Overlander

A Shopify site build for a new media-savvy off-roading brand helps fuel a successful launch

Overlander is a new niche ecommerce brand providing a huge selection of high-quality, proven gear for vehicle-based expeditions. It's a partnership between two industry veterans that have complementary strengths of operational and creative experience:

• AutoAnything — one of the largest and fastest-growing online retailers of specialized automotive products
• Expedition Overland — a team of adventure travellers who share their exploration of some of the world’s most remote places through a long-running documentary-style video series

Andrew Youderian, founder of eCommerceFuel, was brought on to lead the project to get Overlander to market. The team had an ambitious goal to launch the brand and its ecommerce site within just five months and establish it as the go-to destination for a great selection of high-quality, proven overlanding gear.

“It was a large scope that we were trying to tackle with a very shortened timeframe” ANDREW YOUDERIAN
OVERLANDER PROJECT LEAD & FOUNDER OF ECOMMERCEFUEL

Ethercycle was engaged to create a highly-customized Shopify site that would effectively showcase the product line as well as the top-tier content.

“One of the big strengths of the brand was the media experience and creative assets of Expedition Overland who had been overlanding for the last 10 years across the planet. We needed a highly educational and functional website that reflects their experience and creative abilities and also highlights the products that they recommend most.” ANDREW YOUDERIAN
OVERLANDER PROJECT LEAD & FOUNDER OF ECOMMERCEFUEL

Customized theme development to create an impactful customer experience

Ethercycle handled the design and custom theme development for Overlander's new Shopify site, leveraging the impressive media assets and making it easy for customers to find the right products.

We integrated video as much as possible, including Overlander's gorgeous feature video on the homepage and high-quality educational buyer guide videos at the top of product category pages.

Because not all category pages had the same type of content — some feature a video and text description and others don't — we built the template to automatically detect what content has been uploaded and adapt the layout accordingly.

Overlander has a large and varied product catalog of more than 1,000 products (and more to be added), so we needed to make it easy for the customer to navigate.

In addition to writing a custom drop-down menu in the header, we recommended and implemented two Shopify apps — Product Filter & Search and Year Make Model Advanced Search. Integrating these apps into the site allows the customer to quickly filter by vehicle model, product type, specific brand, or price level to more quickly see the products that meet their needs.

Overlander wanted to highlight their most recommended products by giving special placement to the ones tested and endorsed by the Expedition Overland team. Using the Product Filter & Search app, we created a system that would make the products tagged with the endorsement badge always appear first in any product collection grid.

“It was a unique solution for showing our VIP products at the very top of the category pages. It makes for a curated shopping experience” ANDREW YOUDERIAN
OVERLANDER PROJECT LEAD & FOUNDER OF ECOMMERCEFUEL

Andrew says he appreciated having access to Ethercycle's expertise to solve and work through other challenges that came up during the course of the project — such as recommendations on how to best show shipping and delivery dates and integrations with AutoAnything's existing databases.

A successful brand launch with impressive first-month sales

We completed the site build in time for Overlander to launch on their target date just before Thanksgiving, allowing them to take advantage of Black Friday and the rest of the gift-buying season.

“We were really happy with being able to build some early traction by getting the site out there before the holiday. Having this visually impressive and functional website to highlight the brand and product line helped us kick off a meaningful business within a short time period.” ANDREW YOUDERIAN
OVERLANDER PROJECT LEAD & FOUNDER OF ECOMMERCEFUEL

Andrew appreciated that we even went the extra mile to help Overlander get some creative live on the website to promote a holiday sale on short notice.

The launch was a successful one, with Overlander generating around $78,000 in gross revenue within their very first month of launching.

“The biggest thing ultimately is that we came out with an asset that can help us sell products and build a brand presence that inspires confidence and credibility.” ANDREW YOUDERIAN
OVERLANDER PROJECT LEAD & FOUNDER OF ECOMMERCEFUEL

Our Work Together

Ethercycle helped Overlander:

1. Get to market with a new sophisticated ecommerce site to launch the brand
2. Effectively showcase content that establishes the company as an authority in their niche
3. Make it easy for their customers to navigate the large product selection and find the most recommended products
4. Launch in time for the holiday shopping season and generate about $78,000 in sales within the first month

“Kurt knows the Shopify ecosystem intimately, including the myriad apps and developers that make up the whole ecosystem. So he understands what can serve as a great solution and what products can work well to help solve unique problems.” ANDREW YOUDERIAN
OVERLANDER PROJECT LEAD & FOUNDER OF ECOMMERCEFUEL