Houzer Builds Ideal Tech Stack with BigCommerce and Feedonomics

See how customisable, cost-effective and reliable BigCommerce is and why we built it that way.

https://images.ctfassets.net/wowgx05xsdrr/1ecIwomKoNYU8O618h0Zp4/5d61e5871b32611375581ff50c335329/houzer-Laptop.png

150%

increase in transactions

47%

increase in conversion rate

118%

increase in revenue

Performance metrics compare March 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023.

A new CEO and a new business model.

For many of us, the kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s a social hub, a space to entertain, and, most importantly, a place to cook and share meals together. And no one understands this better than Houzer.

As a US supplier of kitchen sinks and faucets for over three decades, Houzer has been on a mission to “improve millions of kitchens across America and overseas, one sink at a time.”

“However, our global group, Hamat, is much larger,” explained Michael Challinger, CEO of Houzer. “In Israel, Hamat is basically the source for everything kitchen and bath, so you can go into one of our stores and buy a shower, a bathtub, a bathroom sink, a kitchen sink, or a kitchen faucet.”

Becoming the company’s CEO in 2022, Challinger hit the ground running. With the goal of expanding Houzer’s product catalog, launching its direct-to-consumer (DTC) site, and strengthening its omnichannel strategy, Challinger was determined to build the ideal tech stack — with BigCommerce and Feedonomics right at the center.

CHALLENGE

Transforming an outdated tech stack.

When Challinger first took over the company, Houzer was primarily selling across marketplaces such as Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Wayfair, but the company did not have a DTC business.

“Houzer had their blogs, products, product information in the form of PDFs, contact forms, etcetera — things that you would typically expect from either an informational kind of site,” explained Benjamin Holt of Coalition Technologies. “The original site was not ecommerce at all. It was strictly informational.”

With a goal of building a platform for investability, Challinger immediately saw an opportunity to rethink the company’s outdated tech stack.

“Before we found BigCommerce and Feedonomics, our tech stack was pretty much as rudimentary as you can get,” said Challinger. “So the first thing I did was ask, ‘What should our technology stack be? How do we get a direct-to-consumer site stood up? And what does the beating heart of our technology platform look like?’”

On top of that, Challinger saw a need for an ecommerce platform that could support the business’s omnichannel needs. It needed the ability to syndicate product data out to a wide variety of partners, easily integrate with new channels, and manage a catalog of complex products and customers.

So, with a pencil, a bar napkin, and the advice of his network, Challinger began to sketch out the ideal tech stack for Houzer.

“And increasingly over the course of the first couple of months, BigCommerce and Feedonomics began to appear, more and more, in the center of those bar napkin sketches,” said Challinger.

Launching under a time crunch.

But while Challinger knew that BigCommerce and Feedonomics were the right solution, he had one more dilemma: Houzer was under a time crunch. With an upcoming ecommerce conference in Miami — where Challinger was scheduled to speak about the company’s new DTC business — Houzer needed its BigCommerce site up and running ASAP.

“I didn't want to go in front of those people and have them look up our website and see that we were still on WooCommerce,” explained Challinger. “So I pushed myself, our internal team, and our external agency to move very quickly.”

Turning to digital agency and BigCommerce partner Coalition Technologies, Houzer sought to migrate to BigCommerce and launch its fully functional DTC site — all in less than 60 days.

“It was no small feat, considering it was a legacy website with a ton of products, and we were migrating them to BigCommerce,” said Cassandra Cross, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Enterprise Sales at Coalition. “But we took on the challenge and we were able to deliver.”

“Increasingly over the course of the first couple of months, BigCommerce and Feedonomics began to appear, more and more, in the center of those bar napkin sketches.”

Michael Challinger  cEO, Houzer

SOLUTION

Achieving speed to launch with Coalition Technologies.

With the support of Coalition and BigCommerce, Houzer was able to launch its DTC site in less than 60 days — an undeniable feat.

“I've been with Coalition for six years and we've never moved that fast and stood something up that was presentation-ready — not even just live, but ready for a presentation at a conference to an audience of people,” said Cross.

Direct-to-consumer may have been a new business model for Houzer, but luckily for Coalition, “That's our bread and butter,” said Holt. With a wealth of experience building both lead generation and ecommerce sites, Coalition was able to migrate Houzer’s website to BigCommerce and import its products onto the store.

But Coalition also admits that much of its success can be attributed to BigCommerce’s support.

“The platform itself enables a very quick standup of a fully functional V1 of their site,” explained Holt. “Utilising BigCommerce allowed us to bypass a lot of that initial lift and focus on the parts that typically would come later. That enabled us to take this legacy brand and build an entirely new site with an entirely new business model in six weeks.”

Serving the omnichannel experience with Feedonomics.

