Giant Bicycles: Made-to-Order Bike Customization on Shopify Plus

01. The Challenge

Customization was already part of the Giant brand promise, but it ran on manual processes attached to a custom legacy stack. Orders could not be traced from configuration through manufacturing to delivery. Options could not be checked against what the factory could build. And because each bike is fitted and collected at a dealer, the retail side of the sale sat outside the commerce system.

02. The Solution

Rather than fund more custom development, Giant chose Shopify Plus and worked with HiveB2X to design the solution around the platform.

• Custom product builder. A configurator spanning three levels of customization: paint, components and signature personalization. Shopify is the single source of truth for product, pricing and inventory, and every selection is validated against it, so a customer cannot configure a bike that cannot be built.
• Dealer and retail application. A custom application on Plus brings the dealer network into the same order system. Store staff see the orders for their location and move each build from payment through delivery, assembly and pickup.
• Online to in-store. A customer can start a build online and finish it with a fitter in store, with the final configuration written back to Shopify.
• Factory and customer communication. Confirmed orders export to production, and status changes trigger localized customer notifications.
• Built to add markets. New regions add stores to the existing system instead of requiring a new build.

03. The Result

Giant runs made-to-order commerce on Shopify Plus, with the configurator, the factory and its retail locations working from one order record, at a fraction of the cost of the equivalent custom platform.

"HiveB2X provided a clear roadmap, the technical experience (on Shopify Plus), and problem-solving smarts needed to make things happen. They were with us every step of the way and have been a great partner." Erik Hermanson, Global Head of Marketing Tech & Operations, Giant Bicycles