How Dollar Shave Club’s move off homegrown lowered costs and unlocked innovation

“We were spending about 40% of our existing resources on maintenance support,” said Ranil Wiratunga, Chief Digital Officer & Global GM of DTC at Dollar Shave Club. “So we had to balance that maintenance with where we were going to push customer journeys and customer experiences in the future. We didn’t have the manpower and the resources to support both of those visions.”

To support their vision, Dollar Shave Club knew it was time to say goodbye to their homegrown solution and migrate to a best-in-class eCommerce tech stack that would reduce costs and empower the brand to create new, innovative customer experiences that would set them apart from competitors.

The critical decision: selecting the right partner to power subscriptions

Once Dollar Shave Club had determined they needed to move to a new tech stack, they started to hunt for a partner to power subscriptions. They needed someone who could handle the complexities of having millions of subscribers globally but could also innovate and help them continue to push the envelope as consumer expectations rapidly evolved. They went through an exhaustive search and found that Ordergroove was the only subscription provider that fit their needs. Moreover, the subscription solution powered subscriptions for leading enterprise brands like L’Oréal, The Honest Company, and Peet’s Coffee and had a sterling reputation.

“We were looking for a solutions partner that could handle our scale, but that was going to invest in the future,” Ranil said. “What put Ordergroove above the rest is that they showed the hunger, the roadmap, and pushing the envelope over time so that we had a partner that could grow with us as well as deliver on new experiences, new ways to drive conversion, new ways to drive trial, and new ways to go above the status quo in the industry.”

Another core requirement for Dollar Shave Club was a seamless integration with the rest of the tech stack, as they were migrating to a new eCommerce, marketing automation, and customer support platforms.

Dollar Shave Club decided to leverage Shopify Plus for eCommerce, Klaviyo for marketing automation, and Gorgias for support. They found the quality of Ordergroove’s integrations with these industry-leading tech platforms second to none.

“The two platforms (Ordergroove and Shopify Plus) are closely integrated, so the customer experience is seamless, which was critical for our business and a key part of why we decided to partner with Ordergroove,” Ranil said.

Migrating millions of subscribers

The migration of Dollar Shave Club’s millions of subscribers was pivotal for the brand. Subscriptions are the lifeblood of their eCommerce offering, and any mistake could have cost the brand millions in revenue.

Leveraging Ordergroove’s easy-to-use technology and best practices, Dollar Shave Club had a successful migration. Over three days, Dollar Shave Club’s seven-figure subscriber base was migrated to Ordergroove with an impressive 99.99% success rate and no downtime.

“The migration of Dollar Shave Club’s subscription experience was the most critical thing that we had to do,” Ranil said. “If we had any issues with that, we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars of potential lost sales to our business. With Ordergroove, we were able to move all of the consumers over without concern and without issue with our subscriptions.”

Throughout the process, Ordergroove worked hand in hand with Dollar Shave Club’s team to ensure they felt confident and secure.

“Ordergroove has been with us every step of the way. The Ordergroove team is a part of our team, and that partnership is invaluable,” Ranil said.

Redeploying resources to drive innovation

Now that Dollar Shave Club is on the other side of the migration, they are making quick strides to redeploy the resources that were once used to maintain their homegrown subscription platform in order to unlock innovation that will fuel growth. Ordergroove’s powerful promotions suite, coupled with their intuitive subscriber experience, has helped the brand grow subscription revenue in new ways.

“Ordergroove has been great in terms of implementation and taking on the scale that we needed. However, on top of that, Ordergroove has delivered new features and functionality that we never even tested or never had before.” Ranil said. “The speed to market has been extremely fast, and the ability to move the needle with consumers has been a benefit to Dollar Shave Club.”

Dollar Shave Club is also exploring creating new, personalized subscriber experiences built on top of Ordergroove that lead the market and propel the brand forward. With Ordergroove’s powerful APIs, the opportunity for Dollar Shave Club to get creative and dream up new, innovative customer experiences are endless.

“Dollar Shave Club has saved a significant amount of money within the overall technology stack,” Ranil said. “We’ve then redeployed those savings to do other things within the business that drive innovation and new consumer experiences, and the team is getting pretty excited about what that new horizon may look like.”

The next wave of profitable growth fueled by innovative subscriber experiences is coming

Now that Dollar Shave Club has a new tech stack, including a powerful and flexible subscription platform, the opportunities to drive more recurring revenue through new and improved subscriber experiences are endless. By making the move, they’ve decreased costs and freed up valuable resources to drive new growth while surprising and delighting customers. Dollar Shave Club is just getting started, and we can’t wait to see what’s next as they propel commerce forward.

“Not only does Ordergroove handle subscriptions as you’d expect them to today, but they’re pushing the envelope and driving new experiences, new features, new functionality that will drive your business,” Ranil said. “For anyone building on top of an existing subscription business or starting out from scratch, Ordergroove is the leader in the space.”