Migrating Online Store from KCommerce to BigCommerce for LONG PartsPros

LONG PartsPros, a division of LONG Building Technologies, specializes in selling HVAC parts since 1989. Based in Littleton, CO, with additional warehouses in Grand Junction, CO, and Salt Lake City, UT, they expanded their offerings to include building controls and security system parts. Their online store, launched in 2014, facilitates 24/7 ordering across the United States, offering a vast selection of OEM, Legacy, and Specialty parts. They emphasize providing a superior customer experience through their core values: Company, Customer, Co-Worker, Safety, and Community. LONG PartsPros required a KCommerce to BigCommerce Migration. Keep reading to know how we successfully migrated to a new eCommerce platform.

Seamless Migration Challenge: The primary task was to ensure a smooth transition to BigCommerce from the current platform, KitCommerce (KCommerce), which was no longer capable of supporting their growing business needs. Additionally, there was a pressing concern that remaining on KCommerce was financially detrimental, as the platform’s limitations were believed to be causing revenue losses.

• KCommerce to BigCommerce Migration: The client wanted to migrate from KCommerce to another eCommerce platform – BigCommerce, that is designed to better support their complex business needs, particularly with the addition of numerous SKUs facilitated by dropshipping.
• Template Efficiency: The client wants to launch using a pre-designed template to ensure rapid deployment and operational efficiency. This approach allows for faster setup while maintaining a high level of functionality and user experience.
• Terms-Based Purchasing: The ability for customers to purchase on payment terms is crucial. This feature must be integrated seamlessly to facilitate B2B transactions, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Cultural Alignment in Front-End Work: For front-end development and project management, the client prefers U.S.-based teams. This preference aims to simplify communication and ensure cultural compatibility, which is vital for the nuanced aspects of user interface design and customer interaction.
• Shipping Complexity: Shipping logistics are complicated by the lack of product dimensions and weights. The plan to integrate ShipperHQ will address this by enabling tailored shipping strategies based on product specifics and regional requirements, thus optimizing delivery processes.
• Developing a User-Friendly Online Store: Our goal is to create an efficient online platform under the LONG PartsPros brand, which effectively organizes and displays an extensive range of products.

Our strategy focused on utilizing BigCommerce’s flexible B2B theme, which facilitated rapid implementation and efficient storefront operations. This decision was influenced by the client’s preference for starting with a robust template that supports quick, efficient setup, and scales with business growth. Specific solutions included:

• Financial Integration: Temporary integration with Great Plains, planning for a future switch to Microsoft Dynamics F&O, which the client had seen and appreciated in BigCommerce’s capabilities.
• Purchasing Terms: Implementation of functionality to allow customers to buy on terms, addressing a critical B2B need.
• Project Management: Front end work and project management were conducted by U.S.-based teams for better cultural alignment and communication, while backend development leveraged global resources.
• Shipping Solutions: Preparing to integrate ShipperHQ to manage complex shipping needs due to the absence of product dimensions and weights.