Skullcandy Crushes Ecommerce Innovation on BigCommerce

Igniting an audio revolution

Skullcandy’s founder, Rick Alden, launched the company in 2003 with Link, a device that allowed users to easily switch between phone calls and listening to music through the same pair of earbuds — a revolutionary idea at the time, when those devices were separate.

Almost two decades later and through constant evolution, Skullcandy has become a global leader in the audio space. And as they’ve expanded, they’ve relied on an ecommerce platform that could keep up with their cutting-edge approach to technology.

CHALLENGE

The high costs of Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Skullcandy started out selling on Salesforce Commerce Cloud, but they quickly began running into challenges.

“Salesforce Commerce Cloud was expensive to manage and maintain. It didn’t have a lot of agility and our team was tied to using external development resources that resulted in higher costs,” said Mark Hopkins, Chief Information Officer at Skullcandy.

That’s when they made the switch to BigCommerce. With the help of The ZaneRay Group, an award-winning BigCommerce agency partner, they launched a total of seven international sites in three languages and four currencies in just six months.

“When we first switched over, we were coming off a highly customized platform. We knew we wanted to simplify things and reduce complexity. But we walked in thinking that maybe we wouldn’t have a site that was quite as robust as our previous, more custom site,” explained Hopkins.

“But we’ve been able to do something even better. It’s easier to support, it looks better and it’s helping us innovate in ways we never thought possible,” he continued. “We haven’t had to make any concessions over features or functionality.”

Now, five years after the switch to BigCommerce, Skullcandy has been leveraging its creative internal team, a talented agency partner and a flexible ecommerce platform to help its business stay relevant in a rapidly changing industry.

SOLUTION

Showcasing Skullcandy’s innovative brand with BigCommerce.

Skullcandy is a lifestyle brand and technology company, and innovation is key when it comes to growth. Whether that innovation is in their products, brand or website, it’s important for Skullcandy to have the freedom to be creative.

“Innovation is key for us,” said Hopkins. “We’ve got US and international sites, and we have to make sure we’re able to represent the brand in a way that resonates with our customers globally.”

“If you’re 100 percent focused on fixing your website, you’re not going to be able to address all of your other channels,” said Penny Porterfield, Vice President of Business Development at ZaneRay. “Having a solid foundation in your website that allows you to focus on your business rather than being deep down in the trenches will really make that work well.”

Launching campaigns and expanding into new markets.

Skullcandy has been able to launch a variety of brand campaigns to reflect their core ideas and products. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they released limited edition products, and new playlists with featured artists and moods, all centered around positivity and mental health. “The custom CMS we created using BigCommerce helped us integrate that into the site, so they could tell those stories and launch those campaigns,” Porterfield explained.

Their custom CMS has also helped as the business expanded its footprint into other categories. Leveraging the lifestyle audio position, Skullcandy has recently expanded into an adjacent category: gaming. Growing into new verticals and being able to expand their brand so quickly has been key to their success.

“They really want to lead with their brand, and that’s so important. To lead with that on your website requires the ability to launch campaigns regularly and quickly,” explained Kirk Cornelius, Vice President of Strategy and Communications at ZaneRay. “Having the flexibility that BigCommerce provides for us, that speed and being able to be quick to market on campaigns is really where BigCommerce excels.”

Optimizing the ecommerce experience.

Their unique approach to ecommerce has also allowed Skullcandy to innovate not only with their brand, but with their site experience, as well. Using BigCommerce’s Stencil theme, they have been able to go live with eight separate site instances across the globe.

“There’s always some kind of limited edition collaboration we’re doing online,” said Hopkins. “We’re working with brands like Budweiser, Pit Viper and Doritos, and our flexible website infrastructure is key, allowing us to launch quickly and effectively.”

Optimizing product pages has also been vital for customer education. Offering technical details about each product is a critical aspect of the customer journey.

“They need to serve up a lot of unique specs for their products, in a way that’s educational, but relatable,” Porterfield said. “It’s a lot of information, but it wasn’t a lot of work to do that, to help the customer get a sense of ‘I know what I’m buying and I feel good about it because I have all this knowledge.’”

Checkout is another area of focus for Skullcandy. To accommodate varying discount and payment strategies across the globe, they needed another custom solution that could work in a fast-changing environment. Again, ZaneRay was able to help.

“We were able to work with the BigCommerce storefront API and incorporate some very unique programs to accommodate Skullcandy’s needs. We were able to do that without it being too costly, which solved a lot of problems for them,” explained Porterfield.

RESULTS

A true partnership in ecommerce success.

Five years after switching to BigCommerce, Skullcandy continues to see success, with its ecommerce business more than tripling in that time. Since moving to BigCommerce, Skullcandy has seen a 200% increase in revenue, a 40% increase in conversions and a 100% increase in traffic.

“BigCommerce has been a great option for us,” Hopkins said, when asked about the partnership. “The reason we selected them is because we really felt like they understood our brand. They wanted to be good partners with us. And they were the right size for us from a cost perspective, as well.”

“ZaneRay really helped us along the way, not only with finding BigCommerce and assessing platforms, but leveraging any opportunities for our ecommerce business,” Hopkins continued. “They understand the platform really well, and help keep us up to date with all the new updates and opportunities.”

“Skullcandy challenges us regularly on development. They come to us and say ‘This is how we want to run this campaign,’ or ‘How do we do X, Y, and Z?’ That’s where BigCommerce comes in handy,” said Porterfield. “We literally sit down with the BigCommerce team and say ‘Our client wants to do this. What do you recommend here?’ We come up with solutions together, and that’s fantastic.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Building the brand with BigCommerce.

There’s no doubt that Skullcandy and ZaneRay will continue to push the boundaries of innovation in their industries. Skullcandy is driving an amazing brand experience and entering new categories, and will be releasing new products throughout the upcoming year. One of the most exciting offerings will be the newest iteration of their Crusher™ over-ear headphone technology, which will be released in the spring.

BigCommerce will continue to be there to support this innovation online, and to help them move further outside of the box to grow their business.

“Ecommerce has always been important to us,” Hopkins explained, “and it’s all about the customer experience — the customer coming and learning about our brand and our products. As ecommerce becomes more central to our strategy, BigCommerce is a central part of that growth.”

Published: April 2023