Work · E-commerce
Ethica Coffee Roasters
Monthly net sales more than tripled in two and a half years, with paid advertising switched off entirely.
- Sector
- Specialty coffee, Toronto
- Service
- E-commerce
- Year
- 2024 to now
The starting point
Ethica roasts specialty coffee in Toronto and sells it online through Shopify. When we took over the account on April 1, 2024, the store was doing roughly CAD $10,500 a month in net sales: CAD $31,462 across the three months before we started.
The business already had loyal customers. Shopify recorded 220 returning customers in that quarter alongside 124 new ones. Nothing was broken, so the work was about growth.
The partnership
We have run Ethica's e-commerce since then. Early on we switched paid advertising off entirely and put the effort into the store itself and into the experience of coming back to buy again.
In 2026 we rebuilt the storefront on a headless Shopify setup, separating the customer-facing site from Shopify's commerce backend. Shopify first records headless sales in August 2026, after monthly net sales had already passed CAD $30,000, so the growth is not an artefact of the new channel.
Monthly net sales rose from CAD $11,717 in April 2024 to CAD $20,612 in April 2025 and CAD $31,101 in April 2026. By the third quarter of 2026 Ethica was averaging CAD $34,059 a month.
The results
In the latest complete quarter, July to September 2026, net sales were CAD $102,176, up 51.2% on the same quarter in 2025 and 139.6% on 2024. Orders rose from 553 to 1,411 a quarter and average order value from CAD $58.63 to CAD $72.89. Returning customers grew from 220 to 551 while the returning-customer rate held at around 69%, so the new customers stayed too.
3.2×
average monthly net sales
+155%
orders per quarter
+24%
average order value
+151%
returning customers
$10.5K
Q1 2024, monthly average
$11.7K
April 2024
$20.6K
April 2025
$31.1K
April 2026
$34.1K
Q3 2026, monthly average
Shopify-recorded net sales across all channels. The first bar is the quarter before we started.
| Measure | Jan to Mar 2024 | Jul to Sep 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average monthly net sales | CAD $10,487 | CAD $34,059 | +224.8% |
| Quarterly orders | 553 | 1,411 | +155.2% |
| Average order value | CAD $58.63 | CAD $72.89 | +24.3% |
| Returning customers | 220 | 551 | +150.5% |
Growth in context
Canadian retail e-commerce sales grew 9.0% in 2024, according to Statistics Canada. In the coffee category, Black Rifle Coffee Company reported 13.6% year-over-year growth in direct-to-consumer revenue for the second quarter of 2026, its strongest in more than four years. Ethica's 51.2% growth in the third quarter of 2026 stands above both.
Canadian coffee prices rose 20.3% on an annual average basis in 2025, so some of the increase is price. Most of it is not. Orders more than doubled, and returning and new customers both grew.
“Their timing is precise, their quality is consistent, and they always follow through. A dependable long-term partner for our e-commerce department.”
Source: Ethica's Shopify sales and customer reports through September 30, 2026, reviewed October 16, 2026. Net sales are Shopify-recorded sales across all channels in CAD, excluding shipping and taxes and reflecting discounts and reversals. Quarterly figures use complete calendar quarters; average monthly net sales is quarterly net sales divided by three. Partnership and advertising details are our account of the engagement.
Market figures: Statistics Canada, Annual retail trade 2024 (February 11, 2026) and Consumer Price Index annual review 2025 (January 19, 2026); Black Rifle Coffee Company, second quarter 2026 financial results.
Public sources: Statistics Canada, The Daily.
This is the kind of work we do as e-commerce. Tell us what you are working on at hello@outsidethebox.dev.
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