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increase in conversion rate
decrease in bounce rate
months to launch
Performance metrics compare June 2023 to December 2023.
Sleek. Simple. Elegant. All these words and more come to mind when you lay eyes on the home furnishings of Wovenbyrd. Ty Baucum started Wovenbyrd as a way for individuals to furnish their dream homes in an easy and affordable way.
But Wovenbyrd’s story is unique among furniture sellers. They initially entered the market through third-party marketplaces. Originally selling through Wayfair, they then moved onto selling through other platforms like Amazon, Overstock, and Target.Â
After creating this successful foundation, Baucum decided it was time to grow the business into new markets and begin selling direct-to-consumer (DTC).Â
“We were at a point in our maturity where we wanted to reinvest in the brand and get more ownership of the customer and their data. Doing that is really only possible through a DTC setup,” Baucum said.
Wovenbyrd partnered with an agency to build their first DTC site. Originally it was built using WordPress, but used Shopify for checkout and JavaScript as the pagebuilder.
“The way their previous agency built the site wasn't actually building out the pages with Wordpress's PHP. It was using a JavaScript solution on top of Wordpress. Then you had Shopify behind all of that. So basically three technologies put together. While we are in favor of composable commerce, it was overly complicated, creating sync issues and difficulty updating the experience,” explained Scott Williams, Chief Innovation Officer at Human Marketing, Wovenbyrd’s current agency and BigCommerce Agency Partner.Â
The site, in addition to its complexity, didn’t provide Wovenbyrd with a stable digital foundation the brand needed to grow. “It didn’t really provide a conversion path that worked for our customers,” Baucum explained. “We needed an experience that was easier to navigate, provided stable functionality for us and for the customer, and a clear path to conversion.”
In early 2023, Baucum called on Human Marketing to evaluate their site and come up with a viable solution that could help achieve Wovenbyrd’s goals. “We explored both Shopify and BigCommerce, but ultimately decided that BigCommerce would be the best solution for their needs, especially with how easily we could implement a hybrid DTC and B2B solution,” Williams said.Â
“We explored both Shopify and BigCommerce, but ultimately decided that BigCommerce would be the best solution for their needs, especially with how easily we could implement a hybrid DTC and B2B solution.”
Scott Williams Chief Innovation Officer, Human Marketing
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After identifying the key features of Wovenbyrd’s new site and deciding on BigCommerce, Human Marketing set to work creating the foundation that would help elevate Wovenbyrd’s ecommerce potential.Â
In building Wovenbyrd’s new website, Human Marketing wanted to do two things that the previous build didn’t: establish trust in the young brand, and create a seamless path to purchase for customers.Â
“If our customers knew us, they knew us through Target or Amazon. Our products weren’t even branded on Wayfair. So if someone was coming to our website, they were almost seeing us for the first time,” Baucum explained.Â
“We have a few of our own tools that we used during the build process to add new functionality to the BigCommerce page builder and make it easier to update a site or create custom pages,” Williams said. Most important of those tools is the Atomic Widget app.Â
Human Marketing created this app in order to easily iterate on their clients’ sites without involving development or design teams in the process, making updates quick, simple, and efficient. The app is available for download on the BigCommerce marketplace here.Â
“We used this tool to add some really simple elements throughout the site that did a lot to elevate the brand,” Williams explained. “We added reviews to a number of locations, like the homepage and product pages, to build trust. We also added some icons and copy at specific points to reinforce some of the essentials when it comes to DTC ecommerce, like free shipping and premium quality. It was a lot of little things that really added up to create an established, trustworthy look and feel to the site.”Â
In addition to expanding Wovenbyrd’s DTC journey, Human Marketing was able to create a separate experience for B2B sales on the site.Â
“I knew that adding this kind of B2B functionality would really elevate the brand,” said Baucum. “It shows that we’re more than just a simple DTC business, but that we have this enhanced capability that opens us up to a whole other world of customers and opportunities.”Â
Through a portal, business buyers can log into Wovenbyrd Trade and receive custom pricing and discounts, access to exclusive products, and personalized shipping options. They also enlisted B2B Edition, BigCommerce’s specialized B2B solution, to add even more functionality to the site as the trade section of the business grows.Â
“With B2B Edition, we were able to get custom price lists, payment terms and methods, the quick reorder pad; just some really important features and functions that we knew would be necessary for this area of the business to truly succeed,” Williams explained. “Our roadmap for the site has a lot of this B2B functionality on it as a core part of the business to grow alongside the DTC component.”Â
While Wovenbyrd looks to increase its DTC business and begins to create its own space for sales, they still view marketplaces and other channels as valuable sources of traffic and revenue.Â
To improve inventory management and avoid redundancies in their tech stack, Wovenbyrd manages their integrations with marketplaces like Target (first-party) and Wayfair using Pipe17, a fully-automated omnichannel stream manager that integrates with the BigCommerce back-end. This allows them to sell on multiple platforms without having to manage multiple inventories, shipping configurations, and more.
