How Pickleball Central is Navigating the Future of AI-Driven Commerce

Pickleball is booming.

And so is the complexity of selling its gear online.

For Pickleball Central, what started as a simple idea — selling pickleball-themed apparel — has grown into a multi-channel business spanning direct-to-consumer (DTC), B2B, and physical retail.

But growth brings new challenges. Especially in a world where AI is rapidly reshaping how customers discover and buy products.

Here’s how Pickleball Central is adapting, and what other ecommerce businesses can learn from their approach.

From kitchen table startup to category leader

Pickleball Central didn’t begin as an enterprise retailer. It started with a gap in the market.

No one was selling pickleball apparel, so the founders made their own. That small idea snowballed into what is now the largest online retailer dedicated to pickleball (and recently named one of America's Most Trusted Brands by USA Today), with:

• A strong DTC ecommerce business

• A growing B2B and wholesale operation

• Over 150 physical retail touchpoints, including pro shops and clubs

• Partnerships powering retail experiences across the U.S.

Their team is responsible for keeping this complex ecosystem running — from integrations to ecommerce infrastructure. And complexity is only increasing.

Competing in a crowded (and everchanging) market

Pickleball Central isn’t just competing with other retailers. They’re competing with:

• Amazon, which dominates product discovery and pricing

• Brands selling direct, bypassing retailers entirely

• Influencers, driving traffic and purchases through affiliate channels

That last group is especially disruptive.

A single influencer can shift demand overnight, often sending customers directly to a brand’s site with a discount code.

So the question becomes: Why should customers buy from you instead?

For Pickleball Central, the answer lies in deep product expertise, educational content, and a curated shopping experience tailored to their customers backed by a flexible ecommerce platform.

'BigCommerce has been incredible to us in a number of different ways. We're a small-ish company; I'm a very small department. So I need to be able to rely on my technology partners. I need to lean on people because I can't do it all. No merchant, no matter how large their department is, can do it all,' Traver West, VP of Platforms and Technology at Pickleball Central admitted.

But even after partnering with BigCommerce, their ecommerce business still has to be prepared to overcome an even bigger shift. That shift is AI.

AI is quickly disrupting ecommerce traffic

One of the biggest changes the team has seen has been a drop in organic traffic compared to their early years online.

As fewer customers rely solely on traditional search — turning to AI tools to research products, compare options, and make decisions (often without ever visiting a retailer’s website) — Pickleball Central is facing a stark new reality:

• Years of SEO investment are less predictable

• Paid acquisition becomes more important and more expensive

• Product discovery is happening off-site

And there’s no clear playbook yet.

How Pickleball Central is responding to the shifts

Instead of waiting for clarity, the team is experimenting. Fast.

They’ve taken a 'test and learn' approach across multiple areas:

Reworking product and content strategy.

They’re optimising high-traffic pages with structured data and schema to improve visibility across AI-driven channels.

At the same time, they’re increasing content output — faster and more efficiently.

Rethinking ad spend.

With organic traffic shifting, they’re reallocating budget to offset potential losses and capture demand elsewhere.

'Where do we spend our ad dollars more effectively to offset organic traffic loss? How do we use AI tools to make our existing staff more efficient — marketing folks creating graphics and infographics? And how do we deploy AI to take some of the load off our customer service team?' said West.

Using AI to improve operational efficiency.

AI isn’t just for marketing.

It’s helping streamline internal workflows, including:

• Generating and enhancing product images

• Creating comparison charts and infographics

• Supporting content production with fewer resources

What used to take 30 minutes can now take a few minutes, resulting in assets with equal or even better quality than before.

Enhancing the customer experience with AI.

One of the most promising areas has been AI-powered product discovery.

'You can have a chatbot that has learnt just about everything there is to know about pickleball. So, customers can leverage AI (oftentimes unknowingly) to make good decisions about which products they should buy,' West shared.

Instead of static filters, imagine a conversational experience that:

• Asks about a player’s skill level and preferences

• Recommends the right paddle based on real needs

• Reduces uncertainty (which, in turn, reduces returns)

It’s the digital version of an in-store expert, giving their team the potential to significantly improve conversion rates, boost customer satisfaction, and lessen return rates.

The real challenge: separating value from hype

But not all AI tools are created equal. And in today’s market, every vendor claims to have 'AI-powered' solutions.

That creates noise. A lot of it.

For Pickleball Central, the key is staying grounded in business outcomes. That means focusing on solving real problems, not simply adopting the latest tech with shiny AI features.

When evaluating new technology, they look at a few things, including whether it solves a current, measurable problem. They consider how it integrates into existing workflows. And last but not least, can it deliver clear ROI?

If the answer isn’t clear, it’s a pass — or at least a 'wait and see.'

Why partnerships matter now more than ever

In a rapidly evolving landscape, no ecommerce team can do it alone.

Pickleball Central relies heavily on technology partners to navigate new AI capabilities, test emerging channels and tools, and scale without expanding internal teams.

This is especially critical for mid-sized businesses.

With limited resources, the right partners can act as an extension of the team, helping prioritise what matters and avoid costly missteps.

“It helps to have partners who are in this space and are looking out for your best interest,' West shared.

​​The final word

Despite all the change, one thing hasn’t shifted. The core KPIs. Success still comes down to increasing traffic, improving conversion rates, reducing bounce rates, and ultimately driving revenue efficiently.

AI doesn’t replace these metrics; it simply introduces new ways to influence them.

With AI already reshaping ecommerce, expectations are rising and competition is everywhere.

The businesses that win will use AI to solve real problems, improving product data, guiding decisions, and scaling efficiently.

With a platform like BigCommerce, that’s more than possible.

'From day one with BigCommerce, it was not just getting us to decide that BigCommerce was where we're going to go, but instilling in us the confidence that we were going to have support to go wherever the marketplace took us,' said West. 

You get the flexibility to adapt, the tools to grow, and the foundation to keep moving. Because in a market that won’t slow down, agility is the new competitive advantage.