living.
Chris Cote’s Golf Shop has grown from a small family-run side project into a multi-location retailer with stores, pro shops, a driving range, and events in Connecticut. Known for expert custom fittings, lessons, and high-quality equipment, Chris Cote’s Golf Shop continued business growth made the need for unified commerce very clear.
Partnering with CQL, the golf brand deployed Shopify POS across all locations and built custom apps to digitize custom club orders, manage member credits, and automate instructor notifications. Since moving to Shopify, the team has cut custom club order processing time in half, eliminated duplicate data entry, and centralized their customer database for stronger marketing. With mobile POS for pop-up events and consistent operations across every touchpoint, the shop is now running more efficiently and is better positioned to support growth in both retail and golf instruction.
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.