We take consumer brands into new markets and answer for the margin.
ITechX is an operating partner for consumer brands: one team that builds the Shopify store, runs the paid media and handles the market operations behind them. We work with brands across Europe, the US and the Middle East that have outgrown their home market.
What is left to run the business. Our weekly reviews start here, and it is the number we are judged on.
For seven years we have run growth for a premium European food brand across eleven markets: the store on Magento and then Shopify, the paid media, the email, and the delivery rules for perishable products. The same team, the whole time.
Why consumer brands stall between $5M and $20M
In our experience it is rarely the product. Three things tend to happen at once.
The home market fills up. Your best audiences have already seen your ads. Each extra customer in the same country costs more than the last, and the growth plan slowly turns into a discount calendar.
Nobody owns the margin. The developers own the site, the agency owns ROAS and a freelancer owns the tracking. Each reports on its own line of the P&L, so no one is responsible for what is left at the bottom.
New markets get treated as translation. A translated store running the home-market ads meets unfamiliar payment habits, carriers, VAT and consumer law. Results disappoint and the market is written off too early.
Each of these is an organisational problem before it is a marketing one. So we stay after the plan: the same team builds it, runs it and reports on it every week.
One team, organised around contribution margin
Four disciplines sit in the same team and work from a shared plan. Every week we review them with you, starting from the margin line rather than from channel reports.
Shopify and Shopify Plus builds
Magento to Shopify migrations
ERP, 3PL and custom app integrations
Meta, Google, TikTok and native
Creative made and tested in-house
Budgets set by payback period
Server-side tracking
First-party attribution
Weekly MER and margin reporting
Localisation and local payments
Carriers and delivery rules
VAT and consumer-law compliance
Market entry for consumer brands
Market entry is our flagship engagement. It covers the decision, the build, the launch and the first months of trading, with the same team throughout.
- 1
Decide
We size the market and build a landed-cost P&L: prices, VAT and duties, delivery cost and the acquisition cost you should expect.
You get a go or no-go recommendation with the numbers behind it.
- 2
Build
Shopify Markets, local domain and language, payment methods, carriers, legal pages and the consumer-law details each country enforces.
You get a store that is ready to trade in that market.
- 3
Launch
Media and creative made for the local audience, with tracking live before the first order arrives.
You get first sales and clean data from day one.
- 4
Run
We run the market with you and review it weekly. We scale the channels that pay back and switch off the ones that don't.
You get a market that pays for itself, or a clear call to stop.
Where we launch brands
Europe
Shopify Markets, EU VAT and OSS, local payment methods such as iDEAL, BLIK and Klarna, and German and EU consumer law.
United States
State sales tax, US carriers and 3PLs, and creative and media made for American buyers rather than adapted from Europe.
Middle East
Arabic and English storefronts, Tabby, Tamara and cash on delivery, and Gulf carriers, run from our Dubai headquarters.
Three ways to work with us
Advise
We diagnose and plan with you: market sizing, a landed-cost P&L, the store and media plan, and senior oversight as your fractional CMO. Your team carries it out and we review progress every month.
Build and launch
We build the store and launch the market, then hand over to your team with documentation and training.
Operate
We run the store, the media and the market with you week to week, and answer for the margin.
Every engagement starts with an audit. Shopify builds, Magento migrations and ongoing growth work are also available on their own.
Seven years with a premium food brand
Situation
A premium food brand selling perishable, high-value products online across Europe, with a growing catalogue and strict delivery requirements.
What we did
Built and ran the stores on Magento and then Shopify, set up delivery rules for chilled goods, ran paid media and email, and opened new country stores one market at a time.
We walk through the full case, with figures, on a call.
Denis Antonov
Denis has spent his career in performance marketing and e-commerce operations. For the past seven years he has led growth for a premium European food brand as its outsourced CMO. He is the first person you speak to.
We build our own products too
Our engineers ship iOS apps and mobile games under the ITechX name, our first Shopify app is in development, and we run our own DTC brands. A tactic reaches a client after we have paid for it ourselves.
Insights
All articlesEurope looks like one market on a map and behaves like a dozen in practice.
How to move platforms with rankings, data and revenue intact.
How to calculate both honestly, and run weekly growth decisions from them.
Questions brands ask before an audit
Which markets do you work in?
Europe, including the EU and the UK, the United States, and the Middle East, mainly the UAE and the wider GCC. Our headquarters are in Dubai.
Can you advise rather than run it?
Yes. If you have a strong in-house team, we work as advisers: a plan, senior oversight as your fractional CMO and a monthly review. You can move to a hands-on engagement at any point.
What size of brand do you work with?
Consumer brands with a proven product, usually with $5M to $20M in online revenue and a plan to grow outside their home market.
Do you only work with Shopify?
Shopify and Shopify Plus are our default for new stores. We also maintain Magento stores and migrate them to Shopify with rankings, customers and order history intact.
Who owns the store, the domain and the ad accounts?
You do, from day one. Stores are built for transfer into your ownership, and every account is set up in your company's name.
How does an engagement start?
With an application. If we are a fit, we start with an audit of your store, tracking, media and target markets. You get a written diagnosis and a plan, then decide whether we run it with you.
Why is there a waitlist?
We take on a limited number of new brands each year so that each one gets a senior team from the first audit to the weekly reviews. Every application is reviewed, and we reply within two working days.
Join the waitlist
We take on a limited number of new brands each year, so each one gets a senior team. Tell us about your brand and where you want to grow. It suits consumer brands with $5M to $20M in online revenue.
+971 58 668 99 22
Headquartered in Dubai. Working hours cover Europe, the Gulf and the US East Coast.