It all began under the Portuguese sun: two couples wandered through coastal villages, discovered small artisan workshops – and fell in love with handcrafted ceramics. Driven by the idea of sharing this holiday feeling with the world, they opened the first Motel a Miio pop-up store in Munich in 2016.
What started as a passion project among friends quickly evolved into an internationally successful lifestyle brand for high-quality tableware. Today, Motel a Miio operates over 40 retail stores, organises numerous pop-up events throughout Europe and combines its physical business with a strong online presence.
These products are not made to be stored away, but to take centre stage. The same applies to their commerce strategy: online and offline not only work in sync technically, but emotionally too. That kind of experience requires more than a great idea – it demands the right foundation. And that is exactly what Motel a Miio found with Shopify.
Since migrating to Shopify, Motel a Miio saw results fast:
- 80% of stores connected to Shopify POS
- 12% increase in stock turnover rate due to higher transparency in stationary sales
- 86% increase in autoflow sendouts via Klaviyo (Q1 YoY)
Challenge: Growth needs a solid foundation
With rapid growth came new questions: how do you stay close to your customers while scaling across countries? How do you ensure that the experience feels equally unified in-store and online, whether you're shopping in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam or at home on your phone?
That was Motel a Miio's vision from the very beginning: to create a unified, cross-channel experience. However, reality looked different. While customers moved easily between the online and offline worlds, the underlying systems remained isolated. Store staff had no access to online purchase histories or customer preferences, making personalised service difficult. The previous e-commerce platform had reached its limits when it came to providing the experience that was so important to Motel a Miio.
As internationalisation increased, so did the requirements: New markets had to be opened up quickly, local payment methods had to be integrated easily and product information had to be translated efficiently. A lack of automation options meant that the complexity continued to grow.
On a technical level, the limitations were just as clear. Motel a Miio worked with a variety of tools across CRM, marketing and product management – but lacked the API infrastructure to connect them efficiently. For a business committed to innovation and growth, this was becoming a real blocker. The team needed a platform that is flexible, scalable and future-proof - with a strong app ecosystem that adapts to individual requirements.
Solution: A platform that thinks omnichannel - and grows as you do
Following an extensive selection process, Motel a Miio chose Shopify as its new commerce platform- to overcome existing challenges and support long-term growth. Shopify met all the requirements: improved omnichannel integration, greater scalability and a flexible API architecture that enables seamless connection of all systems.
One of the most impactful changes was the implementation of Shopify POS across stores. Sales staff finally had access to customers' full order histories - this not only makes advising customers much easier, but also more personalised and therefore more effective. At the same time, digital customers also benefit: They can now access their purchase history at any time, regardless of the channel - for full transparency at every touchpoint. Salespeople became advisors, transactions became experiences.
We are not purely an online player - almost 50% of our sales come from retail. If you're an omnichannel player like us, then it's of course just perfect if you end up with a shared data pool.
Thanks to tools such as Matrixify for data migration and Klaviyo for personalised email campaigns, the migration went faster and smoother than expected. The feared SEO losses did not materialise, on the contrary: the new platform even scored with better performance and faster loading times.
Motel a Miio is now present throughout Europe - with over 40 stores, including locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. This strategic expansion gives the brand both a strong digital footprint and physical tangible retail presence that exceeds the expectations of most DTC brands. Switching to Shopify made it much easier to tap into new markets. Thanks to Shopify Markets, the team was able to set up country-specific shops quickly and easily - including localised payment methods, localised product descriptions and a consistent brand presence across all touchpoints.
Thanks to a centralised data structure and flexible localisation tools, Motel a Miio delivers the same standout experience across every market – from Munich to Amsterdam.
Speed is essential. We no longer need to build everything ourselves – we can work with proven Shopify solutions, saving us valuable. That saves time and money.
Result: A foundation for growth - today and tomorrow
By switching to Shopify, Motel a Miio was able to overcome key challenges and achieve sustainable improvements in several areas - more quickly and easily than initially expected. The new platform not only strengthened the omnichannel strategy, but also improved the customer experience, increased scalability and boosted operational efficiency.
The added value is particularly evident in the way Motel a Miio interacts with its customers today. Thanks to a centralised data structure, the company can better understand the behaviour of its community - across channels, data-driven and in real time.
We finally have a central data pool that allows us to better understand the customer journey. We can see how customers move through our universe – online and offline – and can therefore serve them even better, thanks to Shopify.
International expansion was also much faster and more efficient than before. New markets were opened up without any major technical hurdles - primarily thanks to the simple integration of local payment methods and translation apps.
The technical concerns - from SEO losses and page speed to limited theme options - have not materialised. On the contrary: Shopify has become the stable, flexible backbone of the company.
Looking ahead
Even though the long-term effects of the migration are still being analysed, the initial results are already promising - and give a fast-growing company like Motel a Miio security and scope for planning. The introduction of Shopify POS at Motel a Miio's pop-up events is the next logical step.
We haven't yet utilised everything Shopify has to offer - but we can already see that it was the right move. The platform is growing with us, and that's exactly what we need.
With Shopify, Motel a Miio has not only opted for a platform - but for a new way of thinking about its own business. Flexible, data-driven and customer-centric. Choosing Shopify has not only helped Motel a Miio to optimise its technical infrastructure - it has also laid the foundations for future growth. With a stable technical framework, a holistic omnichannel strategy and more efficient processes, the company is now ideally positioned to continue its success story.
Motel a Miio is proof: With the right platform, a passion project can become an international brand - without compromising on the experience.