Wed, 10/11/23, 11:30:00 AM
BigCommerce Elite agency partner Coalition Technologies redesigns Houzer from a legacy marketplace to a dynamic composable, direct-to-consumer (DTC) business in record time of six weeks
AUSTIN, Texas – October 11, 2023 – BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC), a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, today announced Houzer, a US supplier of luxury kitchen sinks and faucets, has launched its first composable, DTC site on the platform. With BigCommerce Elite agency partner Coalition Technologies and Feedonomics, a BigCommerce company, at the helm, Houzer fully transformed from a static B2B informational site into a modern, functional enterprise DTC in six weeks.
“Before we found BigCommerce and Feedonomics, our tech stack was pretty much as rudimentary as you can get,” said Michael Challinger, CEO at Houzer. “So the first thing I did was ask, ‘What should our technology stack be? How do we get a direct-to-consumer site stood up? And what does the beating heart of our technology platform look like?’ BigCommerce and Feedonomics kept appearing at the center. Add that I was up against a time crunch to present at a Miami conference about our new DTC business, and there was no way I was going there without one.”
Operating on an outdated tech stack and primarily selling across marketplaces such as Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's and Wayfair, Challinger’s aim was twofold: Invest in the best technologies and support the brand’s omnichannel needs to syndicate product data out to a wide variety of partners, easily integrate with new channels and manage a catalog of complex products.
“It was no small feat, considering Houzer was a legacy website with a ton of products, and we were migrating them to BigCommerce,” said Jordan Brannon, president at Coalition Technologies. “Migrating a site in six weeks that was both live and presentation-ready to a live audience is an incredible feat. We knew that we could trust BigCommerce to be a good partner for us on this project, to be communicative and answer us in a timely manner.”
With a small team and limited resources, Houzer needed a solution that would allow the team to focus less on managing its channels and more on what matters most: growing the business.
“Enterprise merchants need the ability to be flexible. And when it comes to selling across multiple channels, one can't have an omnichannel strategy without an integrated omnichannel data strategy,” said Sharon Gee, senior vice president, sales & partnerships at Feedonomics. “For Houzer, since they were already selling on marketplaces, and were looking to launch a new DTC site, it made sense to build a flexible technology stack that could seamlessly integrate catalog, inventory and orders across their diverse channels, ensuring their catalog was optimized to perform across each channel to drive increased sales without sacrificing speed to market."
Houzer also had the freedom to choose best-in-breed partner technologies that aligned with their business needs, including Buy with Prime, ZenDesk for CRM, AfterShip for shipping and fulfillment, Stripe for payment processing and Bazaarvoice for user generated content.
“There's wide freedom to be able to work with whoever you want. You're not forced into any one direction,” explained Challinger. “But the bigger value, in my opinion, is the degree of access and fervor BigCommerce puts into each of those partnerships. I can't emphasize enough how much value I've already seen from the partnerships that BigCommerce and Feedonomics have, and they're just getting started.”
Since migrating to DTC with BigCommerce and Feedonomics, Houzer’s growth has been even more impressive. Their bounce rate dropped by 23.3%, conversion rates increased by 47%, transactions by 150% and revenue by 118%.
“Ultimately, the next three months are going to be pretty pivotal for us, because, to some degree, they'll determine how many brands we buy,” said Challinger, “And they also are creating this internal fire of enthusiasm for our team as we see our results and growth.”
Watch the Houzer video case study to hear Michael Challinger share his experience in working with BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Coalition Technologies.
About BigCommerce BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC) is a leading open software-as-a-service (SaaS) ecommerce platform that empowers brands and retailers of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides its customers sophisticated enterprise-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries use BigCommerce to create beautiful, engaging online stores, including Ben & Jerry’s, Molton Brown, S.C. Johnson, Skullcandy, Solo Stove, Ted Baker and Vodafone. Headquartered in Austin, BigCommerce has offices in London, Kyiv, San Francisco, and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.bigcommerce.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
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