Walton’s Creates a Foundation for Future Growth on BigCommerce
Discover how customisable, cost-effective and reliable BigCommerce is and why we built it that way.
55%
increase in conversion rates
7.4%
increase in orders
6.7%
increase in revenue
Performance metrics compare April 2021–2022 to April 2022–2023.
Providing service and unmatched expertise.
In 1986, Don Walton noticed a need for on-site expertise when it came to meat processing equipment sales. He left his longtime job at a processing plant and started a new company, Mid-Western Research & Supply. Mid-Western paired their equipment with high-quality customer service, knowledge, and unmatched expertise.
Fast forward 40 plus years later, and although the name has changed, Don Walton’s original promise of service and expertise lives on in Walton’s. Walton’s has expanded Mid-Western’s original footprint and now sells everything from meat processing equipment to spices and rubs — as their tagline famously states: “Everything but the Meat!”
CHALLENGE
Finding a reliable, stable ecommerce solution.
Walton’s began selling online in the early 2010s. Although the vast majority of their business was still conducted through phone calls and faxes, there was definite interest from customers in ordering online; however, their back-end experience left their team wanting more.
“First, we were on Magento 1. We had to get off of that one because they were sunsetting it and weren’t going to support our site anymore, so we had to find something new,” explained Jonathon Tremblay, Media Manager at Walton’s.
“Then we moved onto a custom platform that had a ton of issues,” he continued. “We tried to work through it for a long time, but there were always problems. The interface was never very good. The stability was horrendous. But the final straw was during the busiest time of year for us, Thanksgiving, when the platform went down four or five times in a week. So we decided to move off of it after only eight months or so. We needed something better.”
Walton’s needed a platform with increased and detailed B2B functionality, as a vast majority of their customers were butcher shops or processing facilities. They also needed to ensure their platform allowed for big-ticket items to be purchased and shipped with ease.
They also needed a platform that could help grow their business into new markets. A small but increasing number of customers weren’t buying for large-scale operations. Instead, they were buying for home processing. Walton’s needed to be able to cater to both sets of their customers (B2B and retail) from the same platform.
“The last time we migrated, we prepared for a full year. This time, we were able to write the product integration code in a week’s time. I realise not a lot of companies are going to have developers on staff, but with BigCommerce, it’s something that you can do on your own. It amounts to huge cost savings.”
Jonathon Tremblay Media Manager, Walton’s
SOLUTION
Finding a partner for ecommerce success.
After deciding on BigCommerce as their new platform, the Walton’s began working with the BigCommerce Data Migration team. Working together, Walton’s new site launched in four months, “which is crazy,” says Tremblay. “The last time we migrated, we prepared for a full year. This time, we were able to write the product integration code in a week’s time. I realise not a lot of companies are going to have developers on staff, but with BigCommerce, it’s something that you can do on your own. It amounts to huge cost savings.”
After the site launched, Walton’s continued finding new features and functionality that proved BigCommerce was the right platform choice.
Easy integrations make improving functionality a breeze.
The team was immediately impressed with BigCommerce’s native functionality, in addition to its impressive array of apps that could easily plug into an existing site.
“We always want to try different things, just to see how they’re working. We’re always thinking ‘How can we improve the customer’s experience?’ And with BigCommerce, instead of having to build that from the ground up, very often, there’s already an app out there that will either give us exactly what we’re looking for, or lead us in the direction of what we were initially thinking,” Tremblay said.
Through APIs, Tremblay’s team can easily plug in a variety of integrations into the BigCommerce back-end, allowing new and existing systems to talk to each other without the need for external resources.
“We use Sage 100 as our ERP, and it’s so simple to get a new product into BigCommerce,” Tremblay said. “I just click a button in our ERP and it feeds every bit of product information over: different pricing levels, product groups, different sizes, everything. I can do it all from one location. It’s very well done, and very easy for me to use.”
They’ve also been able to use tools like the Shogun page builder to quickly and easily create new pages for their site. “Shogun has been huge,” he said. “It makes custom pages so easy. Not only do they look good, but they have great Core Web Vitals scores.”
For functionality specific to their business needs, the Walton’s team can work with one of many BigCommerce technology or agency partners to create a tool that does exactly what they need — and even help other BigCommerce customers in the process. “We worked with an agency called Razoyo to create a custom app for shared order history. They actually submitted this project to BigCommerce to have on their app store, so other businesses could use it, too,” he said.
