Customers were complaining about the CBS site. Atwix saved the day.

The owners of Coastal Business Supplies like to say that their number one salesperson is their website. Coastalbusiness.com handles about 80 percent of their printer, vinyl, and paper sales, amounting to 65 percent of the company’s total revenue. But what happens when that salesperson suffers performance problems? Recently the speed and stability of their eCommerce platform cratered. “We’d noticed it and our customers noticed it, and they were letting us know,” says Steve Miller of Coastal Business Supplies, who knew it was a major problem. “If our platform is unstable and our website is too slow, we lose revenue,” he explains.

An eCommerce emergency.

Coastal Business Supplies knows about crises. Just three years after they founded the company in Missouri to sell supplies to the ‘quick print’ market, their business was struck by the Great Flood of 1993. They lost everything to one of the most costly and devastating floods to ever occur in the United States. “We had twelve feet of water and no flood insurance,” they recalled on their website. “It was during this time that we were introduced to what is really important in life, when people we didn’t know—and had never met before—came to help.” Nearly thirty years later, the company had completely rebuilt and enjoyed a reputation as the best supplier of sublimation equipment, blanks, and consumables in America.

In 2020, Coastal Business Supplies realized their platform was in danger of drowning. “We had engaged an agency to migrate us to an upgraded version of Magento, but had continuous issues with things breaking and general platform instability,” says Miller. “We eventually lost all faith in the ability of that agency.” When they needed professional help, Coastal Business Supplies knew who to call. No other agency knows Magento like Atwix. In fact, for the past two years, Atwix engineers have made more improvements and bug fixes to the platform than any other agency.  

“We relied on Atwix to help us overcome our biggest eCommerce challenges, including platform stability, site speed, and user experience feedback,” Miller says. “Atwix met—and ultimately exceeded—our expectations.”

A complete rebuild, from the ground up.

For Coastal Business Supplies, customer experience has become a critical part of their business strategy. They tasked Atwix with redesigning their site, putting accessibility and friendliness at the forefront. 

“Atwix played a crucial role in the look and the feel of the site,” Miller says. “They took us back to a native theme, yet it doesn’t feel like a native theme.”

Atwix rebuilt the site from the ground up, streamlining code, reducing unnecessary roadblocks, and fine-tuning the engine that drives the Coastal Business Supplies eCommerce operation. They implemented various third-party applications to create a bespoke platform.

“We rely heavily on Amasty, they produce a great product,” Miller says. “And one of the greatest modules for us has been MagePlaza’s Advanced Product Options module. It’s more flexible in grouping products together while passing individual SKUs. For us, it was a saving grace for our sales and inventory reporting, giving us visibility into our SKUs, offering specific bundling, and more.” In Atwix, Coastal Business Supplies had found more than just an agency, but a partner. Atwix even helped with their B2B eCommerce implementation.

“It was very easy to work with Atwix,” Miller says. “We vet our ideas through them, and they guide and direct us. That feedback and partnership has been a tremendous value for Coastal Business Supplies.” 

Incredible results. Unbelievable speed.

When Atwix pushed the new site live, Coastal Business Supplies experienced improved metrics across the board. Engagement, time on site, user experience, and conversions, all improved significantly. Most importantly their customers love it. “We get a lot of great feedback from our customers that the site is great, and that it’s easy to navigate,” says Miller. “It’s fast, it’s stable. From the time our customers land on the site through to checkout, I think we’ve created a really great user experience. Atwix continues to help us develop that.”

Coastal Business Supplies even reached out to the customers who had complained about their previous site. “They shared a completely different perspective,” says Miller. “They were elated with the speed and stability of the new site.” Now their website is once again the company’s number one salesperson, and CBS no longer worries about its performance. “Since Atwix’s involvement our internal departments have been able to focus on helping customers with their purchases.” CBS is ready for whatever life throws at them.