SKDA Sees Accelerated Success with BigCommerce
Discover how customisable, cost-effective and reliable BigCommerce is and why we built it that way.
27.5%
increase in revenue
27.5%
increase in orders
6.4%
increase in conversion rate
Performance metrics compare data from January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023 to data from January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022.
Turning a passion for art and motorbikes into a thriving business.
Back in 2009, 18-year-old Sam Morton, Founder and Director of SKDA Moto Creative, stumbled into the career of his dreams. After using his passion for art to create a one-of-a-kind sticker set that personalised his own dirt bike, his journey in the world of custom graphics kits began.
In 2010, SKDA launched in Adelaide, South Australia. Once a customer of his industry, Morton is now the founder of a premium custom motocross graphics company that allows fellow motorbike fanatics to transform their ride into something unique.
Since launching, this direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand has now become a global leader in its space, gaining large popularity in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. On top of that, SKDA has been named one of South Australia's Top 25 fastest-growing companies for the past four years in a row.
It’s safe to say SKDA has taken off since the launch of its ecommerce site. As a company selling primarily online, Morton knew he had to choose an ecommerce platform that would allow his business to thrive.
CHALLENGE
Searching for an intuitive platform with no limitations.
For the first few years after launching SKDA, sales were made primarily through email. This method worked well at the time, but Morton knew the company needed to evolve past this if they wanted to grow.
In 2015, he began looking into ecommerce solutions that would allow the brand to scale. Morton knew he would be the one designing and maintaining the company’s ecommerce site, so he searched for a platform that was easy to navigate yet also fully customisable. After looking into options such as Shopify and Wix, Morton discovered BigCommerce.
“BigCommerce was quite intuitive to me. It all made sense the way it was set up, which was really cool,” said Morton. After seeing how user-friendly BigCommerce is, he knew this was the platform that would lead SKDA down the road to success.
“The BigCommerce platform is robust enough and intuitive enough to use without massive amounts of training and onboarding. It can natively handle quite a customised setup, which has been really nice,” explained Morton. “From assessments we've done on alternate platforms, they would require a lot more breaking of the system to be able to achieve what we can do on BigCommerce.”
“The BigCommerce platform is robust enough and intuitive enough to use without massive amounts of training and onboarding. It can natively handle quite a customised setup, which has been really nice.”
Sam Morton, Founder and Director, SKDA Moto Creative
SOLUTION
Ability to easily manage the complexity of their products.
One of the reasons why SKDA stays loyal to BigCommerce is due to the platform's efficiency and ease of use when it comes to managing its product inventory. Even though the site only has a handful of product types, SKDA has around 2,300 SKUs due to the design variations they offer.
BigCommerce allows the variations of each product to share the same option sets and rules. That way, changes can automatically be applied to all variations with just one click. “If I had to make these adjustments at a product level, which a lot of other systems require, that would take thousands of clicks for the same job,” said Morton. “We've got quite a robust option set list and rule set. It's not ideal, but is simply required and expected in our specific industry. BigCommerce works really well for us and we haven’t been able to achieve the same efficiency with any other system.”
Currently, SKDA is working with BigCommerce’s Technical Support Team and their Customer Success Manager to continuously optimise the platform.
“The BigCommerce team has given us a lot of really valuable support, which has been fantastic,” explained Morton. “It's proven that there are people in the BigCommerce ecosystem who are willing to give me a hand to get stuff organised.”
Increasing efficiency and enhancing the customer experience through APIs and apps.
As a team of 30, maximising efficiency and properly allocating bandwidth is essential. One of the ways SKDA does this is by leveraging APIs and implementing apps.
SKDA uses webhooks and the software Make to connect all their apps and automate updates. “Make is very deeply plugged into BigCommerce, which for the operational side of the business, is absolutely imperative. We couldn't operate the company without it,” said Morton.
When it comes to order management, SKDA uses Monday.com to track and manage orders placed. The company also uses ShipStation, which creates an efficient and reliable shipping experience.
“ShipStation is very good,” remarked Morton. “We've been happy with the service that we're getting from them and have no plans to move anywhere — which is a big compliment as far as I'm concerned.”
To provide customers with a shopping experience that’s unique to the SKDA brand, they use the app, Shogun. Shogun allows them to easily customise their site so that it fully embodies their brand. “Shogun's been a nice way to overlay and customise things to a whole new level. The marketing team enjoys Shogun and is seeing some really good results,” said Morton.
On top of this, SKDA offers several payment methods — including Stripe, PayPal, and Afterpay — to ensure they provide a top-notch checkout experience to their customers.
Tech Stack
Customer Success Manager
“From assessments we've done on alternate platforms, they would require a lot more breaking of the system to be able to achieve what we can do on BigCommerce.”
Sam Morton, Founder and Director, SKDA Moto Creative
“The BigCommerce team has given us a lot of really valuable support, which has been fantastic. It's proven that there are people in the BigCommerce ecosystem who are willing to give me a hand to get stuff organised.”
Sam Morton, Founder and Director, SKDA Moto Creative
RESULTS
Jumping to new heights without limitations.
Since creating their site on BigCommerce, the SKDA team has seen a tremendous amount of growth. In 2023 for the North American site, the team saw a 27.5% revenue increase compared to 2022. Previous years have also seen exceptional results, with 2022 coming in at a 53.6% year-over-year (YoY) revenue increase, and 2021 showing a 83.3% increase YoY.
“We've never had any restrictions, so our growth on BigCommerce has always been massive,” remarked Morton. “We've got a pretty cool trajectory and our growth has been quite impressive. We've stuck with it and haven't had any situations where we felt limited by the platform.”
“BigCommerce works really well for us and we haven’t been able to achieve the same efficiency with any other system.”
Sam Morton, Founder and Director, SKDA Moto Creative
LOOKING AHEAD
Racing into new markets with the help of BigCommerce.
As SKDA continues to grow, they’re looking to expand into different sectors — specifically the B2B market. Morton is working with the BigCommerce team to see how they can tap into this sector through their ecommerce site. With the help of BigCommerce, SKDA knows they’re on the path to continued success.
“The support I've received from BigCommerce has further confirmed our commitment to the platform,” explained Morton. “I feel that my contributions are valued, which is quite a nice thing to experience.”
Published: January 2024
“The support I've received from BigCommerce has further confirmed our commitment to the platform. I feel that my contributions are valued, which is quite a nice thing to experience.”
Sam Morton, Founder and Director, SKDA Moto Creative
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