Outdoor Limited, a trusted name in the ammunition retail industry, stocks top brands like Winchester, Remington, and Hornady. Known for real-time inventory and rapid shipping from their own warehouse, they had already built a strong reputation among firearm enthusiasts. WebDesk Solution led the Volusion-to-BigCommerce migration and the custom development needed to replace Outdoor Limited’s default filtering and search experience. But when it came to their digital storefront, the experience didn’t match the operational efficiency. Outdated faceted filters, unintelligent search, and no visibility into out-of-stock items made browsing frustrating. To scale their growing business and deliver a better user experience, they partnered with WebDesk Solution to migrate from Volusion to BigCommerce and implement a modern, intelligent interface.
This project became complex because Outdoor Limited’s catalog needed dynamic filters, stock-status visibility, price-per-round calculations, and AI-powered search that BigCommerce could not support natively, so WebDesk Solution built a separate backend layer to manage that logic.
WebDesk Solution migrated Outdoor Limited from Volusion to BigCommerce and delivered custom product-discovery functionality for the new storefront. The work included a separate backend app for dynamic faceted filtering, in-stock visibility, price-per-round logic, Klevu-powered search, review aggregation, and cart-based packaging add-ons. According to the case study, the launch helped increase orders, revenue, and average order value while giving the client a more stable and scalable commerce setup.
Approach
David from Outdoor Limited had already been working with WebDesk Solution. When it came time to migrate to BigCommerce, he knew the stakes were high. Their catalog featured thousands of products with fine-grained variations – and those variations had to be easily searchable and filterable by users.
From the outset, WebDesk Solution conducted a deep analysis of how customers navigated the Volusion site and where the friction occurred. The turning point came when we realized that default BigCommerce filters couldn’t support their complex needs. With over 12 dynamic filters per category, a need for in-stock visibility, and pricing by the round, we knew this project would require far more than standard configurations.
Daniel from WebDesk jumped on a call with David to explain the challenge and walk him through a bold solution: a custom backend app to power both faceted filtering and advanced search – all built outside BigCommerce but fully integrated into the storefront. Though nervous at first, David gained confidence when we assured him that business continuity would not be compromised during development.
We mapped the plan, divided the build into modules, and began building a powerful filtering and search ecosystem designed specifically for Outdoor Limited’s inventory and customers.
The engagement included migration planning and modular custom backend development to protect business continuity during the BigCommerce transition.
Why Did Outdoor Limited’s BigCommerce Migration Require Custom Filtering, Stock Visibility, and Smarter Search?
Breaking Through BigCommerce’s Filter Limitations
The client needed more than BigCommerce’s 12 default category filters – they needed a sophisticated filtering system capable of handling 12+ unique filters per category. These filters weren’t just checkboxes; they were dynamic, attribute-driven controls tied to real-time inventory and product metadata. BigCommerce’s rigid architecture restricted this level of customization. Without this feature, customers were abandoning their searches, overwhelmed by irrelevant or excessive results. This challenge was mission-critical: either solve the filtering problem, or risk the entire migration being a failure.
Surface-Level Inventory Visibility
The inability to filter by stock status created friction in user experience. Customers often clicked into products only to find them out of stock. The lack of a simple in-stock/out-of-stock toggle led to frustration and drop-offs. From a UX standpoint, it created mistrust. From a business standpoint, it created unnecessary customer service tickets. BigCommerce didn’t support this functionality natively, and custom workarounds weren’t scalable.
Inventing the Price-Per-Round Filter
Ammunition buyers are meticulous. They compare cost per round as a key value metric. Outdoor Limited wanted to offer a way to filter and display price-per-round, but BigCommerce had no such logic. It wasn’t just about math. The system had to calculate this based on variant-level data and dynamically present the right value per product – a completely custom backend calculation with frontend integration. This challenge touched pricing logic, frontend UX, and backend performance.
