Cycling Closeouts

In 2009, Wisconsin's largest bicycle dealer launched Cycling Closeouts as a modest eBay store selling its closeout bike parts and liquidating old inventory.  The small basement operation quickly grew into a full blown online business.  

Managers believed they could expand further if they had greater control over how products were merchandized and its customer service experts were better leveraged.  The online retailer partnered with liQuidprint to create a modern ecommerce storefront that could be completely maintained by company staff.  

The first order of business was to automate order entry.  Because Cycling Closeouts draws its 20,000-item inventory from separate distributors, liQuidprint developed a means to link the new storefront to the various order processing systems maintained by its three main suppliers.  The order processing system had to integrate all items into a single product offering, regardless of where they were sourced, as well as provide a daily means of updating each product's status (e.g., adding new products, incorporating price changes, issuing out-of-stock alerts and noting discontinued items).  

The new order processing system eliminated the need to manually rekey purchases received from eBay, which was both time consuming and open to human error.  In fact, by establishing its own online store, Cycling Closeouts not only streamlined order entry, but also eliminated the sales commissions charged by eBay.

Once the business' internal process was improved, the retailer wanted to streamline product selection for visitors.  To speed site navigation, liQuidprint designed a complex search algorithm to allow visitors to browse products by brand, interest area, deepest discounts, best selling items and new arrivals.  Additional promotional strategies include a Deal of the Day, designed to generate urgency and excitement around special deals; Mini-stores, which group merchandise into purchasing categories (e.g., one-stop center for Triathletes or a particular brand); blog entries written from cycling experts and live chat.

Next, liQuidprint created a flexible and intuitive Web-based content management system so that the retailer's staff have complete control over the site.  In addition to adding new products and services, the CMS has allowed staff to test different promotions and pricing strategies.  Purchases over $50, for example, might qualify for free shipping in an attempt to drive incremental sales, whereas a free shipping incentive on a high-cost item can help consumers justify a sizable purchase.

As a client since 2009, Cycling Closeouts has utilized the following services from liQuidprint:
•    Web design
•    Web programming
•    Search Engine Optimization
•    Email Marketing
•    Ecommerce