Ventum Builds Their Ideal Ecommerce Machine on BigCommerce

Precision engineering meets high-end performance.

Since their debut at the 2015 IRONMAN competition in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Ventum has, in a relatively short time, become one of the most recognizable names in performance cycling. Their radical designs and state-of-the-art engineering propel athletes across the globe to victory. And, in 2022, they were looking for a new ecommerce solution to do the same for their business.

CHALLENGE

Ventum’s ecommerce platform wasn’t able to keep pace.

When they first ventured into ecommerce, Ventum used a combination of Shopify and manual invoicing for online bike sales. Each bike was custom made, so customers picked a frame, size, groupo, wheels, and more as they progressed through the process. As their brand grew in popularity, this task became more and more complicated, and the Ventum team knew they needed a more sophisticated solution.

Next, they moved to WooCommerce, hoping to solve some of their inventory and invoicing woes. But, as supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold, they experienced the same challenges from when they were on their previous platform. Manual invoicing paired with lags in supply chains often meant logistical challenges for both the customer and internal teams.

“They were doing everything manually, invoicing, inventory, everything,” says Monte Persinger, Creative Director and President at Internet Design and Publishing, Inc. (IDP), Ventum’s web development partner. “So when customers would go to the site and put in an order, their inventory on the site might not reflect their actual inventory in the warehouse. People would make their dream build and put in an order, then get an email saying they couldn’t actually make their bike because the parts weren’t available.”

The team at Ventum decided it was time to find an ecommerce platform that could integrate the back-end functionality and front-end experience of their site to give their customers the best possible shopping experience, while integrating with a more sophisticated invoicing and inventory system on the back-end to help internal teams.

SOLUTION

BigCommerce allowed for peak performance.

Ventum turned to their agency partner TWIO for help. “In the beginning, we were really scoping it out and seeing what the major pain points were,” said Valerie Reaburn, Director of Interactive and Operations at TWIO. “From an operational perspective, we saw that nothing was really coming together how they would’ve liked it to. Everything was manual. They needed a much more robust system.”

They originally looked at two separate platforms, Magento and Shopify, as alternatives for WooCommerce, but both proved to have their own sets of challenges. Magento proved to be the wrong fit based on Ventum’s inventory management system, and required too much custom configuration to be efficient for Ventum’s internal teams.

TWIO then turned to IDP, a BigCommerce certified agency partner, for suggestions on how to move forward. “When we learned that the teams were considering Shopify for the build, we had to advise in a different direction,” explained Persinger. “Everything about this project sounded like they were looking for high levels of customization and advanced functionality, which Shopify just doesn’t do. I knew we had to go with BigCommerce.”

Once they decided on a platform, it was time to get to work creating a high-performance machine that could match the products Ventum sold.

Developing the bike builder.

Perhaps the most important piece of the new site was the bike builder. This tool would allow customers to make the bike of their dreams, pulling items and various SKUs directly from Ventum’s inventory. The new builder had to integrate seamlessly with other internal systems, and provide customers with the highest level of customization possible.

“We really wanted to amplify the bike builder,” Reaburn said. “The visuals, the ease of use, and the customer-facing side of it. We really wanted this to elevate the brand, because it was such an integral part of the customer experience. Having gone with BigCommerce, we definitely made the better choice there with how it integrates with all the other systems.” 

Using Doogma, a product personalization and customization software, the team created a bike builder that allowed Ventum’s customers to see real-time inventory data as they built their dream bike. Orders would then go directly to the Ventum warehouse and be fulfilled quickly, rather than invoicing and processing manually, as they were before. This meant less confusion with inventory, and more seamless operations overall.

A visual experience to match their bikes’ high-end engineering.

When your customers are accustomed to seeing vibrant hills and colorful sunsets from the saddle of a bike, you need to meet them with striking visuals and page designs. Using Shogun Page Builder, the team at TWIO was able to create truly stunning designs that could meet the visual expectations of Ventum’s customers. They developed product pages with captivating imagery, detailed specifications, and even videos showing their bikes in action across paved, gravel, and track conditions. 

The blog section of their site, or the “Journal,” utilizes BigCommerce’s native blogging functionality to create posts that are more editorial in nature, featuring videos, custom blocks, and deep visuals. And they were even able to expand on their already extensive boutique and parts shop, which sells small accessories and exclusive Ventum merchandise.

RESULTS

Propelled toward success with an easy-to-use ecommerce platform.

Since their move to BigCommerce, Ventum has seen a massive boost in performance and customer satisfaction. In fact, customers are so satisfied with the new Ventum website that session duration has increased by 17%, and the number of sessions per user has increased 9%.

But Ventum isn’t just impressed with their new performance numbers. With BigCommerce, their team feels empowered to take the site into their own hands, exploring new features and possibilities as the need arises. “From my end, I’ve been able to take on more myself, to try new things and to experiment with different pieces of the site,” said Harry Keeran, Marketing Manager at Ventum. “I can go into the back-end and add features that have real benefits for our marketing team. I don’t have a technical background, but it’s easy to go in and make the site do what I want it to.”

Keeran also knows that, if something goes wrong, he can count on the BigCommerce support team to help. “I’m usually very hesitant to call support teams, because I don’t feel like they usually help at all, but I had an issue with our site and I thought ‘Whatever, I’ll try it.’ I called BigCommerce support and we actually got it fixed. That was the first time I’ve gotten off the phone with support and thought ‘Wow. That was actually a really good use of my time.’

“I don’t ever give good reviews of support teams, and this is a rave review,” he continued.

LOOKING AHEAD

Primed and fueled for future growth.

As Ventum moves into the future, they will continue to innovate with both their bikes and their ecommerce site. “I have so many plans for the future,” Keeran explained, “and I know that I can go in and do all these things now that we’re on BigCommerce. Abandoned cart emails are something we’re looking into, more things with email marketing, expanding digital advertising — I feel comfortable going into the back-end and exploring it all.”

Reaburn also sees the vast potential of the site they helped create, and is excited about the potential that Ventum has on BigCommerce. “Being able to integrate with so many different tools opens up a world of possibilities for Ventum,” she said. “We were able to work with each other and create such a great foundation for the future. I think Ventum is just going to grow from here. BigCommerce has given them such great potential for growth, and really being able to curate that customer journey, whether that’s through email or digital marketing or social media.” 

Published: October 2023