J Thomas Home is a distinguished provider of handcrafted wood furniture and home decor, celebrated for its exceptional craftsmanship and timeless design. Based in Kansas City, MO, this family-owned business prides itself on creating beautiful, functional pieces that enhance any home. Each item is meticulously crafted from locally sourced, high-quality materials, ensuring durability and a unique touch.
The company's product range includes custom shelving, mantels, and a variety of home decor items, all designed to meet the specific needs and tastes of their customers. J Thomas Home's commitment to sustainability is evident in their use of eco-friendly practices and materials, reinforcing their dedication to both quality and environmental responsibility.
At the heart of J Thomas Home is a passionate team that values community, tradition, and innovation. Their motto, “From our hands to your home,” reflects their dedication to delivering personalized, high-quality products that transform spaces. With a focus on exceptional customer service and a seamless shopping experience, J Thomas Home continues to be a trusted name in the industry, offering pieces that are not only functional but also rich in character and charm.
SwiftOtter and the team have been great to work with! Friendly and knowledgeable, they helped us transition our site from Shopify and implement a new site on BigCommerce. Overall, they made it a pretty smooth experience.
The Challenge
JThomasHome.com, previously hosted on Shopify, faced significant challenges in merchandising their products. The company needed a platform offering greater flexibility, particularly for handling product variations. Shopify’s limitations, which include a restriction of 3 options and 100 variants per product, prevented J Thomas Home from effectively showcasing their extensive customization options. This constraint was especially problematic given that customization is central to their business model.
Their primary goals included finding a platform that could elevate the user experience, streamline the purchasing workflow, and more effectively display their diverse range of handcrafted wood furniture and home decor in a unified manner. Additionally, J Thomas Home aims to increase their current conversion rate from 1% to 3% in the upcoming year following the launch of their new platform. They needed a solution that would allow for intricate product customization, seamless inventory management, and an enhanced visual presentation of their offerings.
By transitioning to a more robust e-commerce platform, J Thomas Home aimed to improve site performance, provide a more intuitive user interface, and offer customers a richer, more engaging shopping experience. This move was also intended to reduce the time and effort required for site maintenance, allowing the team to focus more on innovation and customer service.
Ultimately, J Thomas Home sought a platform that would not only meet their current needs but also support future growth and expansion, ensuring they could continue to deliver high-quality, customized products to their customers efficiently and effectively.
The Solution
Josh and Emily Lorg, the husband and wife co-owners of J Thomas Home, sought a local partner to address their e-commerce challenges and found SwiftOtter through an online search. As a BigCommerce Preferred Partner headquartered in Olathe, Kansas, SwiftOtter was up to the task and quickly recognized that BigCommerce was the ideal platform for J Thomas Home’s migration from Shopify.
Leveraging their extensive expertise in BigCommerce, SwiftOtter developed a customized solution tailored to J Thomas Home’s specific needs. This included creating a website that supported intricate product customization and an enhanced visual presentation to showcase their handcrafted wood furniture and home decor.
The collaboration between J Thomas Home and SwiftOtter resulted in a successful migration, culminating in the launch of a new website that not only enhanced the user experience but also effectively reflected the handcrafted quality and personalized service that J Thomas Home is known for. The new website stands out in the market, offering a streamlined purchasing workflow and a visually appealing interface that captures the unique, artisanal experience of J Thomas Home’s products.
Key Implementations
- Platform Transition: Replacing Shopify, BigCommerce became the foundation for J Thomas Home's eCommerce transformation. This transition provided the flexibility and advanced features needed to support their growing business and unique product offerings.
- Mobile Friendly Design Enhancement: Utilizing BigCommerce's sleek and responsive Cornerstone theme as a base, SwiftOtter presented J Thomas Home with an aesthetically pleasing online storefront. This ensured a cohesive shopping experience for users across all devices, which was vital given that nearly 70% of J Thomas Home’s web traffic originates from mobile devices.
- Data Migration: SwiftOtter spearheaded the seamless transition of customer and order history data from Shopify to BigCommerce, ensuring data integrity and minimizing potential disruptions. The J Thomas Home team took charge of the product migration, using this opportunity to revamp their merchandising approach for custom products. Since it wasn’t a one-to-one migration, they handled this manually, leveraging BigCommerce’s flexible handling of product variations. This resulted in an efficient data migration process, providing J Thomas Home with a hassle-free experience.
- Integrated Operations: By utilizing the BigCommerce Odoo Connector, the integration process between BigCommerce and Odoo became streamlined and efficient. Product inventory data from Odoo is fluidly synchronized with BigCommerce, ensuring that the inventory count is always accurate and products are consistently available for customers to purchase.
- Blog: Leveraging the native BigCommerce blog, SwiftOtter migrated existing blog posts and added the ability to filter posts by categories on the listing page, enhancing user navigation and content discovery.
