Kevin Sproles, CEO As an ace in providing e-commerce solutions, Volusion has been empowering SMB merchants to scale their business for over two decades now. Besides being the only e-commerce solution provider focused on SMBs specifically, the company boasts of having a team of marketing experts in-house that enable SMB clients to run their e-commerce websites effectively. “Our merchants are most concerned with driving sales, and so it’s very important to us to both supply the technology they’ll need as well as provide the in-house expertise to drive those strategies if that’s needed,” explains Kevin Sproles, CEO of Volusion. Interestingly, Sproles founded the company when he was still in high school and has ever since helped over 180,000 entrepreneurs start and grow their business.
Noting the changing dynamics of the e-commerce, Sproles says, “M-commerce has been growing rapidly and will soon overtake e-commerce globally as mobile conversion rates are likely to increase.” Google’s switch to the Mobile-First index will accelerate this trend. Sites with the best mobile experience will rise to the top of the search results, which will result in more conversions. This has urged merchants to create a mobile-friendly e-commerce store. Volusion’s carefully created V2 platform is specifically built with mobile in mind, allowing a seamless buying experience for mobile shoppers. Similarly, Amazon will continue to expand. It is not only imperative for most online merchants to own their site and presence, but it is also really important to take advantage of the massive growth of sales channels like Amazon. To that end, Volusion’s tight integration with Amazon on V2 helps merchants achieve success on Amazon and other channels as well. Sproles also notes that Facebook has started focusing on building out additional Messenger functionality to send and buy products via Facebook and Instagram messenger directly from Newsfeeds and posts. As a result, advertising within Messenger will become increasingly important for e-commerce store owners. Partnering with Facebook, Volusion is continuously updating its tech to support their newest features.
Volusion caters to existing SMBs as well as aspiring entrepreneurs. While some merchants can be at the beginning stage of turning their passions into full-time careers, others may have an existing brick and mortar store. Most often, merchants approaching Volusion come with little to no coding expertise, which is why the company has developed its product to be as intuitive and as easy as possible to get up and running. Clients can simply sign up for a 14-day free trial where they can choose their theme, customize their site, upload products, and more.
What’s more, the company offers a super simplified dropshipping integration that gives numerous product options to clients at their fingertips if they do not have a product in mind. “Clients can literally launch a store within minutes. We also provide tons of content for first-time entrepreneurs to help support and inform them,” says Sproles.
Moreover, the company runs its client’s stores on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that has made its websites 60 percent faster. One of the primary reasons for migrating to the GCP is the growing security issues and availability challenges with the existing platforms especially with the increasing natural disasters and the growing importance of multi-server hosting. “We make it a priority to touch base with our merchants on an on-going basis in order to get a sense of what they need and any issues they may be having,” extols Sproles. Volusion is the first in the industry to migrate its stores to GCP as it promises state-of-the-art security with 99.999 percent availability. Adding to that, the company’s stellar design team is e-commerce-first and has designed hundreds of online stores and really understands designing for sales conversion. “We often see double-digit increases in conversion rates. In fact, one client, Eastern Leaf, that saw over a 1000 percent increase in mobile conversion rates.”
Clients can literally launch a store within minutes
In an instance, a large independent retailer of affordable sports and outdoor gear like kayaks and canoes, Basecamp Closeouts was struggling to match the marketing reach of its large competitor. In the process, the client required to incorporate technology into their offerings. Volusion’s marketing services team helped them leapfrog the competition with Google Shopping in a cost-effective manner. “Now, more than 70 percent of their revenue comes from Google Shopping, which is also a great way for them to get brand awareness. Outdoors people discover the brand through Google Shopping, but come back again and again after that introduction,” says Sproles.
Unlike other e-commerce solution providers that are primarily focused on enterprise customers, Volusion solely focuses on SMBs. “Our merchants make about 2.8X in GMV on average compared to the leading competitor’s merchants; this is because we are really focused on the success of our merchants,” adds Sproles. In addition, Volusion is the only e-commerce platform in the category that is completely transparent about pricing with no tacked-on bandwidth or transaction fees. “We have more features built in than any other platform, and that’s one of the reasons merchants choose Volusion, for the value of the all-in-one. One stop shop for business success.” Another aspect that gives a cutting edge to Volusion is its internal culture that follows a people first approach. Many of its team members are actually founders and run online stores themselves with Volusion. The company thoroughly promotes these endeavors as it helps better understand the issues of its merchants. Moving ahead, Volusion’s eyes are on solving customer’s e-commerce challenges and is working toward bringing new product advancements and integrations.
