Surf Retailer Upgrades to Shopify

Client Profile

Our client is a family-owned local surf shop retailer called Oceanfire Surf Shop. They stock all the latest surf gear from the brands you know and love like Billabong, Quiksilver, Roxy, Afends and more. A traditional bricks & mortar store located in a shopping centre at Belmont NSW. They compete against the big named surf shops and differentiate themselves by knowing their local community. They do this by attending local competitions and sponsoring upcoming champions. This approach has them mingling amongst their ideal customers. This has given them the knowledge to purchase and stock items that their community wants to buy from a surf shop. The owner, Kylie Murphy, decided it was time to evolve her business and adapt to modern forms of shopping habits. This would expand her reach and provide customers with flexible shopping options.

Key Drivers

The Conundrum

Oceanfire Surf Shop struggled through tough times during Covid-19 lockdowns. They were a traditional bricks & mortar store when lockdowns were enforced with their doors ordered closed. Stock that they ordered months in advance continued to turn up.  Access to her shop was difficult due to restrictions and movements throughout the pandemic.

Although Kylie had engaged a web designer to create a Shopify ecommerce site, it was not completed before the lockdowns commenced.   The only way she had to sell her stock was through social media.  The web designer would not launch her site until she recreated her products one at a time to her Shopify site. This was not practical with the amount of stock she was receiving which came in different colours and sizes.  Kylie admits her computer skills were not advanced.  This made the task tedious, feel mountainous and time consuming when her focus was on sales.

The Solution

Mint Dynamics met with Kylie and discussed the problems she faced in her business.  Kylie was feeling the financial pressures of Covid-19 restrictions.  She did not want to be a statistic of the pandemic and forced to close.  Kylie had already invested money into building her website and Shopify ecommerce site along with technology which included an iPad, scanner & register.  It was causing her to feel overwhelmed because stock was constantly coming in and selling out.  With her level of computer skills, Kylie did not know how she was going to get her products into Shopify.  She was also disappointed that her investment was useless till her products were uploaded into her Shopify site.

Our purpose is to find and implement solutions to fix business problems.  We have experience using Shopify and uploading multiple products into Shopify.  The product information was assessable to Kylie but broken down into different spreadsheets.  We used our expertise in excel to create advance formulars to collate the information into Shopify’s importing format.  We also added photos and created collections to categorise products to display on their website for a better sales experience.  Most Oceanfire Surf Shop’s orders contain new products.  This is because their suppliers release new designs for each season.  We continue to work with Oceanfire Surf Shop on an ongoing basis to import products to their Shopify site keeping their stock up to date for their customers to purchase.

Key Drivers

Increased Sales

Broaden Customer Base

Open 24hrs a day

Visibility of stock levels

Customer Buying Insights

The Result

Oceanfire Surf Shop struggled through tough times during Covid-19 lockdowns. They were a traditional bricks & mortar store when lockdowns were enforced with their doors ordered closed. Stock that they ordered months in advance continued to turn up.  Access to her shop was difficult due to restrictions and movements throughout the pandemic.

Although Kylie had engaged a web designer to create a Shopify ecommerce site, it was not completed before the lockdowns commenced.   The only way she had to sell her stock was through social media.  The web designer would not launch her site until she recreated her products one at a time to her Shopify site. This was not practical with the amount of stock she was receiving which came in different colours and sizes.  Kylie admits her computer skills were not advanced.  This made the task tedious, feel mountainous and time consuming when her focus was on sales.

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