How Online Stores Scaled Eight Niches Seamlessly with BigCommerce
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A Niche Empire Rises
After the 9/11 attacks left Americans struggling to find flags, SEO consultant Kevin Hickey discovered a need: a stable online storefront that could scale. He built a site to meet demand, but frequent crashes forced him to hunt for a resilient solution. That single venture evolved into Online Stores, the parent of eight specialized websites selling everything from fireplace products to tea imports for expatriates.
Over the next two decades, Kevin and his small team launched NorthlineExpress.com, DiscountSafetyGear.com, ConstructionGear.com, SafetyGirl.com, and more. Each new site was a learning experience. Yet as they multiplied, their Magento 1 platform began to buckle: slow page loads of 30 seconds, daily downtime, and laborious updates that demanded weeks of testing.
The Perfect Platform Test Drive
In 2017, Senior Creative Developer John Mirenzi began researching enterprise e-commerce options. They evaluated Magento 2, Shopify Plus, Kibo, Mozu and Workarea—but only BigCommerce opened a playground environment instantly. “Here, take it for a drive,” said Sales Engineer Andrew. They pushed BigCommerce to its limits: custom integrations, extensive catalogs, and dual-shift order volumes during COVID lockdowns. The platform never missed a beat.
On DiscountSafetyGear.com, sales tripled overnight when face masks became essential. Orders flooded in around the clock and BigCommerce handled peak traffic smoothly. No outages, no lost sales, and no complaints about slow pages. They finally felt secure and supported.
Quantifiable Growth
- 35% uptick in aggregate revenue after migration
- 33% lift in conversion rates with faster pages
- 41% growth in total transactions across eight stores
Looking Ahead
With Page Builder, streamlined multi-store management, and enterprise-grade reliability, Online Stores aims for at least 10% year-over-year growth. Kevin and John are confident that faster sites and easier admin will drive even more traffic, higher conversions, and new lines of business.
Key Takeaways
- 1Migrating eight niche storefronts from Magento to BigCommerce eliminated frequent outages and month-long update cycles.
- 2Real-world traffic surges—especially on PPE site during COVID-19—were handled without slowdowns or lost orders.
- 3Multi-store management consolidated operations and reduced maintenance overhead for a diverse portfolio.
- 4Page Builder and open sandbox testing enabled the dev team to evaluate and customize features quickly.
- 5Post-migration metrics show a 35% boost in revenue, 33% higher conversions, and 41% more transactions.
- 6Online Stores expects to exceed 10% year-over-year growth driven by faster site performance and UX improvements.
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Founders Hut
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