Teelaunch, a pioneer in Direct-to-Garment, catapults to 10x growth within 2 years

First Glance

The First Shopify App of its Kind

Teelaunch is a leading print-on-demand fulfillment company that serves Shopify merchants. From t-shirts and mugs to air fresheners and bluetooth speakers, they provide a near limitless variety of customizable products that provide highly profitable products for Shopify merchants to resell.

Sunrise Integration partnered with teelaunch back in 2015 when the direct-to-garment (DTG) space was still growing. In fact, there were no DTG apps in the Shopify store at this point, and as a result, teelaunch recognized a huge market opportunity and quickly seized it to become the first and best DTG provider on the platform. 

In order to do that, teelaunch needed to transform their business into a world-class B2B ecommerce business. With top-to-bottom solutions that addressed their goals and vision, teelaunch was able to build a new Shopify business and scale it to massive success.

The Challenge

Doing What Hadn’t Been Done Before

Because teelaunch wanted to achieve something that hadn’t been done before, our team had to start from scratch, which was a challenge that we were excited to take on. We needed to figure out what their business model would look like in Shopify, build the platform and the technology that powered it as well as create a strategic long-term roadmap for their business.

The project was much bigger than just building a functional Shopify app, so we became an integral part of teelaunch’s team and carried out all their development needs. Our team did the following:

• Researched, developed and tested teelaunch’s app

• Managed their hosting and product

• Developed their admin section

• Built their market site (for non-Shopify clients that wanted to use teelaunch)

• Developed third-party integrations.

The Solution

Business Partners in Building a Massive Shopify App

Building, testing, and launching a massive Shopify app of this scale requires big picture planning and domain expertise. To this end, we were more than just their developers, we were their long-term business partners.

Our team worked closely with teelaunch to: 

• Identify their business objectives

• Complete a competitive analysis for a clear picture of the market

• Outline infrastructure requirements

• Build workflows for sophisticated logistical requirements

• Develop an on-demand supply chain for ease and simplicity

Throughout our relationship with teelaunch, we’ve utilized our creative problem solving skills to develop many different product iterations and improvements so they can better serve their customers and solidify their position in the marketplace.

The Outcome

A Successful Launch to Become One of the Top Apps on Shopify

Teelaunch was an instant hit in the Shopify App Store! Weeks after the launch, it exploded and became one of the top apps on the platform, gaining tens of thousands of customers and up to 20,000 app downloads per day. 

Fun fact: Shopify actually mentioned teelaunch in the keynote address at the Shopify Unite Conference in 2017.

As it grew, we helped them pivot so they could scale sustainably and minimize the growing pains that startups often face. 

Looking to the Future

Getting Ready for teelaunch 2.0

Teelaunch has experienced incredible growth over the past few years, but they’re ready to take things to the next level. So much has fundamentally changed about Shopify that naturally, they need to completely revamp the platform to continue being an innovator and leader in the DTG space. 

Thanks to an enduring partnership between Sunrise Integration and teelaunch, we will utilize the knowledge and experience gained to build a better, faster and newer teelaunch that will take them to the next stage of growth. Better integration capabilities, expanded API features, improved user experience, faster and more scalable technology are all part of the roadmap.   Third party integrations, including Magento, Woo Commerce and BigCommerce, will allow them to expand their reach. In fact, our team recently built an integration with Etsy and now, teelaunch customers will be able to access Etsy’s network of more than 2.7 million sellers.

The future looks bright for teelaunch and we’re so proud to be a part of their journey.