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ORGANIZATION
Nextbase, founded in the UK in 1999, is the world's largest dashcam manufacturer, with over 55 percent market share in Europe and more than 75 percent in the UK. In 2019, the company expanded to the US, where it ranks first in market share and is now available at over 8,100 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada.
Nextbase wanted to grow its D2C offering by launching an improved ecommerce website with support for a wide range of languages and currencies, enabling an expansion into countries across Europe and North America. To do so, however, the company urgently needed to upgrade from its legacy CMS-based solution to a full ecommerce platform. "The site needed to look as premium as the product," said company head of D2C Douglas de Santi, noting that too many brands have two sharply distinct websites: a main one for general information, and then a separate, simpler ecommerce site. "I wanted to do better than that – to have a single site that looks like Sony, Samsung, or Apple, but has the embedded functionality of ecommerce within that same site." Still, Nextbase had limited resources available internally for the development required, making a SaaS solution a logical choice. As they began evaluating potential providers, the company knew they wanted the flexibility to choose their own payment method as well as the ability to expand into new countries quickly and easily with advanced functionality like automatic translation.
CHALLENGES
Nextbase wanted to grow its D2C offering by launching an improved ecommerce website with support for a wide range of languages and currencies, enabling an expansion into countries across Europe and North America. To do so, however, the company urgently needed to upgrade from its legacy CMS-based solution to a full ecommerce platform.
"The site needed to look as premium as the product," said company head of D2C Douglas de Santi, noting that too many brands have two sharply distinct websites: a main one for general information, and then a separate, simpler ecommerce site. "I wanted to do better than that – to have a single site that looks like Sony, Samsung, or Apple, but has the embedded functionality of ecommerce within that same site." Still, Nextbase had limited resources available internally for the development required, making a SaaS solution a logical choice. As they began evaluating potential providers, the company knew they wanted the flexibility to choose their own payment method as well as the ability to expand into new countries quickly and easily with advanced functionality like automatic translation.
SOLUTIONS
A SUPPORTIVE PLATFORM
Nextbase selected BigCommerce as their ecommerce platform due to the provider's focus on innovative design, flexibility, and ease of use, as well as their welcoming attitude. Other providers, de Santi said, were far less approachable. "I have a rule that I've established over my career, which is, 'If it's hard to buy, imagine later – it's going to be worse," he said.
THE RIGHT AGENCY
Rather than attempting to select an agent on their own, Nextbase asked BigCommerce to suggest the best fit for their needs. On BigCommerce's recommendation, they began working with Ayata soon after and have been very happy with the choice. "We've always challenged them, and they've always been able to accept that and deliver," de Santi said.
A FLEXIBLE APPROACH
One of Ayata's key strengths lies in its ability to adapt easily to the way a client wants the project to be run, and for Nextbase, that's been crucial. "In most cases, we don't know exactly how things are going to work, so we need to adjust on the fly," de Santi said. "And Ayata has always been very flexible."
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP
That flexibility is enabled by a very close partnership with Ayata's team. As one example, de Santi said, Ayata's developers recently called on a Saturday to tell him they had noticed he'd configured a promotion in Canada incorrectly – and they'd already fixed it. "They truly care about what's going on," he said. "How can you put a price on that?"
RESULTS
BigCommerce's advanced functionality now enables Nextbase to launch in new countries within a few hours. "Automatic translation was a big thing for us – before, it was 100 percent manual, so to launch in a new country in Europe would take months," de Santi said. "Today, we recently prepared three more countries, and it took us a couple of hours."
As a result, while they were selling their products in just one country when they began working with Ayata and BigCommerce, Nextbase has since expanded exponentially to 19 countries across Europe and North America. "It was only when we launched on BigCommerce that it was possible start selling in Europe," de Santi said.
The close partnership and comprehensive functionality provided by Ayata and BigCommerce have led to a massive growth in D2C sales. "Today, D2C is a main driver for the company," de Santi said. "It's not responsible for more revenue than the retailers, but it's where we can experiment – we're already launching exclusive products for D2C – and we have access to first party data, which allows us to engage with those customers more often as well."
Testimonials
Douglas De Santi
Global Head of Direct to Consumer
Nextbase
"The Ayata team truly care about what's going on, How can you put a price on that?"