Man Crates sees explosive growth
with BigCommerce
Personality-driven brand turns "no ugly neckties" mantra
into a booming business
| 369% | 203% | 7.2% |
| increase in monthly visitors | increase in conversion | increase in average order value |
Business goal
Become THE destination for men’s gifts
In 2011, Jon Beekman and Sam Gong decided they were tired of receiving dull gifts — like socks and neckties — that lacked originality and personality. They wanted to offer gifts that men would truly love, items that communicated the unique relationship between giver and recipient.
Their solution was Man Crates, a one-stop online destination for awesome men’s gifts.
After evaluating several platforms to host their store, Beekman and Gong knew they needed an ecommerce solution that offered full flexibility and control over their shopping experience. But it also needed to enable their team to work quickly without being burdened by technical complexity.
The Man Crates marketing team had to be able to effectively merchandise products while also telling its playful, “unabashedly masculine” brand story. It was also key to find a solution that would integrate with the company’s systems for fulfilling orders and communicating with customers.
BigCommerce benefit
Building a brand at speed
Man Crates selected BigCommerce for its flexibility, ease of use and rapid deployment of new features. For Gong, the company’s chief technology officer, BigCommerce’s high availability and cloud-based architecture also meant his in-house marketing and engineering teams could remain focused on testing and rolling out improvements to the store without worrying about the site going down or suffering from sluggish performance.
“Operational execution is mission critical for us, and BigCommerce was great for delivering exactly what it said it would,” said Gong.
After integrating BigCommerce with its CRM and order management systems, Man Crates is now able to instantly notify its fulfillment team when online orders are placed — significantly expediting shipping times. Through tightly integrating its back-office systems, Man Crates can also inform customers exactly when gifts will be delivered, providing a unique checkout experience while reducing customer service requests. “We want our customers to feel comfortable that their gifts will arrive on time by providing accurate delivery dates,” said Gong. “BigCommerce’s API allows us to provide accurate information and a better customer experience.”
We want our customers to feel comfortable that their gifts will arrive on time by providing accurate delivery dates. BigCommerce's API allows us to provide accurate information and a better customer experience.Sam Gong, Chief Technology Officer
Operational execution is mission critical for us, and BigCommerce was great for delivering exactly what it said it would.
Sam Gong, Chief Technology Officer
Big results
Triple-digit growth
| 369% | 203% | 7.2% |
| increase in monthly visitors | increase in conversion | increase in average order value |
Man Crates has transformed a modest, two-man operation into a thriving business with dozens of employees and fulfillment centers on both coasts. Looking forward, Man Crates expects to achieve even greater success as it continues investing in its business and the BigCommerce platform.
“BigCommerce has been an incredible partner for us at Man Crates. We’ve counted on them to provide a reliable and constantly evolving ecommerce platform that allow us to do what we do best — building a fun, irreverent brand that helps make our customers look like rock stars when they give our gifts.”
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