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When it comes to transforming a blank canvas — or t-shirt — into a fully decorated work of art, Heat Transfer Warehouse has everything you need. From the endless choices of vinyl to the variety of printing and press equipment offered, the company prides itself in supplying all the materials necessary to fully customise blank products.
Since opening its doors in 2010, Heat Transfer Warehouse has established a strong B2B and B2C presence. More recently, they’ve tapped into the DTC sector through their acquisition of Shirts From Fargo, a custom t-shirt and embroidery company. Their foothold in these three areas has allowed them to have full-circle involvement in the world of custom product decoration.Â
It’s safe to say that Heat Transfer Warehouse is a dominant player in their industry. However — it wasn’t always this way. Prior to hosting its site on BigCommerce, the company’s ability to scale was limited due to its ecommerce platform.
Heat Transfer Warehouse’s online store was initially built on WordPress with the WooCommerce integration. At the time, the team expected the majority of business would continue to come from their traditional sales method of a phone call. But to their surprise, online sales started booming.Â
With the large volume of sales they were generating through their WordPress site, the team knew they needed to invest in a flexible ecommerce platform that could grow with their business. This led them to rebuild their site on a customisable open-source platform. But unfortunately, this solution came with a variety of unforeseen challenges that limited their growth.
“Just to build the site, add an affiliate marketing program, add links, and even add products was a multi-step process,” said Kirk Anton, Senior Sales Manager and Owner at Heat Transfer Warehouse. “Most of the time it would take months upon months of paying developers to do the work.”
Anton and his team also dealt with compatibility issues when it came to implementing apps and connecting to their ERP. “We were growing, but the open-source platform was also a roadblock that we knew if we didn't fix, we were going to be in trouble,” explained Anton.
In 2018, the team began looking into other ecommerce solutions. After flying out to meet with the BigCommerce team and learning more about the platform, Anton knew it was the right fit and began transitioning the Heat Transfer Warehouse site. In 2020, the site launched on BigCommerce, and the team said goodbye to their open-source solution.Â
“I give credit to BigCommerce. The fact that we're around is because we made the switch in 2020," said Anton. “That really helped us add and adapt to what the market was and also launch programs that we had been sitting on for two, three years because it just wasn't feasible or the work was too much.”
“I give credit to BigCommerce. The fact that we're around is because we made the switch in 2020.”
Kirk Anton, Senior Sales Manager and Owner, Heat Transfer Warehouse
Throughout the migration from the open-source platform, Heat Transfer Warehouse relied on the support of the BigCommerce team. With their help, Heat Transfer Warehouse seamlessly transitioned their site due to the platform’s adaptability and user-friendly interface.Â
“The ability to have a lot of things under our control was huge for us,” said Anton. “BigCommerce offers adaptability as far as we're able to add partner affiliate linking, apps, and other features. The old system would take months to update, whereas with BigCommerce, some of the updates only take an hour.”
BigCommerce’s ease of use and flexibility empowered the Heat Transfer Warehouse team to design their site the way they always wanted. This includes redesigning how they merchandise products and creating kitting and bundling options for their different types of customers. Having this freedom and ability has helped increase their overall conversions and online sales.
One of Heat Transfer Warehouse’s primary reasons for choosing BigCommerce was the customer group feature. “We liked BigCommerce because we had enough business customers that we could set up pricing structures, pricing guidelines, and base it on certain products,” said Anton.
Before moving to BigCommerce, Anton and his team had to personally give B2B customers special discount codes that they could apply at checkout. Communicating with each business and ensuring their discount was successfully applied took a great deal of time away from the team.
Through the customer group feature, Anton and his team have been able to grade B2B customers as silver, gold, or platinum. As they log in, all discounts are automatically applied across the site based on their grade level, while customers on the B2C side only see the regular prices without special discounts applied.
This seamless experience not only helps B2B customers become loyal to the Heat Transfer Warehouse brand but also saves the team a significant amount of time.
“It really helped us pick up that side of the customers that were moving volume and needed special prices. We couldn't do that with the other site,” explained Anton.
To tap into the DTC side of the industry, Heat Transfer Warehouse acquired Shirts From Fargo a year and a half ago. Prior to merging, Shirts From Fargo found itself in a similar situation to Heat Transfer Warehouse when it came to the level of satisfaction they had with their ecommerce platform.