- Product Detail Page (PDP): Advanced widgets were implemented on the PDP to provide comprehensive product information, including details, specifications, product downloads, FAQs, shipping and return information, and estimated delivery time driven by custom fields. Additionally, CTAs for custom sizing and design assistance were added, along with a display highlighting that the products are proudly made in the USA.
- Klaviyo: Taking advantage of the BigCommerce/Klaviyo integration, SwiftOtter implemented newsletter signups in the footer, provided customers the option to opt-in when creating an account, and added a pop-up signup form. This seamless integration with Klaviyo enhanced J Thomas Home's email marketing capabilities.
- Judge.Me: SwiftOtter implemented Judge.Me Reviews, including a homepage widget displaying reviews, star ratings on the PLP, and reviews on the PDP with the ability for customers to leave a review. This enhanced customer trust and engagement.
- Trade Application: SwiftOtter created a sign-up page for professionals such as interior designers, architects, builders, remodelers, and general contractors, enabling them to enjoy perks like bulk pricing, dedicated customer service, and expedited order options. J Thomas Home can easily add customers to the trade program customer group using native BigCommerce features, allowing them to offer storewide discounts.
- CMS Pages: SwiftOtter migrated all existing content pages, including installation instructions, design advice, FAQs, and more, utilizing a combination of existing native widgets and newly developed custom widgets. The Gallery page features a custom layout that allows J Thomas Home to showcase their products in past projects. Users can scroll through the inspirational images to spark creativity for designing their own spaces.
- Custom PageBuilder Widgets: SwiftOtter developed custom widgets like "Shop by Wood" and "How it Works" to enhance user experience and product discovery. These widgets are not only aesthetically pleasing but also provide a seamless user experience, setting J Thomas apart from the competition. They highlight the materials used and the process of ordering custom shelving, making it easy for customers to understand and engage with the products.
- Payment Options: SwiftOtter implemented Affirm for buy now, pay later options, and integrated Braintree for credit card processing, including PayPal through Braintree, to offer flexible payment solutions for customers.
- Shipping: SwiftOtter set up native BigCommerce shipping options, including a free “Local Pickup” option and standard shipping rules. For example, charging $9.99 for orders up to $50 or applying a $14.99 shipping fee for orders up to $100 and offering free shipping for orders over $100
- Tax: SwiftOtter configured basic BigCommerce tax settings to handle tax rules efficiently.
- Google Analytics & Google Shopping Feed: SwiftOtter integrated with Google Analytics 4 and implemented a Google Shopping Feed to ensure continuous tracking of customer behavior and product performance without downtime.
- Fulfillment: SwiftOtter configured and connected to the client’s Shipping Easy account. Orders are imported into Shipping Easy when submitted, and once shipped, shipment data is sent back to the BigCommerce store. Customers receive emails with tracking information, ensuring a seamless fulfillment process.
The Road Ahead
As J Thomas Home continues to grow and evolve, the migration to BigCommerce positions them well for future success, providing the flexibility to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. They will leverage analytics and customer feedback to continuously optimize their online store, refine user experience, enhance product pages, and improve site performance. With BigCommerce’s robust capabilities, J Thomas Home plans to expand their product line, introducing new custom products and variations to cater to a wider range of customer preferences.
Utilizing their new email marketing tool, Klaviyo, they plan to develop personalized and targeted marketing campaigns to build stronger customer relationships and drive higher engagement. Advanced SEO strategies and content marketing will increase online visibility, attracting more organic traffic. Further integration with tools like Odoo and Shipping Easy will streamline operations, automate inventory management, order processing, and fulfillment, ensuring an efficient and scalable business model.
J Thomas Home also plans to enhance customer engagement with loyalty programs and exclusive offers for repeat customers, rewarding loyalty and encouraging new customers to return. Committed to continuous innovation, they will explore new technologies and trends to enhance business operations and customer experience. By focusing on these strategic areas, J Thomas Home is well-positioned to capitalize on their new platform investment, driving growth and ensuring long-term success in the e-commerce space.
Outcome
The migration to BigCommerce has yielded significant positive outcomes for J Thomas Home. The new platform has not only addressed their previous challenges but has also provided a solid foundation for future growth. The enhanced user experience, combined with seamless product customization and efficient inventory management, has led to increased customer satisfaction and higher conversion rates.
The streamlined operations and automation have significantly reduced manual workload, allowing the team to focus on innovation and customer service. The integration with Klaviyo and Yotpo has enhanced their marketing capabilities and customer engagement, resulting in stronger relationships and increased sales. The advanced SEO strategies and content marketing efforts have boosted their online visibility, driving more organic traffic to the site.
Overall, the transition to BigCommerce has empowered J Thomas Home to deliver a superior shopping experience, expand their product offerings, and efficiently manage their operations. This strategic move has positioned them well for continued success and growth in the competitive e-commerce landscape.