Sturm-Miltec's Journey to B2B eCommerce Mastery

with BigCommerce & SwiftOtter

About Sturm

Sturm-Miltec, a renowned provider of military surplus and MIL-TEC® tactical gear, has been a trusted name in the B2B wholesale domain since 1983. Based in Cartersville, GA, and fueled by its passionate German owners, this family-centric business has consistently delivered unparalleled quality. Jeff and Sherice Daniel, the dynamic duo at the helm, navigate the company's course, with their sons, Jonathan and Jacob, playing pivotal roles in sales and strategic expansion. With an impressive product offering that lives up to their motto, “Toothpicks to tanks…we sell just about everything in between,” Sturm-Miltec remains a market leader.

The Challenge

In the ever-shifting digital landscape, adaptability and foresight are essential for businesses to prosper. Previously relying on the soon-to-expire combination of Quickbooks Commerce and WooCommerce, Sturm-Miltec faced a pivotal moment and found themselves in a quandary with the impending sunset of Quickbooks Commerce in August 2023. Faced with a tight timeline and a pressing need for transformation, coupled with a vision to enhance their online operations, they began their quest for a robust digital platform.

The Solution

After rigorous research and evaluation of potential alternatives for their B2B wholesale operations, Sturm's team identified BigCommerce Enterprise with B2B Edition as the ideal successor. SwiftOtter, being a BigCommerce Certified Partner with B2B Specialized designation and having a deep-rooted alliance with the platform, emerged as the obvious partner to guide Sturm-Miltec through this essential transition. Capitalizing on their profound understanding of BigCommerce's advanced B2B functionalities and the efficiency of their BigCommerce “Accelerator Package”, SwiftOtter devised a solution meticulously aligned with Sturm-Miltec's unique needs, achieving a remarkable 12-week turnaround from project kick-off to website launch.

“Had it not been for SwiftOtter and literally being swift in their implementation, we would not have ever met the sunset deadline of our old software. They took an outdated and very basic website and rebuilt a brand new B2B website with a connection to our existing accounting software. We knew we were ready to grow again and we were forced to move quickly which is not ideal for any company. Making quick decisions and big financial decisions is difficult. Not knowing and having to trust in total strangers is scary.
SwiftOtter eased our minds immediately and took a whole lot of STRESS off of our backs. We turned the wheel over to them and they took charge. They worked closely with us and we practically felt like we knew every step they were making, yet we also didn’t need to know all the behind the scenes details that quite frankly were over our heads and the reason we hired professionals. The launch approached and we had a major hiccup unforeseen by all parties. We had to wait out a couple of extra weeks due to the sunsetting software holding us hostage- so to speak. SwiftOtter, stood by our side and told us they would not abandon us. We were so thankful they understood this. We couldn’t have asked for a better team. Joseph, Jon, Steve, and Matt were major players that we spoke with daily. Our project management team was top notch and very responsive and easy to work with.
Thank you guys! Thank you SwiftOtter.”
—Sherice Daniel, Office Manager at Sturm-Miltec

The all-new Sturm Miltec website

Key Implementations

Platform Transition: Replacing Quickbooks Commerce & WooCommerce, BigCommerce became the foundation for Sturm-Miltec's eCommerce transformation, integrating seamlessly with Quickbooks Online.
Mobile Friendly Design Enhancement: Utilizing BigCommerce's sleek and responsive B2B friendly themes, SwiftOtter presented Sturm-Miltec with an aesthetically pleasing online storefront. This ensured a cohesive shopping experience for users across all devices. This was vital given that nearly 70% of Sturm’s web traffic originates from mobile devices.
Data Migration: SwiftOtter spearheaded the seamless transition of products and customer data from WooCommerce & Quickbooks Commerce to BigCommerce, ensuring data integrity and minimizing potential hiccups. With their deep-rooted expertise in Quickbooks Commerce, Out of the Box Technology, a specialist third-party migration partner, handled the migration of products from Quickbooks Commerce to Quickbooks Online. This alliance guaranteed meticulous and efficient product migration from the legacy systems, providing Sturm-Miltec with a hassle-free experience.

Integrated Operations: Utilizing the BigCommerce Quickbooks Online app, the integration process between BigCommerce and Quickbooks Online became streamlined and efficient. Whenever orders are completed on BigCommerce, they are instantaneously relayed to Quickbooks Online. Concurrently, product inventory data from Quickbooks Online is fluidly synchronized with BigCommerce. As a result of this smooth workflow, BigCommerce always reflects an accurate inventory count, guaranteeing that products are consistently available for customers to purchase.
Fulfillment: ShipStation emerged as the go-to solution for fulfillment. Thanks to its user-friendly app, integration with ShipStation was a breeze. Orders seamlessly flow from BigCommerce to ShipStation, enabling the Sturm team to dispatch packages swiftly and keep customers informed with tracking updates.
Search Engine Optimization: Achieving top-tier search engine rankings was a key objective for Sturm-Miltec. The HTML structure was meticulously refined to comply with Google's standards. In addition, the robots.txt file was configured properly and the sitemap was ensured to be in full working order. All crucial 301 redirects were put in place, preventing any broken links from the old website. The results speak for themselves: after the launch, organic search now represents 56% of Sturm-Miltec’s total website traffic.

Bulk Pricing: Operating in the wholesale domain, Sturm-Miltec provides a strategic pricing structure that encourages bulk purchases. Using BigCommerce’s bulk pricing feature, they were able to easily offer scaled discounts based on the quantity of a product that a customer buys. This means the more a customer purchases of a particular product, the higher the discount they receive.

Enhanced B2B Features

Custom B2B Registration Flow: Sturm-Miltec's B2B business structure necessitates customer approval prior to any purchase. Recognizing this unique requirement, SwiftOtter implemented a custom registration workflow. This system conceals pricing details and "add-to-cart" options for guests. Only after a customer registers and receives Sturm-Miltec's approval do these features become visible.
Payment Options: Sturm-Miltec offers a variety of payment methods, encompassing credit cards, net payment terms and COD, among others. However, these methods aren't available to all customers. Fortunately, with BigCommerce's B2B portal, Sturm-Miltec was empowered to allocate specific payment methods to individual company accounts.
Price Lists: Sturm-Miltec uses BigCommerce's B2B portal to cater to customers with unique pricing agreements. Through specialized price lists, they set custom pricing for individual products, directly assigning these lists to designated company accounts. Unlike the previous manual order adjustments after order submission, this integration automates the pricing assignment, boosting efficiency and precision.

The Road Ahead

Recognizing the ongoing need for enhancements and the limited timeframe of the MVP stage, SwiftOtter has charted out a series of initiatives for Sturm-Miltec's next growth phase. This roadmap includes optimizing on-site search, exploring the integration of onsite chat, streamlining the EDI process through integration with SPS Commerce, leveraging email marketing automation for further growth, refining shipping calculations via ShipperHQ, among other advancements.

The Outcome

Sturm-Miltec’s transition to BigCommerce, facilitated by SwiftOtter, has set the stage for a robust, scalable, and efficient B2B eCommerce experience. With the foundational elements in place and a clear roadmap for future enhancements, the company is well-positioned to harness the full potential of digital commerce.