“We got them to write us a specific application that allows different customers within the same company to see all of their invoices in one place. It prevents double orders and saves our customers a huge headache. And us, too,” he laughed. “What do you do when someone orders twice as much as they need? Usually, that’s a return, so it’s a really big help for us not having to deal with that confusion.”
One platform for selling B2B and DTC saves time.
One of the main drivers for migrating to a new platform was the need to sell both DTC and B2B on the same platform. While this functionality existed on their previous sites, they were missing key features that made B2B sales a challenge — especially on the back-end.
“When it comes to our retail customers, whatever they’re buying, there’s not a retail bin and a commercial bin,” explained Tremblay. “Our customers, no matter who they are, are getting a commercial-grade product. And for our site, we can update all of that information in one place with one record. We don’t have to do it on two different sites, which would double the work for our team. BigCommerce makes it a lot easier.”
The Walton’s team is also able to save time by putting customers into specific price groups, or by creating bulk or sale pricing for specific items. “This is a major function for us that is aligned with our business,” Tremblay said. “Not many platforms are set up to be able to do this kind of grouping that easily, especially right out of the box.”
Agency Partner:
Razoyo, Ecommerce Consultants
Highlighted Applications:
Technical Features:
BigCommerce Services:
“If I have a problem with my site, I reach out to my account manager and I know they’re going to help fix it.”
Jonathon Tremblay Media Manager, Walton’s
“Our customers, no matter who they are, are getting a commercial-grade product. And for our site, we can update all of that information in one place with one record. We don’t have to do it on two different sites, which would double the work for our team. BigCommerce makes it a lot easier.”
JONATHON TREMBLAY, MEDIA MANAGER, WALTON'S
RESULTS
Strong support for a growing brand.
Walton’s experience migrating to BigCommerce has been a success from the start. From the time they replatformed, they knew that BigCommerce had their backs. “Our experience with BigCommerce has been absolutely wonderful right from the get go. We had a great integration team. Our Customer Success Manager is wonderful. And customer support has been absolutely top-notch,” Tremblay said.
“One story in particular jumps out at me when I think about BigCommerce’s customer service. In 2022 we decided to change our URL from WaltonsInc.com to Waltons.com. We’d been trying for ages to get it, and finally did right before we switched over to BigCommerce,” explained Tremblay. “We were making two pretty drastic changes to our site, changing our URL and migrating platforms, so we knew we would have some challenges ahead.”
Once Walton’s launched their new site, they began noticing some drastic changes to their organic traffic. Walton’s Customer Success Manager set them up with a BigCommerce SEO auditor who helped identify some key fixes right away. “Not even overnight, it was within a few hours we started seeing improvements to our Core Web Vitals scores and our search ranking,” he continued.
“If I have a problem with my site, I reach out to my account manager and I know they’re going to help fix it,” he continued.
And as BigCommerce makes it easier for the Walton’s team to operate day-to-day, they have been able to spend more time growing their business into a new and exciting frontier: Meatgistics, their online community of over 27,000 carnivores who are serious about meat. This has allowed them to create a loyal base of meat-eaters who can evangelise for their brand.
“We will continue to push both our commercial and our retail customers that route because ecommerce is more cost effective for us, and it frees up resources to be used to grow the business.”
Jonathon Tremblay Media Manager, Walton’s
LOOKING AHEAD
As more business moves online, Walton’s will be ready to serve.
Tremblay knows that, with Walton’s improved site and growing online community, they have created a firm foundation for future growth, whether that’s in B2B or DTC sales. “We have an old school customer base, mom and pop butcher shops or facilities who probably aren’t comfortable placing a $50,000 order online. They want to talk to somebody over the phone,” he said. “But as the younger generations start to take over, we’re seeing offline sales turn into online sales.”
This shift from offline to online interactions allows the Walton’s team to seek out new business and grow their customer base. Tremblay continued: “As this happens, our customer service agents can focus on solving problems, while our sales team can focus on creating new relationships with customers instead of handling incoming calls.
“We will continue to push both our commercial and our retail customers that route because ecommerce is more cost effective for us, and it frees up resources to be used to grow the business,” he said.
Published: February 2024
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