Chaparral Motorsports Revs Up Customer Service and Sales with New Ecommerce Website
Sarasota, FL (June, 2010) – Chaparral Motorsports, one of the largest motorcycle parts and accessories dealerships in the country, launched a multi-functional eCommerce website this month with the help of Sarasota, Florida-based MethodFactory, a Microsoft Gold Partner. The new website, www.chaparralmotorsports.com was built on Microsoft Commerce Server 2009 and enables Chaparral to guide their customers to the products they need and want, while efficiently managing every aspect of online sales, marketing, and order fulfillment in-house.
Chaparral’s one-of-a-kind retail store in San Bernardino, CA is a desirable destination for motorcycle riders from all over the country and they wanted their online store to reflect its uniqueness. They also wanted the new site to aptly serve the increasing number of motorcycle enthusiasts who were forced to turn to the Web for their parts and accessories due to the impact the economy has had on motorcycle dealers - many of whom went out of business, and others who were left extremely vulnerable. The system they previously had did not support, but rather hindered this objective. Chaparral sought the expertise of MethodFactory to build an infrastructure that would ensure growth during a recessed economy, while meeting the needs of their savvy customer base, and improving Chaparral’s overall productivity.
To accomplish these goals, MethodFactory implemented Microsoft Commerce Server 2009 (CS09) as its next-generation eCommerce foundation. CS09 provides a cohesive guided shopping experience that takes the user step-by-step from the virtual shopping floor to checkout by offering a robust home page, category browse, search/filter, product description/details, shopping cart and checkout. The project included a Sitefinity content management system, and real-time integration with Dynamics NAV and LS Retail point of sale system that Chaparral was using.
Chaparral’s customers are educated buyers who want to shop by their motorcycle type, find detailed images, sizing charts for riding gear, videos explaining features and benefits, warranty information and other product-related documents to help inform their purchases. The Chaparral team now has the ability to upload and manage all of these elements. The new site also has a streamlined checkout process with alternate forms of checkout options, like PayPal. Chaparral estimated that with its previous website, they were leaving about 30% of their online business on the table, and they expect to recover that over the next year with this more user-friendly website. Chaparral also expects the percentage of new online shoppers to represent 65-70% of all traffic to the site from its previous 55%.
“MethodFactory’s knowledge of eCommerce business made them the best choice for Chaparral,” says Crystal Ashby, Marketing Director, Chaparral Motorsports. “They were able to satisfy our concerns and create solutions for Chaparral that made sense for our business.”
About Chaparral Motorsports
Chaparral Motorsports is recognized as one of the largest motorcycle parts, accessory and vehicle dealerships in the country. Chaparral Motorsports is a franchise dealer, offering Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, KTM, Kymco, Suzuki, Can-Am, and Polaris ATV's and motorcycles. For more information please visit www.chaparralmotorsports.com.