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Coco Republic Unlocks More Innovation, Less Complexity with BigCommerce
Discover how customisable, cost-effective and reliable BigCommerce is and why we built it that way.
3
countries sold in
28K
SKUs per country
45
years in business
Inspiring people, places, and spaces.
Born in Australia in 1979, Coco Republic is a design-led, lifestyle brand with a specialty in homeware and furniture. With a commitment to “quality, service, and a sophisticated attention to detail,” the brand embodies effortless luxury, inspiring people across the globe with its products and services.
But Coco Republic’s eye for design doesn’t stop with its in-person showrooms. With an international presence in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S, the 45-year-old furniture retailer has also fostered a memorable brand experience in the digital space, too.
CHALLENGE
Lacking scalability on Adobe Commerce (Magento) and Shopify.
With showrooms in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, Coco Republic needed a platform to power its global ecommerce business. But before migrating to BigCommerce, Coco Republic was running on two different platforms: Magento for Coco Republic in Australia and Shopify for HD Buttercup — a subsidiary of Coco Republic — in the U.S.
“We were going to pick one and we decided, ‘Let's pick Magento [now Adobe Commerce].’ But after two weeks, I was able to figure out that it wasn't going to work,” said Jack Kiefer, Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer for Coco Republic. “It looked really good, but it wasn't scalable, and the reality was we weren't going to be able to bring it into the United States. We took six or seven months and tried to do it — and we absolutely failed.”
So, the team weighed their options: Adobe Commerce, Shopify, and BigCommerce. According to Kiefer, Adobe Commerce “demanded substantial engineering efforts and presented a steep total cost of ownership (TCO),” while Shopify “lacked the desired catalogue structure control and necessitated integration with Shop Pay.”
In the end, BigCommerce came out on top as a configurable, flexible, out-of-the-box solution with a thoroughly developed B2B functionality.
“With BigCommerce, we get to build a custom Harley that has some of our own bells and whistles, but we're not building an engine — because it's already there,” explained Kiefer. “BigCommerce gave us the most configurability and the most functionality at the most reasonable price. That's the reason why we selected it as our global platform.”
“BigCommerce gave us the most configurability and the most functionality at the most reasonable price. That's the reason why we selected it as our global platform.”
Jack Kiefer Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Coco Republic
SOLUTION
More innovation. Less developer dependency.
When asked “Why BigCommerce?” Kiefer was quick to highlight the Coco team’s newfound ability to innovate on the fly — without relying on developers.
“BigCommerce provides a set of tools that empower people to do their jobs without having to program. We're in the business of selling furniture — not writing software,” explained Kiefer. “Now we can build an environment that empowers all the different departments of our company to facilitate what they need to do in a meaningful way. That's a homerun.”
Even with no web developers in the company, Coco Republic has found the API-enabled openness and flexibility to empower its team to make quick site changes, launch new products, and innovate faster. In Kiefer’s words, “We can empower people at different levels of the business to control their own destiny.”
For example, Coco Republic launched a new module on its homepage, allowing its marketing team to redesign the entire page “however they want, whenever they want, and without the involvement of a developer.” In addition, the team has the freedom to decide which products — such as sale or clearance items — they want to boost on product listing pages or search.
Serving trade customers with B2B Edition.
In addition to openness and flexibility, BigCommerce also provided Coco Republic with the tools needed to serve its B2B audience. While the company already has two beautiful brick-and-mortar stores in Los Angeles, Coco Republic is also pushing to grow its trade business.
“Trade represents about 35 – 40% of our business,” explained Kiefer. “We have interior designers and builders who are buying furniture and furniture packages for their customers, so to be able to allow our B2B customers to transact digitally and in-store was a material differentiating factor for us.”
With one trade customer potentially turning into 10 or 15 individual customers, having the ability to provide an attractive shopping experience is crucial for Coco Republic. Luckily, BigCommerce B2B Edition has enabled the team to customise its cart, build custom pricing, and create a modern B2B shopping experience for its trade merchants.
“In home furnishings, our B2B customers are digitally native, and they're excited about the opportunity to have access to tools that allow them to do what they need to do for designing and servicing their customers,” said Kiefer. “So I'm really excited about B2B.”
Agency Partner: Mojo Active
Highlighted Applications:
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PIM: Salsify
Credit card processor: Adyen
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Customer data platform: Blueconic
Product reviews: Yotpo
Customer Success Manager
“Now we can build an environment that empowers all the different departments of our company to facilitate what they need to do in a meaningful way. That's a homerun.”
Jack Kiefer Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Coco Republic
“In home furnishings, our B2B customers are digitally native, and they're excited about the opportunity to have access to tools that allow them to do what they need to do for designing and servicing their customers.”
Jack Kiefer, Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Coco Republic
RESULTS
Staying “in the box” with BigCommerce.
For many businesses, finding the right ecommerce platform is all about getting “out of the box” — but for Coco Republic, their mantra is to stay “as in the box as possible.”
“The tighter you're in the box, the less your tech debt is, and the less you have to worry about upgrades,” explained Kiefer. “We're really in the box.”
With BigCommerce as its ecommerce engine, Coco Republic has all the foundational tools to power its enterprise business, as well as the freedom to innovate and grow — with no hidden costs, no developer dependency, and no limits.
Switching platforms has enabled Coco Republic to efficiently manage 28,000 SKUs for the three countries it sells to and better serve its B2B customers.
“We pushed the envelope of both design and technology to end up with an elegant but effective global solution that is easily maintainable and has a reasonable total cost of ownership,” said Kiefer.
“We pushed the envelope of both design and technology to end up with an elegant but effective global solution that is easily maintainable and has a reasonable total cost of ownership.”
Jack Kiefer Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Coco Republic
LOOKING AHEAD
Leveraging ecommerce to uncover new markets.
For Coco Republic, ecommerce isn’t simply about making more sales online. It’s also about discovering new markets and expanding its customer base.
“We have two stores on the West Coast in the U.S., but with our ecommerce business, as we scale our business and want to grow more stores, it shows us exactly where our customer bases are,” explained Kiefer.
Needless to say, ecommerce will remain top-of-mind for Coco Republic, especially as the brand seeks to expand across the U.S. And with BigCommerce as its trusted partner in growth, Coco Republic has the scalability and flexibility to continue inspiring people across the globe with its products and services.
“BigCommerce has impacted our business from the standpoint that we have a global direction that not only meets our needs for the next two or three years, but for the next 10 to 15 years,” said Kiefer.
“BigCommerce has impacted our business from the standpoint that we have a global direction that not only meets our needs for the next two or three years, but for the next 10 to 15 years.”
Jack Kiefer Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Coco Republic
Published: April 2024
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