FatiguesArmyNavy.com is a family-owned and operated business with over 35 years of retail experience in the army navy and outdoor industry. The online store sells a wide selection of quality gear with everyday low pricing and top-notch customer service.
FatiguesArmyNavy.com offers military surplus goods, military clothing, kids’ camo, khakis, boots, streetwear fashion, camping gear, survival prepper supplies, outdoor knives, and unique gift items. From function to fashion, the authentic army navy adventure store has something for everyone in the family.
The Challenge: BigCommerce Blueprint
In 2016, BigCommerce upgraded its platform framework to Stencil, a more modern, flexible, and future-proof framework. Being on the antiquated framework, Blueprint, FatiguesArmyNavy.com was losing out on the enhanced features that BigCommerce was releasing for its merchants, which you can read more about here.
Fatigues Army Navy was looking to invest in a new Stencil theme and custom redesign for their existing BigCommerce storefront. This aligned with their overall strategy to improve the website’s functionality and performance, implement a more modern code base, update the site’s look and feel, and increase their online sales.
It’s best practice to plan on rebuilding your website every 3-4 years.
With more than 20 years of experience in ecommerce services and 10 years as an Elite BigCommerce Partner working exclusively on the BigCommerce platform, IntuitSolutions had the breadth and depth of industry expertise to fully execute Fatigues Army Navy’s vision. Working with IntuitSolutions, Fatigues Army Navy implemented a fresh, custom design on its existing BigCommerce site to propel its online business to the next level.
[Stencil] incorporates industry best practices in technology, design standards, SEO, and allows developers to build a stunning storefront that engages shoppers and encourages checkouts on any device.
— BigCommerce
The Solution: BigCommerce Stencil
IntuitSolutions partnered with Fatigues Army Navy for a Stencil migration and a new, custom design developed on their existing installation of BigCommerce. Desired project outcomes were to improve overall site design and usability, add features and functionality, and expand the company’s online presence, supporting their goals for higher conversion rates and increased sales.
This Custom BigCommerce Design & Development package included a collaboratively designed website, developed responsively on the state-of-the-art BigCommerce platform. This process was overseen by a dedicated project manager and supported by a full team of in-house experts in ecommerce design, development, and marketing.
BigCommerce Stencil Advantages
Before we dive into the design and user-experience, let’s first shine some light on some of the native features and advantages of Stencil:
- Better Website Performance
- Akamai Image Manager to optimize images
- Minification of CSS and JS for cleaner code and industry coding best practices
- Google AMP Support
- Enhanced Rich Snippet Schema
- Developer-Friendly
- Improved Theme Editor for safer, cleaner, and more easily managed updates
- Upgraded coding languages and integration support
- More Functionality
- Page builder capabilities
- Access to more payment options
- Powerful marketing features, such as Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking
A Custom BigCommerce Design
FatiguesArmyNavy.com worked closely with the IntuitSolutions BigCommerce design team to craft a design and layout that uniquely represents their brand.
IntuitSolutions’ Base Theme
IntuitSolutions builds all custom BigCommerce stores with our proprietary “Base Theme.” This theme was developed from the BigCommerce Cornerstone theme and enhanced by our BigCommerce developers to achieve improved page load speed, Google Core Web Vitals, and SEO results.
The Base Theme also comes out of the box with the following features:
- Significant upgrades to ADA & WCAG accessibility standards
- Better 404 crawler instructions
- Improved ‘quick search’ results
- Resolved native bugs
- Improved blog layout
- Photoswipe product image viewer
- Popup login
- Product data page custom tabs
- Image swap on hover
- Mega menu
- Improved cart page layout
- Additional page builder region points
- Slide out preview cart
- Slide out search
- Brand carousel
- And much more
ThemeBridge™: The Staging-Like Environment Built for BigCommerce
Our team utilized ThemeBridge™, an app developed by IntuitSolutions to help expedite the testing and launch processes. This allows us to preview any Stencil theme against a website’s real store data.
Every website development project and retainer gains access to ThemeBridge™ at IntuitSolutions.
Using ThemeBridge™, FatiguesArmyNavy.com was able to preview their new theme with their actual product data and content, browse the new site prior to launch, and see development progress in real-time — a process that no other development agency can offer. ThemeBridge™ ensures a smooth transition from Blueprint to Stencil and provides confidence for both our clients and our developers in knowing how a website will look and function prior to launch.
The Results
By partnering with IntuitSolutions, FatiguesArmyNavy.com now has a beautiful, user-friendly storefront that incorporates the latest and greatest best practices in technology, design standards, conversion, and SEO. With the help of Stencil and our team of BigCommerce Development experts, FatiguesArmyNavy.com is now equipped with a fast-loading website that provides its customers an enjoyable shopping experience on any device.
IntuitSolutions was able to find personalized solutions for the multifaceted ecommerce business, adding many different types of functionality without sacrificing the website’s performance. By implementing the Stencil upgrade, FatiguesArmyNavy.com now has access to all the exciting new features and updates rolled out for the BigCommerce storefront.
If you’re still on the BigCommerce Blueprint framework then we encourage you to take the leap and migrate to Stencil before your store begins to experience major issues. We’re an Elite BigCommerce Partner and we’re here to guide you through the process each step of the way.
Unsure if your BigCommerce store is Blueprint or Stencil? Learn how to check here.
Want to know more about our Blueprint to Stencil services? Learn more here, fill out the form below, or give us a call 866-901-4650.
