How Saddleback Leather Boosted 43% Revenue with BigCommerce

Background

Saddleback Leather Company began on the floor of a dusty hut in Juarez, Mexico, evolving into a global brand known for rugged, handcrafted leather bags, wallets, and accessories. Founder Dave Munson built his first book bag out of necessity, and over the years the line expanded while staying true to a lifetime-guarantee promise. But as the catalog grew and a new brand, Love 41, took shape, the company’s early ecommerce stack—NetSuite, then Acumatica paired with Magento—started showing its cracks.

The Challenge

On Magento, every added feature introduced bloat. Pages that once loaded in under four seconds ballooned to seven or eight, driving up bounce rates. Every minor tweak required lengthy development sprints, stretching from months into half a year. The marketing team’s ideas stalled under hefty technical debt and the IT staff found themselves triaging tickets instead of innovating. Integrations with Acumatica ERP existed, but they weren’t intuitive, leaving data syncs and inventory updates lagging behind real-time needs.

The Solution

When Munson discovered BigCommerce at an Acumatica event, the fit felt natural—both platforms promised power without complexity. With direct CEO access and a responsive Implementation Project Manager, Saddleback migrated its entire catalog in just 3.5 months. The native Acumatica integration enabled seamless order and inventory handling, while Shogun’s page builder brought intuitive drag-and-drop design. ShipStation integration streamlined fulfillment, all under BigCommerce’s managed infrastructure.

Implementation Highlights

Throughout the migration, regular two-week check-ins with a Customer Success Manager ensured deadlines were met and issues resolved. The team rebuilt product pages with SEO best practices, leveraging native fields that coach writers on optimal metadata and descriptions. By removing unnecessary plugins and consolidating extensions, the new storefront achieved faster load times and a simpler back-end, allowing IT to shrink ticket volume and focus on strategic initiatives.

Results

In under a year, revenue jumped 43%, average order value climbed by 40%, and site visits rose 18%. Load times shrank from eight seconds to under two, drastically improving conversion rates. The marketing team relaunched an engaging blog for SEO growth, and an NFT-powered collectible campaign earned industry accolades. Love 41, the philanthropic sub-brand, capitalized on the agile platform to donate 100% of profits to families in need.

Looking Ahead

With ecommerce friction out of the way, Munson is free to reimagine the brand experience—planning a leather-walled headquarters, global partnerships, and new channels. Tina Lytch and the IT crew can finally focus on big-picture strategy instead of upkeep, and the entire team has found a partner in BigCommerce that scales as quickly as their ambitions.