Custom BigCommerce Faceted Search and Klevu AI Search – Outdoor Limited

WebDesk Solution developed a powerful custom app outside the BigCommerce environment that gave Outdoor Limited full control over faceted filters. This wasn’t just an enhancement – it was a complete filtration engine designed from scratch to scale with their growing inventory, meet diverse business logic demands, and support evolving customer behaviors. We engineered the app to handle multiple dynamic filter types simultaneously, with granular control per category and real-time adaptability. Our system accommodated thousands of SKUs, ensuring that no product attribute – be it caliber, brand, grain weight, or packaging – was left unsearchable. This foundation enabled the Outdoor Limited team to configure, modify, and extend filtering options through a seamless backend interface, empowering their merchandising and marketing teams with unprecedented agility. Additionally, the app was built with future extensibility in mind, laying the groundwork for upcoming features such as user-personalized filter sets and performance-based filter ordering powered by analytics.

We first built the app in PHP/CI and later moved it to Node.js.

Key deliverables:

• Unlimited Filter Logic: Filters could be configured by category, product type, or any attribute.
• Real-Time Updates: Dynamic syncing with BigCommerce ensured filters always reflected current inventory.
• Admin Flexibility: The client could manage filters, values, and display logic from a custom backend portal.
• Result: Outdoor Limited’s merchandising and marketing teams could configure, modify and extend filtering options from a backend interface.

We built stock status into the faceted filtering app as its own filter. A checkbox lets shoppers exclude or include out-of-stock items, and dynamic syncing with BigCommerce keeps the filter in line with current inventory. Shoppers using Klevu search can refine results by stock status as well.

Key deliverables:

• Stock checkbox: shoppers could exclude or include out-of-stock items in the filters.
• Inventory sync: dynamic syncing with BigCommerce kept the stock filter in line with current inventory.
• Search refinement: Klevu search results could be narrowed by stock status as well.
• Result: shoppers could hide out-of-stock items before opening a product page.

We built cost per round into the custom app as a filter type. Backend logic calculates the value on the fly from variant-level data, so shoppers can sort or filter by value wherever the filter is configured, and refine Klevu search results by the same metric.

Key deliverables:

• Variant-level calculation: backend logic worked out the cost per round for each product on the fly.
• Configurable filter type: the value appears in the store’s filters when the filter is configured.
• Sort and filter by value: shoppers could order or narrow products by cost per round.
• Result: ammunition buyers could compare products by the value metric they already use.

Using REVIEWS.io and BigCommerce custom fields, WebDesk Solution engineered a sophisticated review aggregation system that broke down silos and unified customer feedback across product variants. This approach was vital for Outdoor Limited, as customers frequently compared similar ammunition types that differed only slightly in size or packaging. Our system allowed administrators to manually group related SKUs in the backend, signaling which products should share review data. Once configured, the app dynamically pulled reviews from REVIEWS.io and populated them across all mapped product pages, where shoppers see them under the Review tab. This not only increased the volume of reviews visible to the customer but also enriched product pages with more nuanced buyer perspectives. By leveraging API-level integration and a flexible SKU-mapping engine, we delivered a solution that supported the buyer journey.

Key deliverables:

• SKU Mapping Engine: Admins could link similar products in the backend.
• Dynamic Frontend Display: Aggregated reviews were fetched in real time based on SKU groupings.
• Consistent Social Proof: This gave customers stronger trust signals and reduced friction in the buying decision.
• Review tab display: shared reviews appear on mapped product pages under the Review tab.
• Result: each mapped product page showed reviews from its whole product group, not one SKU.

We replaced BigCommerce’s default search with Klevu’s AI-driven search solution, which brought a significant leap in usability, speed, and relevance to Outdoor Limited’s product discovery process. Unlike the rigid and keyword-dependent native search, Klevu’s AI leveraged natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to interpret user intent – whether a customer typed “cheap 9mm bulk ammo” or “best .223 rounds for hunting.” The system returned contextually accurate results that mirrored user expectations. Rather than connecting Klevu directly to BigCommerce, we architected an intermediary integration layer through our custom backend app. This app served as the control center where metadata, inventory levels, and pricing structures from BigCommerce were synced via API, transformed into optimized search data, and then relayed to Klevu. The returned search results were then pushed from our app to the BigCommerce frontend – delivering a fully decoupled, scalable, and customizable search experience. This architectural decision allowed us to fine-tune every element of the search interaction, from the logic governing autocomplete to the relevancy score of product results. Moreover, features like smart auto-suggestions, search redirects, synonym support, and real-time syncing were managed through an intuitive admin panel.

Key deliverables:

• Intent Recognition: Klevu’s NLP engine understood what users were actually looking for.
• Synced in Real Time: A webhook kept the database in sync with every new product addition.
• Refinement Tools: Users could drill down by attributes, stock status, or custom metrics like price per round.
• Klevu BigCommerce layer: metadata, inventory and pricing moved from BigCommerce to Klevu through the custom app, not directly.
• Result: shoppers got contextually accurate results, with autocomplete, synonyms and redirects managed from an admin panel.

WebDesk Solution developed a cart-level module allowing customers to select protective packaging options tailored to the nature of their purchase. Given the high-value and sensitive nature of ammunition shipments, Outdoor Limited needed a way to offer customers peace of mind with customizable shipping protection – without relying on costly third-party apps. We designed and integrated a dynamic packaging system directly into the cart experience, enabling customers to opt in for various layers of protection such as moisture-resistant packing, tamper-proof seals, or reinforced boxes. Each protection level triggered real-time pricing adjustments and displayed concise benefit descriptions, making the upgrade both informative and seamless. Admins could configure packaging tiers, pricing rules, and eligibility conditions via a backend interface. This solution ensured operational efficiency while empowering customers to make informed choices at checkout. The options were built to Outdoor Limited’s requirements, and some were later hidden at the client’s request.

Key deliverables:

• Customer-Controlled: Users opted in or out of added protection.
• Dynamic Pricing: Based on selection, the cart dynamically adjusted the price.
• Seamless UX: Fully integrated into the checkout flow without redirecting or slowing down the process.
• Result: Outdoor Limited offered optional shipping protection in its own cart instead of a third-party app.