How Cordova Outdoors Scaled Sales with a Headless BigCommerce Makeover

Cordova Outdoors: Carving a New Path with BigCommerce

Cordova Outdoors was built to endure the wildest conditions, and their ecommerce must reflect the same resilience. By 2021, the team recognized that off-the-shelf solutions couldn’t support both their DTC ambition and growing B2B demands. They sought a platform that would let them innovate fast, customize deeply, and connect all touchpoints without a large technical staff.

Challenges

The existing ecommerce setup lacked flexibility for real-time product previews, personalization, and seamless data flow between email and SMS. With a small team, every manual workflow was a drain on time, preventing the brand from scaling marketing and offering custom coolers that customers could visualize before checkout.

A Headless Approach

Partnering with efelle creative, Cordova built a headless architecture on BigCommerce. By decoupling the React-based front end from the commerce engine, they gained the freedom to iterate UI/UX independently. Updates no longer required platform-wide redeploys—new features, design tweaks, or third-party integrations rolled out in days, not weeks.

Customization and Personalization

The Customily integration lets shoppers upload logos or text onto coolers and accessories with a live mockup. This removed guesswork, reduced returns, and elevated the user experience. A 3D render option is in development, promising an even richer preview before purchase.

Automating the Marketing Funnel

To scale communication, Cordova linked Klaviyo for email marketing and Attentive for SMS into one automated workflow. Customer segments, cart abandonment triggers, and repeat-purchase nudges fire without manual effort. What once took hours as spreadsheets now happens in moments, giving marketers more time to refine creative strategies.

Results and Time Savings

Between 2021 and 2023, Cordova saw revenue jump by 14%, new customers spike 262%, orders rise by 8.4%, and abandoned carts drop 5.5%. The average order value climbed as shoppers added more accessories. Perhaps most importantly, the team reclaimed dozens of work hours weekly, redirecting that energy into product design and customer support.

Looking Forward

With a scalable headless foundation, Cordova will expand B2B features, introduce subscription offerings, and roll out international storefronts. Upcoming plans include API-driven wholesale ordering, streamlined procurement, and affiliate programs—all backed by BigCommerce’s open architecture.