Etixx Sports Nutrition: orchestrating a high-complexity Shopify ecosystem
Etixx Sports Nutrition is a leading Belgian brand that develops and sells high-quality nutritional support for athletes of all levels - from professional cyclists to everyday sports enthusiasts. They're part of Ceres Pharma, a pharmaceutical company that offers a broad range of OTC brands and prescription medicines across areas such as women’s health, antibiotics, cardiovascular health, and more. Etixx has a strong focus on science and trust, helping athletes understand not just which products to use, but also when and how to use them for optimal performance.
Their business goes beyond the traditional webshop. Etixx operates across multiple channels, including marketplaces such as Bol.com, their own e-commerce platform, and a wide network of pharmacies. This made their digital ecosystem significantly more complex than that of your average direct-to-consumer brand. An exciting challenge!
Le défi
Etixx approached us with the need to migrate away from a complex, legacy setup and move towards a more scalable and manageable platform. Their previous system made it difficult to launch marketing campaigns, maintain content and evolve their webshop in line with their ambitions.
At the same time, the migration was not just a technical exercise. Because Etixx generates a large part of its revenue through marketplaces and partner networks, the key question became what role their own webshop should play within that broader ecosystem. Competing on price or convenience did not make sense in this context, which led to a strategic shift towards positioning the webshop as a hub for education, inspiration and athlete engagement.
This shift introduced additional complexity. The platform needed to support advanced discount structures for athletes and sports clubs, integrate with a pharmacy network, handle multiple types of customers with different levels of product knowledge, and connect with external systems such as their PIM and accounting tools.
“When we decided to take the next steps in our online journey, it was crucial to us that pharmacies could continue to play a big role. It's not always easy to involve a more traditional sector in that, but they are our biggest sales channel”, mentions Kenny Van Damme, Brand Manager at Etixx.
So, what initially seemed like a migration quickly evolved into a much broader transformation. In the end, the challenge was three-fold:
1. Distributed inventory & channel conflict: Managing stock across D2C, pharmacies, and marketplaces without overselling.
2. Complex attribution logic: A tiered system of sponsored clubs and athletes requiring unique, high-concurrency discount logic that impacts financial reporting.
3. The ‘offline gap’: Validating and automating pick-up/payment at external pharmacy points without direct POS access.
Notre approche
Strategy first, then build
We started with a series of workshops to fully understand Etixx’s business model and define the role of their webshop. Instead of focusing purely on transactions, we helped them reposition the platform as an educational environment where athletes can discover products, learn how to use them and build routines for their specific sport.
An example of a personal nutrition plan
This strategic direction translated into features such as nutrition plans and guided product recommendations, allowing users to understand what to take before, during and after exercise. This way, the webshop became a much stronger extension of the brand, rather than just another sales channel.
A unified data layer
To support this vision, we migrated Etixx to Shopify, providing them with a faster, more flexible and more maintainable platform. Shopify made it easier for their team to manage content, launch campaigns and integrate with tools such as Klaviyo for marketing automation.
We also connected Shopify to their broader ecosystem. Product data is synchronised through Plytix, ensuring consistency across channels, while Exact Online is used for invoicing and financial flows. Thanks to the Plytix integration, complex product data is handled without any issue.
Advanced logic for B2B2C
A large part of the project focused on translating Etixx’s complex business model into intuitive user experiences.
One important element is their network of sponsored athletes and sports clubs. Each of these partners works with unique discount codes. We implemented advanced discount logic and reporting capabilities, enabling Etixx to track performance and allocate kickbacks accurately based on real usage.
Etixx is available in over a thousand pharmacies across Belgium
An even more unique component is the integration of their pharmacy network. Customers can place an order online and choose to pick it up at a local pharmacy, where they complete the payment - it might look like your average BOPIS, but it’s not.
We engineered a custom discount and kickback engine, based on QR codes. Each customer that orders through a sport club, gets a unique QR code that the pharmacist needs to scan to complete the order. This way, Etixx gains valuable insights into how each pharmacy performs and how customers interact with this channel.
UX for different types of users
Not every customer visiting the Etixx website has the same level of experience. Some know exactly which products they need, while others are just starting their fitness journey and require guidance. To accommodate both, we reworked the navigation and discovery experience.
Etixx renewed navigation
Users can now explore the catalogue based on their sport, their goals, or specific moments in their training routine, such as before, during or after exercise. Additional tools like a routine finder and product finder help guide users towards the right products, making the experience more personalised and accessible.
Le résultat
The new platform gives Etixx a clear role for their webshop within their broader ecosystem, strengthens their connection with athletes and partners, and enables them to manage their operations more efficiently. They now have full visibility into the performance of affiliated athletes, clubs and pharmacies, while also unlocking new marketing opportunities through better data and automation.
“I've worked with plenty of other software, like Shopware, Drupal, and WordPress, but those platforms require a lot of time for development and testing, while Shopify offers many ready-made templates and apps,” Bavo says.
Thanks to the automation of the sport club network discounts, they no longer need to manually check and input all sold products per pharmacy - saving them over two weeks of manual work on a yearly basis.
“Working with dear digital went smoothly. The biggest asset of their team is that they don’t just build - they think ahead, ask why, and challenge you. The QR kickback mechanism, for example, was invented and implemented by dear digital and it has made our lives easier by saving us manual work and reducing complexity.”
- Bavo Depoortere (Digital Marketing & Website Manager at Ceres Pharma)
What's next? Well, future steps include deeper integration with marketplaces, further optimisation of the athlete and club ecosystem, and continued investment in personalised and educational experiences for users.
Facing similar challenges in your digital ecosystem? Let’s explore how we can help you simplify, scale, and grow.
