Boardriders

The brands Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, Element and DC Shoes are all part of the Boardriders universe. They appeal to people who enjoy surfing, skiing, skateboarding or snowboarding – and not to mention people who like sport in general. The majority of their products are shoes and clothing for various outdoor action sports. The target group is casual, active and young or young at heart. It is precisely this group that should be converted to long-term, loyal customers using the right strategy.

The sales channels for Boardriders include physical stores, marketplaces as well as its own online shops. The commerce experts at adesso support Boardriders in equipping their online shops – including quiksilver.com and billabong.com – with modern features, making them as attractive as possible to the target group and strengthening their digital sales channel.

Seeing as it is headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, there is almost a causal link between Boardriders and surfing. After all, Huntington Beach calls itself the ‘Surf City’, and many internationally renowned surf events are held there.

The challenge for Boardriders was to make their online shops a true surfing paradise for its customers – and do it internationally in over 20 countries at that. To do this, the target group’s needs and online purchasing behaviour had to be analysed and familiar shopping experiences and intuitive ordering processes from other online shops or marketplaces had to be taken into account.

In addition to the various online shops, Boardriders also sells its products in physical stores. These include, for example, Quiksilver or Billabong stores as well as department stores.

Not being limited to a single channel and picking up items ordered online in a physical store is exactly the omnichannel shopping experience today’s customers expect. Boardriders also wanted to follow suit. The goal was to offer its clientele a customer experience that would make them loyal, satisfied and consequently returning customers.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud has already been employed for over 80 Boardriders online shops in 22 countries. Additional online shops were successively migrated to the Salesforce Commerce Cloud in the course of the project.

In order to create a holistic omnichannel experience for customers, channels have to merge. Boardriders’ customers have the option to search for nearby stores and order items directly to that store in order to try on the clothes there.

What makes this so special is the temporal component: an online order can be made available in a store in just two hours. The buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) principle differs significantly from that of the traditional ship-to-store principle in terms of delivery time.

The clear advantage here is that customers are able to view a wide range of information about the stores in their area at a single glance – for example, with regard to item availability at or delivery times to a physical store. Various adjustments were made in order to create a modern online shopping experience:

• The selection menu’s look was taken to a new level in terms of graphics and its usability was simplified.
• On top of that, horizontal category navigation provides an optimal overview and helps save time, as customers can swipe horizontally within the categories and compare products more easily.
• In addition, a permanently visible sticky navigation menu on the left edge of the website makes it easier to refine the filter without having to scroll to the top of the page to adjust it (see video).

Boardriders’ online shops meet the sporty and digitalised target group’s requirements and expectations in all 22 countries in terms of usability and appearance. Boardriders was able to achieve a wonderful customer experience and even greater customer loyalty through improved navigation options on its website, quick and uncomplicated options for ordering and delivery to a physical store and a better product overview, among other things.

Boardriders and adesso meet the constantly changing requirements on each of the over 80 online shops’ websites with continuous measures for optimisation and further development, further strengthening the digital sales channel as a result.

The takeaway here: with Boardriders, surfing is a wonderful experience – be it surfing with a board or surfing through their online shops.