Aggregating Reviews Across Similar Products
Customers often browse multiple variants of essentially the same product – but reviews were siloed by SKU. Outdoor Limited wanted to pull and display reviews across similar products to give shoppers a holistic perspective. BigCommerce did not support this functionality, and most third-party review apps weren’t designed to mix and match reviews this way. Without it, social proof was fragmented and less impactful.
Rethinking Search with AI and Intent Recognition
Default BigCommerce search wasn’t cutting it. Customers struggled to find what they were looking for – even when the product existed. Search lacked contextual understanding, returning irrelevant or outdated results. Outdoor Limited needed a next-gen search tool powered by AI, one that could recognize customer intent, auto-suggest, and surface high-relevance matches in milliseconds.
Customer-Controlled Packaging Add-ons
Shipping protection is essential for ammunition. The client wanted customers to opt-in for extra packaging protection – without relying on expensive third-party solutions. BigCommerce had no provision for dynamic packaging options on the cart page. The goal: a custom add-on module that allows flexible pricing and selectable protection, built directly into the shopping experience.
Key Metrics
How Did WebDesk Solution Extend BigCommerce with Custom Filtering, Search, Reviews, and Cart Functionality?
WebDesk Solution also implemented the API and integration work needed to connect BigCommerce with Klevu and Review.io while keeping product data, inventory signals, and shared reviews synchronized.
Engineering a Scalable, Dynamic Faceted Filtering App
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.
- 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.
- Out-of-Stock Toggle: A checkbox allowed users to exclude or include out-of-stock items.
- Price-per-Round Calculation: A backend logic calculated cost-per-round on-the-fly and allowed users to sort or filter by value.
- Admin Flexibility: The client could manage filters, values, and display logic from a custom backend portal.
Intelligent Review Aggregation via Custom API Integration
Using Review.io and BigCommerce custom fields, WebDesk 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 Review.io and populated them across all mapped product pages. This not only increased the volume of reviews visible to the customer but also enriched product pages with more nuanced buyer perspectives. The feature strengthened credibility, accelerated purchase decisions, and enhanced SEO by ensuring every variant had robust user-generated content. By leveraging API-level integration and a flexible SKU-mapping engine, we delivered a seamless, intelligent solution that directly supported the buyer journey and lifted conversion rates.
- 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.
AI-Powered Search via Klevu Integration
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. This wasn’t just a plug-and-play integration – it was a deeply engineered search ecosystem purpose-built for Outdoor Limited’s product catalog, ensuring speed, precision, and control at scale.
- 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.
Cart-Based Packaging Add-On Module
WebDesk 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. It was more than just a UI feature – it became a conversion-driving trust factor for security-conscious buyers.
- 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.
What Business Results Followed Outdoor Limited’s BigCommerce Migration and Product Discovery Rebuild?
The impact was immediate and measurable:
Orders Jumped
Orders jumped by 120% within weeks of launch.
Revenue Rose
Revenue rose by 177.72%, fueled by improved search and filtering.
AOV Climbed
AOV climbed 26.23%, largely due to add-on packaging and better product discovery.
Operational & Experience Gains
Customer support tickets related to product findability dropped significantly. Time-on-site increased as users explored more relevant products. The backend systems remained stable and scalable, even during high-traffic periods.
Conclusion
What started as a platform migration turned into a transformative rebuild of how customers search, filter, and shop. By trusting WebDesk Solution, Outdoor Limited not only modernized its storefront but also created a digital infrastructure built to scale.
From custom faceted filters and intelligent search to dynamic reviews and cart-level add-ons, the results were clear: happier customers, stronger revenue, and a storefront ready for the future of eCommerce.
This project proved that with the right partner and the right technology, even the most complex challenges in BigCommerce can be overcome – and turned into competitive advantages.
WebDesk Solution combined BigCommerce migration work with custom product-discovery and integration development when native platform features did not meet the catalog’s requirements.
