Q2 2024: Outdoor Sporting Goods Analysis
Get SwiftOtter's expert analysis of these market shifts.
We are excited to present the Q2 Outdoor Sporting Goods Analysis.
One of the worst things possible in business is to fall behind your competition. As experts in eCommerce development, we are deeply invested in staying on top of the trends. This report features what we see and some commentary about our favorite website migrations.
If you're curious if the advantages of headless will apply to your website, let's chat. The SwiftOtter team is one of the most talented engineering teams in this industry. We will guide you on your journey to better performance, excellent SEO and an incredible content-editing experience.
Platform Migration Statistics
Our tracking systems observed several changes in the Outdoor Sporting Goods space this past quarter. We have compiled them into the table below:
Big Commerce | +3 |
Headless | +5 |
Shopify | +6 |
Wix | +1 |
Wordpress | +2 |
Headless is here to stay. We at SwiftOtter have been preparing for this tipping point for quite a while, and it’s now here.
When done properly, headless represents massive improvements in performance and search engine optimization. When done wrong, it leads to an endless money pit. Using a knowledgeable agency like SwiftOtter will ensure your success in the headless journey.
We see a tremendous shift toward Shopify. This is no surprise as Shopify continues to gobble up market share. Companies migrated to Shopify from WordPress, Wix, and BigCommerce.
BigCommerce enjoyed significant movement in this quarter. Their movement came from Shopify, 3D Cart, and WordPress.
What’s headless?
Background: A website has code to make business logic happen (determining which products to show on a category page) and code to render the page (in this case, category products). Having both together in the same code package can make for slow websites. The result is a lackluster development package that is slow to deploy and expensive to maintain.
Headless means separating these two pieces of business logic (backend) from the rendering (frontend). Each area is a specialist. The backend can remain the existing website. The frontend is now a powerful, modern system that can render exceptionally fast.
If you're ready to take the step into incredible performance, a massively-improved content management system, and better search engine rankings, let's chat.
Standout Upgrades
Hudson Supplies
A Shopify to BigCommerce migration by SwiftOtter.
Before: Shopify
After: BigCommerce
Hudson Supplies, a company specializing in manufacturing and distributing hard-to-find gear for law enforcement and the military. They are a tight-knit operation, so efficiency is of utmost importance.
They began operations on Shopify, a platform known for its user-friendly interface and ease of use. However, due to the company's growth and the need for more advanced B2B features, they decided to switch to BigCommerce B2B Edition, a platform that offers a robust set of B2B functionalities.
Both Shopify and BigCommerce are fairly straightforward themes. There are some small modifications, but this route ensures easy updates and minimal maintenance costs.
The new website has a far better fit and finish, featuring a more grayscale look. While the previous website leaned in this direction, the new website completes the visuals.
Home Page
The menu is radically different. Instead of visitors having to find the “SHOP” menu, they can now see a list of pertinent categories. Hudson recognizes the importance of not requiring visitors to hunt for what they want.
The home page remains largely the same—it has just been built out more. Customers can quickly jump to new or important products.
Category Page
Other than now having immediately visible filters, pricing and a cleaner display, little has changed. While sounding “minimal,” these changes are significant and will improve the customer experience.
Product Display Page
Product pages have also undergone a significant facelift. Images are bigger, specifications are visible, pricing is public, color swatches replace text, and buying lists are prominent.
GA Precision
A brand-new headless frontend
Before: Magento 2 frontend and backend
After: Headless frontend + Magento 2
Move date: Q2 2024
GA Precision manufactures custom rifles and firearm parts. It has been a pillar in the outdoor sporting goods industry since 1999. It sells to elite law enforcement agencies across the United States. The result is a flourishing company that creates excellence.
Their website has been powered by Magento 2 since late 2017. The design matched their quality and was quite usable. The only challenge, native to Magento 2, was the website’s speed.
The answer? Headless. GA Precision chose a proprietary headless system to represent the front end.
Home Page
Everything experienced a visual refresh. The text is more prominent, and the images are bolder. Across the board, this was an improvement. One of my favorite aspects is the staff is featured on the home page. This heart connection is a critical piece of the value proposition.
Category Page
While the old category page was in no way problematic, the new design presents subtle improvements across the board. Filters are much easier to see.
