A heritage brand that was founded 110 years ago in the heart of Naples with a small 20-square-meter boutique on the Riviera di Chiaia, E. Marinella is now a leading purveyor of fine, Italian-made silk ties and accessories, favoured by Presidents globally. The family-run business has a Neapolitan heart with a global presence: from Eugenio Marinella to Maurizio Marinella, and now Alessandro Marinella, the business has reached its fourth generation, with boutiques in Naples, Rome, Milan, Turin, London, and Tokyo.
From silk production in England to the tailoring workshop just meters away from the main store in Naples—where CEO Maurizio Marinella is still found offering coffee to customers—E.Marinella has embraced e-commerce to expand the presence of its handcrafted ties in foreign markets and appeal to a younger, digital native audience.
With the migration to Shopify, E.Marinella achieved:
- +30% online growth in 2 months with Shopify Markets
- +42% conversion rate growth in 1 year with Shopify Plus
- +17% AOV increase after migrating to Shopify
Challenge: Ensuring Stability for Heavy Shopping Traffic
Five years ago, E.Marinella chose WordPress for its custom-built e-commerce platform. Initially, user traffic was manageable, and WordPress performed well. The company's goal was always to replicate online the same personalised style advice and customer care experience offered in its boutiques, ensuring efficient and ever-present service throughout the purchasing process.
For the first three years, WordPress seemed like the right choice, but in the long run, it was not the best fit for the company's growth. E.Marinella generates 40-50% of its annual revenue between Black Friday and Christmas, and during these high-traffic shopping periods, its previous WordPress-based digital structure could not handle the increased traffic and frequently crashed.
At a certain point, WordPress started feeling too restrictive. I have always admired Shopify as an industry-leading platform. With WordPress, we often faced management difficulties or even platform crashes, especially during peak traffic moments like Black Friday or Christmas. We wanted a platform that would allow us to work more smoothly—both internally for our IT team and externally for customer experience. For us, migrating to Shopify was a necessary step, and today I am extremely happy with the decision we made.
Solution: Shopify for Improved Customer and User Experience
After a six-month migration to the Shopify platform, E.Marinella officially adopted Shopify nearly a year ago, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The need for a stable and easy-to-manage online platform was one of the main drivers behind the switch to Shopify which also allowed the company to focus more on digital marketing to attract a younger demographic of buyers.
Shopify allows for greater operational efficiency. We have exponentially reduced the number of IT support requests, allowing us to focus on platform implementation and deeper data monitoring. For a company, being able to analyse data and develop its market strategically is the key to continuous growth without stagnation.
The migration was led by an ecommerce manager, who is also overseeing E.Marinella's expansion into foreign markets with Shopify Markets, a key strategic focus for the brand. Additionally, E.Marinella manages a vast number of SKUs, which are uploaded via an API system. One of the essential requirements was ensuring no limits on the number of API calls to integrate smoothly with the company's internal management system.
With Shopify, all key business operations that were previously handled with WordPress and IT team support are now much simpler and faster to manage. The company has seen major benefits across every department—from product uploads to customer service and marketing—while also receiving positive customer feedback. The new digital presence has led to higher revenue, increased sales, and longer average customer browsing times on the site.
Results: Reaching a New Demographic Segment
The online store's development has enabled E. Marinella to reach a younger demographic, introducing a niche product like handcrafted ties to a new audience. Digitisation has also accelerated their aim of offering a 'total look,' showcasing not only ties, but also the other merchandise categories that the company has been crafting for years. Data shows that E.Marinella's online clientele is significantly younger than its boutique customers—realising one of the company's key objective to transform from a traditional retailer to a modern, globally accessible brand that is future-proofed for generations to come.
Once a traditional bricks-and-mortar business, E.Marinella now understands that the key to its growth lies in omnichannel strategy. Thanks to Shopify Markets, managing international sales has never been easier, leading to a 30% increase in just 2 months with Shopify Markets, especially in the UK. The integration of Shopify apps has allowed E.Marinella to customise the checkout process for different countries with varied currencies and pricing structures. Previously, the company faced a high rate of failed orders, but today, Shopify Payments has reduced that number to nearly zero.
Among the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to track e-commerce success, customer session duration and conversion rates have exceeded expectations. The company reports a +42% conversion rate growth in 1 year with Shopify Plus.
We have received very positive feedback from our customers, who find the ecommerce platform faster, smoother, and easier to use since we migrated to Shopify. We are benefiting from this change across every area of our business.