The Journey from eBay to E-tail

The Solution

First gear: Find your niche

Jonathon and James’ first business together was a small bicycle rental and tour company in Manly. Spotting a gap in the market for an affordable online bike store, they decided to test the waters with an eBay store and it was a hit. In 2011 they took the plunge and launched their online store, Bicycles Online.

Second gear: What’s holding you back?

The store was going well, so well, that they soon encountered growing pains when their ecommerce platform couldn’t keep up with demand.

For starters, customer orders came from different warehouses and they needed a system capable of accurately managing stock and fulfilling orders across multiple locations. “It’s complex stuff, but it’s critical to get it right,” says Jonathon. “Let’s say your stock isn’t synchronized across your brick and mortar and online stores and one item gets sold in two places at once. Now that’s a big problem for you and your customers.”

Third gear: Get the right solution

Until recently, the solution to this problem was neither easy nor affordable, with some solutions leaving you with no change from $250,000. “We couldn’t afford those sorts of costs. And thankfully we didn’t need to spend anywhere near that amount,” explains James. “With Commerce Cloud, we got our hands on enterprise-level customization at an SME price point. It’s a groundbreaking platform that’s far more powerful than the competition because it has an inbuilt inventory management system. That means there’s no risk of errors like those doubled up sales orders.”

Fourth gear: Get set up – quick smart

Tight time constraints are a common challenge facing businesses.

• How do you grow your business when you are so busy working in it?
• How do you build an online store?
• Where will you find all the right business partners required to make it happen?
• Who can you trust to understand your needs and meet them?

Despite requiring a custom template and a complex back-end solution from Commerce Cloud, taking Bicycle Online to the next level was quick and stress-free. Jonathon explains, “And because we were dealing with a local company there was no time lag and nothing got lost in translation; that made things so much easier.”

Fifth gear: Killer customer experience

Online customer service is vital. “It’s a fallacy that you can’t deliver exceptional customer service online; with Commerce Cloud, we ensure our customers get a premium shopping experience – “from choosing the right product to sending it back if they aren’t happy.” Commerce Cloud tailors the shopping experience to a customer’s preference and because it seamlessly integrates with Aussie freight providers, order fulfillment time is halved.

With Commerce Cloud, customer service is even more exceptional. The team can recognize customers by their phone number and have access to their full history at their fingertips. “The days of having to ask a customer to provide a receipt as proof of purchase are gone,” says Jonathon. “And Commerce Cloud even helps with customer retention by sending a series of emails triggered by certain events.”