Product Display Page
Again, small changes across the board—all while focusing on product in a highly visual way. Moving the product title below the product image was clever, as the old placement was “hidden” above the product image.
GA Precision opted to make tabs instead of three columns of text (specifications, description, upgrades).
Tandem Kross
A 3D Cart to BigCommerce modernization project
Before: 3D Cart
After: BigCommerce
Tandem Kross specializes in high-quality aftermarket accessories and upgrades for firearms. Founded in 2012, the company focuses on enhancing the performance, reliability and customization of competitive and recreational firearms. Their offerings include upgrades for triggers, magazine releases, grips and other essential components.
They launched on 3D Cart in 2013. The platform has well-served them, going through several design iterations. Unfortunately, 3D Cart doesn’t have much momentum and Tandem Kross recognized it’s time for a change. They chose BigCommerce because it’s friendly to the firearm space and is enjoying rapid growth.
The new website is not just a platform upgrade—it’s also a tremendous step forward for the design. Graphics are more immersive. The design is cleaner. There’s more focus on critical elements, like the hero.
Home Page
Scroll down on the old home page and you are quickly greeted with a massive wall of images (products). It’s unlikely that they enjoyed many clicks at this level. Instead, the new home page features a masonry view of essential categories. This allows for quick identification and fast navigation.
Product Page
The new product page sticks fairly closely to the BigCommerce default theme—which represents a massive leap forward. For example, the options are spelled out in boxes. Colors are more standardized across the board.
Rambo Bikes
A gorgeous WooCommerce to Shopify migration
Before: Wordpress
After: Shopify (customized Dawn theme)
Rambo Bikes builds extreme and high-performance electric bikes—especially for hunting and outdoor adventures. They’ve been creating these bikes since 2015. Outside of this, their claim to fame is customer satisfaction and continual innovation to offer the latest and best in e-bike technology (as evidenced by the number of variations on their website).
Human beings go through several phases of development before becoming full-sized adults. Using this analogy, Rambo Bikes skipped a few phases. Their previous rendition was a “preschooler”. Functional, interactive. Their new website on Shopify is now well-developed, beautiful, and full-grown. Better yet, it’s lightning fast.
There’s almost no comparison between these two websites, as this new edition was revolutionary. We will still focus on some exceptionally exceptional elements.
Home page
Out of the gate, we love video. It’s engaging but not annoying, immersive (full-width), and not too tall. Visitors can easily see there’s more to the page.
The header has been completely redesigned. More information is fit into less space, and key elements, like the cart and account, are easier to find.
Category page
The revolution continues on the category page. Among badges, color palettes, moving product images, and a clear filter box, there’s nothing similar (other than that the previous page still had images, names, and pricing). The new page “feels” clean and in line with the quality that Rambo Bikes projects.
Product page
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While the product page has many beautiful upgrades, one standout is a comprehensive product comparison. I can almost guarantee Rambo’s number one question to customer service is, “What’s the difference?” This comparison will reduce these questions significantly.
There’s too many other upgrades to comment on them individually. From Customization (upgrading your bike) to the Delivery Estimate, this website upgrade is incredible.
Black Rifle Coffee
A nearly identical Shopify to headless frontend project
Before: SalesForce Commerce Cloud
After: Headless Next.js Frontend (and SalesForce Commerce Cloud)
Black Rifle Coffee Company is a veteran-founded coffee enterprise established in 2014 by former Green Beret Evan Hafer. It specializes in premium coffee and is dedicated to supporting veterans, active-duty military, and first responders. They employ a mission-focused approach to its coffee development. Black Rifle Coffee Company operates through various channels, including direct-to-consumer sales, ready-to-drink products, retail “Outposts” and wholesale.
Shopify powers Black Rifle’s user experience. They didn’t turn to a new theme to improve their website, but rather a headless system. This is a classic use case—keep the backend, business logic, and system; build a unique headless experience on top of this foundation.
At the time of this writing, the new website has some missing features. This is to be expected as headless projects can be involved, and it’s natural to delay implementing features until after the new website is live.
The new version has some small improvements. The big change is that the new website now has reviews (this could be a miss from our archive tool).
Home page
Old and new are very similar. Overall, there is some general user experience refinement, but it’s mostly smoothing out some (slightly) rough edges.
Product page
The new version has some small improvements. The big change is that the new website now has reviews (this could be a miss from our archive tool).