“If you’re a brand that’s selling across omnichannel and aspires to sell direct-to-consumer, or if you're a brand with complex products or complex customers, there's nothing else but BigCommerce and Feedonomics,” said Challinger.

In his search for an omnichannel platform, Challinger knew Houzer needed a solution that could syndicate product data to various partners and integrate with a variety of marketplaces. With the ability to manage products and orders across over 100 channels, Feedonomics gave Houzer the power to drive omnichannel growth — without the high price tag.

“I was saving colossal amounts of money. I was able to consolidate everything into one tech stack, rather than dealing with the complexities of making different systems communicate with each other,” said Challinger. “There’s huge value in having one sword to slay all monsters."

Additionally, Challinger found a huge value-add in BigCommerce and Feedonomics’ managed services. With a small team and limited resources, Houzer needed a solution that would allow Houzer to focus less on managing its channels and more on what matters most: growing their business.

“Saving a person and a half is non-trivial because that's one and a half humans that can now focus on growth instead of focusing on doing things they shouldn't have to be doing, such as iterating a process that's a solved problem for most companies,” said Challinger. “At the end of the day, I don't expect to have to ever add another resource to deal with feed management internally. If anything, I've reduced the resources that we're spending on it.”

Freedom to choose best-in-breed.

In addition to omnichannel capabilities, another deciding factor for Challinger was BigCommerce’s partner ecosystem. Selling largely on Amazon and a number of other marketplaces, Houzer needed a platform that would provide freedom of choice and seamless integrations.

“There's wide freedom to be able to work with whoever you want. You're not forced into any one direction,” explained Challinger. “But the bigger the big value, in my opinion, is the degree of access and fervour that BigCommerce puts into each of those partnerships.”

Rather than pushing proprietary services and value-adds, BigCommerce enabled Houzer to choose best-in-breed technologies that aligned with their business needs. Buy with Prime, ZenDesk, AfterShip, and Bazaarvoice are just a few of the integrations that Houzer is using to build up its site.

“I can't express eloquently enough how much value I've already seen from the partnerships that BigCommerce and Feedonomics have, and they're just really getting started,” said Challinger. “They're bringing on more partners all the time, and they’re deepening the partnerships they already have.”

Agency Partner: Coalition Technologies

Highlighted Applications:

"I've been with Coalition for six years and we've never moved that fast and stood something up that was presentation-ready — not even just live, but ready for a presentation at a conference to an audience of people.”

Cassandra Cross  Director of Strategic Partnerships and Enterprise Sales, Coalition Technologies

“We knew that we could trust BigCommerce to be a good partner for us on this project, to be communicative and answer us in a timely manner. We had high confidence in BigCommerce’s support and we had some really good points of contact on the BigCommerce side that allowed us to achieve the timeline.”

Cassandra Cross Director of Strategic Partnerships and Enterprise Sales, Coalition Technologies

Houzer Tablet

RESULTS

Finding a trusted partner in BigCommerce.

Going from a B2B-only site to a full-fledged DTC business in less than 60 days, Houzer has truly achieved the unthinkable. With the help of Coalition and BigCommerce, the business managed to migrate its complex portfolio of products and dramatically increase its site speed, all while maintaining a growing omnichannel presence.

“We knew that we could trust BigCommerce to be a good partner for us on this project, to be communicative and answer us in a timely manner. We had high confidence in BigCommerce’s support and we had some really good points of contact on the BigCommerce side that allowed us to achieve the timeline,” said Cross.

Since migrating to DTC with BigCommerce and Feedonomics, Houzer’s growth has been even more impressive. Their bounce rate dropped by 23.3%, conversion rates increased by 47%, transactions increased by 150%, and revenue increased by 118%.

"I can't express eloquently enough how much value I've already seen from the partnerships that BigCommerce and Feedonomics have, and they're just really getting started.”

Michael Challinger  CEO, Houzer

LOOKING AHEAD

Growing a direct-to-consumer brand.

When asked what lies ahead for Houzer Sink, Challinger summed up his future goals in three parts: growing Houzer’s DTC brand, building the existing omnichannel business (particularly through its integration with Buy with Prime), and expanding across new marketplaces and channels.

But the first — and most important — endeavour is to continue growing Houzer’s DTC business.

“That’s the largest piece of EBITDA and profit, because you're going to make more money when you're selling directly to consumers and when you get to own that customer relationship,” explained Challinger. “Our long-term strategy centers very heavily around that.”

And with the partnership of BigCommerce and Coalition, Houzer is well on its way to achieving that goal.

“Ultimately, the next three months are going to be pretty pivotal for us, because, to some degree, they'll determine how many brands we buy,” said Challinger, “and they also are creating this internal fire of enthusiasm for our team as we see our results and growth.”

Published: August 2023

"There's wide freedom to be able to work with whoever you want. You're not forced into any one direction.”

Michael Challinger  CEO, Houzer

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