Service Type: Launch
Client Industry: Higher Education
Overview
Duquesne University sought a digital storefront that could serve internal departments, faculty, and administration with ease—without compromising on branding, licensing, or procurement protocols. The Shopstars team delivered a customized Shopify Plus storefront designed specifically for higher ed merchandise procurement, integrated seamlessly with Punchout systems and built to scale across departments.
From branded apparel to promotional gear, every detail was designed with user access control, compliance, and ease of use in mind
The Challenge
- The university needed a private Shopify store designed for departmental ordering with internal billing workflows.
- Procurement required Punchout functionality to integrate with their Jaggaer platform.
- Branding guidelines mandated strict logo placement, color use, and SKU availability by department.
- Administrators required tools for managing approvals, tracking order history, and exporting reports for compliance.
- The system needed to support future scalability to other departments and university units.
Our Solution
Shopify Store Development
- Built a Shopify Plus storefront with Duquesne’s visual identity, colors, and typography system at the core.
- Developed a flexible homepage structure to support changing campaigns, collections, and seasonal merchandising.
Punchout Integration
- Implemented Quantum Punchout, allowing real-time cXML cart transfer, cost center tracking, and procurement approval flow integration.
- Deployed a sandbox instance for procurement teams to run tests before go-live.
Branding Enforcement
- Added logic to control logo placement, allowable decoration colors, and print zones based on SKU and user department.
- Created upload validators to prevent unauthorized logos from being used during checkout.
- Enabled internal SKU locking and tagging to prevent mix-ups between athletic, academic, and administrative ordering.
Procurement & Admin Tools
- Integrated approval flow dashboards for order managers.
- Built downloadable order logs for monthly reconciliation and procurement auditing.
- Connected the store with internal accounting logic to simplify invoicing.
Technologies Used
- Shopify Plus
- Quantum Punchout Middleware (Jaggaer)
- Theme Customizer
- Brand Enforcement Engine
- Secure Checkout & User Roles
- Custom Admin Dashboard Views
Results
- Provided a branded storefront that met both internal procurement and external identity management requirements.
- Enabled real-time Punchout cart transfer and invoice handling, reducing email-based ordering.
- Improved clarity and consistency across all merchandise ordered university-wide.
- Delivered a scalable architecture that could be reused for other departments and use cases.
