How Chair King Backyard Store Transformed Its Online Sales with BigCommerce

Revitalizing Outdoor Retail: Chair King’s Digital Journey

Since 1950, Chair King Backyard Store has been synonymous with premium outdoor living, offering customers high-quality furniture and white-glove delivery. But when their legacy ecommerce platform began to slow down site performance and frustrate a lean digital team, the family-owned business realized it needed to invest in a more modern, flexible architecture.

The Challenge: Clunky Platform Holding Growth Back

Chair King first ventured online in 2016, building directly on their ERP system. While this approach cut initial costs, it led to a slow, inflexible store that couldn’t scale or support localized delivery offerings. The checkout flow was rigid, the backend was unwieldy, and custom promotions were nearly impossible. This legacy stack not only harmed the user experience but also limited the small ecommerce team’s agility.

The Solution: Custom Checkout & Scalable Features

After evaluating several platforms, including Shopify and WooCommerce, Chair King chose BigCommerce for its combination of robust built-in features and easy extensibility. The team built a custom shipping calendar at checkout so shoppers could pick white-glove delivery dates or opt for in-store pickup at the Houston warehouse. Integrations with their ERP streamlined product setup, while apps like PapaThemes, Shogun CMS, HubSpot CRM, and LimeSpot personalization enriched site design and marketing workflows.

• Flexible catalog management for thousands of SKUs
• Responsive design powered by PapaThemes
• Ease of integration with ERP, CRM, and CMS
• Custom shipping calendar for white-glove delivery
• Native SEO tools to boost organic visibility

Results & Impact

With BigCommerce, Chair King saw immediate improvements: site speed accelerated, the team regained control of promotions, and customers enjoyed a smoother purchase path. From Q1 to Q3 2023, the store recorded a 42% increase in users, 47% more sessions, and a 28% lift in revenue—proof that the right platform can power significant growth, even with a small digital staff.

Looking Ahead

Ecommerce remains central to Chair King’s strategy. In 2024, the team plans to deepen personalization with AI-driven recommendations, launch B2B storefronts for wholesale customers, and continue investing in digital innovations that keep their legacy brand at the forefront of outdoor living.