“When Shirts From Fargo originally launched, they were on Shopify and then before they merged with us, they migrated to BigCommerce because they didn't like Shopify at all,” explained Anton.
Shirts From Fargo and Heat Transfer Warehouse are now on the same BigCommerce Enterprise plan, allowing Anton and the team to easily manage both sites through the same back-end.
Since moving to BigCommerce, Heat Transfer Warehouse has incorporated a number of apps and integrations that simplify back-office tasks and increase online sales.
With half of the Heat Transfer Warehouse business coming from B2B transactions, the team decided to implement B2B Ninja to assist with customer quoting.
The company also implements the app Bolt, which detects and prevents fraud. Prior to incorporating the app, Anton and his team would spend hours each day checking for fraudulent orders. Even with these frequent checks, they typically lost thousands of dollars annually due to fraudulent transactions.Â
Since implementing Bolt, a significant amount of money and time have been saved. “I think Bolt is one of the best — hands down. But also, Bolt reminds me of BigCommerce,” explained Anton. “There's actually people to talk to if you have problems or questions.”
The team also uses apps to increase their visibility and create brand recognition. Currently, they use Affiliatly, which has allowed them to create an affiliate program that consists of over 100 partners.Â
“We wanted an affiliate program, but we weren't actually able to implement it until we got on BigCommerce because nothing would integrate with the open-source platform,” said Anton. Two months after launching on BigCommerce, Heat Transfer Warehouse created their affiliate program. “It was so easy and I think that was the best thing about it. We were able to launch that program and we've gone crazy with it in the last two years.”
In addition to Affiliatly, the company has seen an increase in revenue since incorporating Klaviyo. Klaviyo allows them to automatically trigger email flows, recommending products to past customers that would go well with items they’ve previously purchased. This creates more repeat customers and generates additional sales.
Highlighted Applications:
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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
“We liked BigCommerce because we had enough business customers that we could set up pricing structures, pricing guidelines, and base it on certain products.”
Kirk Anton, Senior Sales Manager and Owner, Heat Transfer Warehouse
“BigCommerce offers adaptability as far as we're able to add partner affiliate linking, apps, and other features. The old system would take months to update, whereas with BigCommerce, some of the updates only take an hour.”
KIRK ANTON, SENIOR SALES MANAGER AND OWNER, HEAT TRANSFER WAREHOUSE
After switching to BigCommerce, Heat Transfer Warehouse saw immediate growth. The launch of the new site coupled with additional online business brought on by the pandemic allowed the company to increase its customer base and revenue compared to the previous year.
In 2021, the company continued to see record growth, with its customer base growing by 41% and year-over-year revenue increasing by 44%.
“I tell everybody we probably wouldn't be around if we didn’t switch to BigCommerce. Truly, open source was a big roadblock for us,” said Anton. “The ability to be quick and nimble and add things on the fly is what's amazing about BigCommerce.”
“I tell everybody we probably wouldn't be around if we didn’t switch to BigCommerce. Truly, open-source was a big roadblock for us.”
Kirk Anton, Senior Sales Manager and Owner, Heat Transfer Warehouse
The fun never stops with Anton and his team. A number of efforts are in the works as they strive to become a leader in the world of custom product decoration.
Currently, they’re in the middle of launching two new stores using BigCommerce’s Multi-Storefront, and are looking into setting up additional stores that target niche markets within their industry. On top of that, they’re exploring how they can enhance the services they offer their customers, so they can be the go-to shop for all things product decoration.
Heat Transfer Warehouse is always on the lookout for new ways to improve their online presence. They regularly meet with their BigCommerce representative to discuss new opportunities that can help them scale their business. Right now, they’re exploring solutions such as B2B Edition as they work to dial more into the B2B side of their business. With BigCommerce, they know the only path forward is toward growth.
“There's people here that actually help you succeed,” said Anton. “I think that's why we've always had a great relationship and we've always been a huge supporter and champion of BigCommerce.”
Published: January 2024
“The ability to be quick and nimble and add things on the fly is what's amazing about BigCommerce.”
KIRK ANTON, SENIOR SALES MANAGER AND OWNER, HEAT TRANSFER WAREHOUSE
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