Agency Partner:
Highlighted Applications:
B2B Edition, Enhanced B2B functionality
Atomic Widgets, Page builder marketing and conversion tools
Fueled.io, Data attribution
ShipperHQ, Advanced shippingÂ
Swerve Redirects, 404 tracking and 301 redirects
Pipe17, Omnichannel management
Technical Features:
Netsuite, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
“Adding this kind of B2B functionality would really elevate the brand. It shows that we’re more than just a simple DTC business, but that we have this enhanced capability that opens us up to a whole other world of customers and opportunities.”
Ty Baucum President and CEO, Wovenbyrd
“With BigCommerce, I have peace of mind. I know we’re positioned for growth on a platform that can support all the things we want to do over time.”
TY BAUCUM, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WOVENBYRD
Wovenbyrd’s move into the DTC space is one of immense opportunity. As they set off on this journey, the solid foundation that BigCommerce provides, along with a guiding hand from Human Marketing, mean that Wovenbyrd can continue to maintain their presence selling B2B and on marketplaces, while continuing to expand into new, untapped markets.Â
The site took an astonishing four months to launch — and the numbers only get better from there. Wovenbyrd’s bounce rate has decreased from 61% to 7% since launch (a 54% decrease), and their conversion rate has increased 564%.
But to Baucum, there’s more to BigCommerce than increasing conversion rates. “The biggest benefit to BigCommerce is that it enables us to add to it over time,” Baucum said. “We didn’t want to migrate to a new platform and then have to do it all over again in three years. We wanted a platform that would allow us to continue to scale and enrich the experience more as we grow. We’ve got that with BigCommerce.”
 “The biggest benefit to BigCommerce is that it enables us to add to it over time. We didn’t want to migrate to a new platform and then have to do it all over again in three years. We wanted a platform that would allow us to continue to scale and enrich the experience more as we grow. We’ve got that with BigCommerce.”
Ty Baucum President and CEO, Wovenbyrd
There is a promising future ahead for Wovenbyrd as they continue to work in both the B2B and DTC markets. The B2B workflows provided by B2B Edition to Wovenbyrd Trade allow for endless growth opportunities. “When it comes to Trade, all of the features and tools are there. Expanding this functionality is definitely on the roadmap as this becomes a bigger part of the business,” Williams said.Â
There are also plans to expand omnichannel functionality as they shift from third-party to first-party selling on marketplaces like Target Plus. “If we could leverage the data that we have in our BigCommerce back-end for that using tools like Feedonomics, that would be ideal,” explained Baucum. “We’ll be having that conversation soon and trying to figure out how we want to go about it.”Â
No matter where Wovenbyrd’s growth journey takes them, Baucum knows that BigCommerce will be there to help facilitate that growth.Â
“With BigCommerce, I have peace of mind. I know we’re positioned for growth on a platform that can support all the things we want to do over time,” he explained. “In 2023, that was a foundational investment for us, because I know there are parts of the platform that we haven’t unlocked or aren’t using yet, but we will. We’ll need them as we grow. That’s why we chose BigCommerce, and that’s why I’m so excited about the opportunities ahead.”Â
Published: February 2024
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