BB Wheels Goes the Extra Mile with BigCommerce

An accidental success

According to Dean Goebel, President of BB Wheels, their business “has always been unplanned and, at times, even accidental.”

After the Great Recession hit, Shannon Bertram, Founder and CEO of BB Wheels, found himself in a difficult predicament after he had previously lent money to a friend. Unfortunately, when the economy slowed, his friend could not make payments on the loan. Having a large family with young children to provide for, Shannon had to figure out a way to recover the money he lent out. While the friend could not pay him back with money, the friend did have aftermarket wheel inventory he could provide in exchange. So, Bertram decided to take payment in the form of wheels and resell them on Craigslist.

After selling on Craigslist for some time, Bertram’s wife suggested he build a website for his “business.” Enter BigCommerce.

From there, BB Wheels took off — growing from an unintended side hustle into a full-fledged ecommerce merchant, competing with big-name sellers like eBay, Amazon, Discount Tire and Tire Rack.

Now, with over a decade in business, BB Wheels is still a family-owned operation located in Albany, Minnesota, specializing in delivering wheels, tires and vehicle accessories anywhere in the lower 48 states. With a mission “to become your preferred online shopping destination for wheels, tires and vehicle accessories,” BB Wheels takes pride in offering small-town personalized service with high-quality products at affordable prices.

CHALLENGE

Large catalog, less complexity

When BB Wheels decided to take their company online, Bertram considered other platforms, such as Magento and Shopify, hoping to find a solution that could support their extensive and ever-growing product catalog.

However, considering Shopify’s 100 SKUs per product cap and Magento’s extensive, high-cost setup, these platforms couldn’t meet the requirements of BB Wheels’ catalog or budget. On top of that, as a newer company, BB Wheels didn’t have the technical knowledge that some ecommerce platforms required.

“With the complexity of how we built our products and the sheer size of our catalog, BigCommerce was the best affordable option. Other options may have fit our needs but were very customized and expensive. Additionally, many of these alternative platforms would have required a fairly large technological skill set,” said Goebel.

SOLUTION

Getting on a roll with BigCommerce

After vetting several platforms, BB Wheels eventually landed on BigCommerce. As an affordable option with the capacity to support the company’s extensive catalog, BigCommerce has been BB Wheels’ ecommerce platform of choice since day one.

“We like to hit the ‘easy button’ wherever we can. BigCommerce gave us what we needed at the right price point and allowed us to launch and move quickly,” said Goebel.

BB Wheels found that BigCommerce gave it the infrastructure needed to grow and scale — without requiring extensive technical expertise or maintenance.

"​​BigCommerce makes sure that everything is secure," said Chelsey Eggert, Director of Operations for BB Wheels. "We don't have to worry about our site being hacked or maintaining it. Also, it helps to have BigCommerce on the backend, so we can focus on selling products."

Apps to keep things rolling

On top of the platform’s ease-of-use and scalability, BB Wheels turned to BigCommerce’s app marketplace to find just the right tools to ramp up their website’s capabilities.

"The BigCommerce app ecosystem comes in handy. When you start working with the apps, many app developers are willing to make modifications to meet your needs, which is helpful. Also, it's nice that BigCommerce vets out these vendors and apps before they even get on to the platform," said Eggert.

BB Wheels chose NetSuite as its ERP, with Celigo as the bridge between BigCommerce and NetSuite. The hybrid connection allows BB Wheels to engage with its customers through various third-party apps in the BigCommerce ecosystem. “We love the synergies of having NetSuite on the backend and BigCommerce on the frontend. This mutually beneficial relationship allows us to leverage various plug-and-play mechanisms, including Klaviyo, Extend, Affirm and others,” said Goebel. Learn more about how BB Wheels uses Affirm.

Yotpo is used for product reviews and Export Stash for product SKU and inventory export. These are a few apps and integrations BB Wheels uses to give its customers a more thoughtful shopping experience.

"Another big one that we use is Searchspring. It is integral to our entire website. We've got Google-like functionality from a search standpoint, and all of our filters and finders are Searchspring-driven. So it's all these things that, individually, may not seem huge but collectively are a game-changer," said Goebel.

On top of that, BB Wheels has even found a foothold in the B2B space, selling to dealers using BigCommerce features such as customer groups, price lists and discounts; the company can give B2B customers the best of both worlds — the online experience and the human touch. Read more about how BB Wheels sells online to B2Bs.

RESULTS

Full speed ahead

BB Wheels is clearly on a roll — and shows no signs of slowing down.

“Among the big benefits to BB Wheels has been that BigCommerce is always iterating on the backend; the infrastructure is always being improved and maintained. The second is the BigCommerce app universe. Being able to plug high-quality add-ons into our website quickly and efficiently is a big deal,” said Goebel.

Sure enough, when comparing 2021 performance metrics over 2020, the company has experienced a 63% increase in conversation rate, a 34% increase in revenue and an 8% increase in customers.

LOOKING AHEAD

Settling in for the ride

So what’s next for BB Wheels?

“We are not leaving BigCommerce — we'll tell you that,” said Goebel.

In agreement, Eggert explained, “Any future website that we bring on board would also be through the BigCommerce ecosystem. BigCommerce plays a huge role in our success.”

With a new website in the works, much of BB Wheels' future plans can be summed up in one word: growth. Goebel hopes to grow the company's revenue in the years ahead substantially. "When I came on board, we were at $15 million. Now we're at about $40 million, and I still think we have a massive opportunity for long term growth," Goebel said.

As BB Wheels goes full speed ahead, BigCommerce will continue to provide the scalability, innovatio, and support to allow the company to settle in for the ride.

Published: September 2022