You’ve built a reputation as the “Friendliest Place in Town.” Customers love coming into your store because they know they’ll get expert advice, quality products, and that personal touch that only a local hardware store can provide. But when those same customers go online to browse your inventory or make a quick purchase? Things get frustrating fast – for them and for you.
That’s exactly where HomCo Lumber & Hardware found themselves. This locally-owned Flagstaff institution had everything going for them in-store, but their existing website platform was holding them back. It couldn’t replicate that same seamless experience online. With over 50,000 products to showcase and customers expecting real ecommerce functionality, their old system was basically leaving money on the table every single day.
HomCo needed to preserve what made them special while building serious ecommerce capabilities. But how do you maintain that “Friendliest Place in Town” feeling when you’re completely rebuilding your online presence? How do you migrate to an entirely new platform without losing the momentum you’ve built?
Here’s how Mountain Mojo helped HomCo transform their digital presence with ECI’s EvolutionX platform, and why sometimes the best solutions come from being willing to learn something new alongside your clients.
Table of Contents
The Problem
The Solution
How We Did It
The Results
The Problem: Old Platform, New Demands
HomCo wasn’t alone in this struggle. Hardware stores across the country are dealing with the same reality: customers who used to be perfectly happy calling or stopping by now expect to browse inventory online, check product availability, and even complete purchases from their phones.
The numbers don’t lie. Hardware customers are increasingly starting their shopping journey online, even when they plan to buy in-store. They want to see what’s available, compare options, and get pricing before they make the drive. If your website can’t deliver that information quickly and clearly, they’re moving on to a competitor who can.
HomCo’s old platform wasn’t cutting it when it came to ecommerce. With over 50,000 products in their inventory, they needed a new e-commerce website that could handle the complexity of hardware retail – not just display products, but manage the kind of sophisticated ecommerce functionality their customers expected.
The platform limitations were holding HomCo back from serving customers the way they wanted to online. When your competitor’s website lets customers place orders at 10 PM, and yours doesn’t, guess who’s getting that sale?
The bottom line: HomCo’s platform was not only limiting their growth, it was actively working against it. Their in-store experience was seamless and helpful. Their online experience was the opposite.
Get our Modern Marketing Playbook + ROI guide
The Solution: ECI EvolutionX + Mountain Mojo Partnership
When HomCo came to us with their platform problems, they had already identified ECI EvolutionX as their preferred solution. Our team hadn’t worked with EvolutionX before, but that wasn’t going to stop us from delivering what HomCo needed.
We made it a priority to get up to speed quickly and position ourselves as a trusted partner throughout the entire process.
Why ECI EvolutionX made sense for HomCo:
EvolutionX is built specifically for B2B commerce, including distributors and wholesalers like hardware retailers. Unlike generic ecommerce platforms, EvolutionX was designed to handle the complexities of business-to-business transactions with features like customer-specific pricing, role-based catalog restrictions, and robust quote management.
The platform could handle HomCo’s massive inventory seamlessly. With integrated product catalogs and advanced product management capabilities, those 50,000+ products would finally be showcased effectively with intuitive search and navigation features.
EvolutionX also offered proven integrations with top ERP solutions and open API access, meaning HomCo could connect their existing business systems without the headaches they’d experienced with their previous platform.
How Mountain Mojo approached the unknown:
We immersed ourselves in every client meeting before and during the project. Understanding HomCo’s goals and challenges was just as important as understanding the platform itself.
Our team researched EvolutionX in-depth – its functionality, best practices, and potential pitfalls – so we could anticipate HomCo’s needs and make strategic recommendations on their behalf.
From pre-launch prep to the actual launch and ongoing support afterward, we stayed engaged and proactive. HomCo never had to wonder what was happening or worry about whether their project was on track.
The result? HomCo got the platform they needed with a team that showed up as a true extension of their business, every step of the way.
Preserving the “Friendliest Place in Town” Brand
Moving to a new platform meant HomCo couldn’t lose what made them special in the first place. The team doubled down on SEO to ensure they didn’t lose momentum from the previous site, pulling in all the great existing content and building out product pages that are personalized, easy to navigate, and on-brand.
The new website puts culture, brand, featured sales, AND top products all front and center. Visitors to myhomco.com now see immediately what makes HomCo different: that local expertise and friendly service that earned them their reputation.
This approach shows that even when you’re implementing a completely new platform, you don’t have to sacrifice brand identity for functionality. HomCo got both: a robust ecommerce experience that feels authentically like the “Friendliest Place in Town.”
Results: A Complete Digital Transformation
The new HomCo website delivered on every front. HomCo saw impressive year-over-year improvements in their first year alone:
-
- 36% increase in Google search impressions
- 89.6% increase in new website users
- 157% increase in Google My Business search results (with a 49% increase in directions requests)
- 298 Google ranking improvements
- 967% increase in users sent from Facebook to their website
- Over 50,000 emails sent through their marketing campaigns
But the numbers only tell part of the story. HomCo now has a digital presence that matches their in-store reputation. Customers can browse their massive inventory online, get the information they need, and experience that same helpful, local approach that made HomCo the “Friendliest Place in Town” in the first place.
The Mountain Mojo Difference
This project demonstrates what sets Mountain Mojo apart: we’re willing to learn new platforms and adapt our approach when it means delivering better results for our clients. We don’t try to force every client into the same solution just because it’s what we know.
HomCo needed EvolutionX to succeed with their ecommerce goals. So we became EvolutionX experts. That’s what being a trusted partner looks like – showing up as a true extension of your client’s business, whatever it takes to get them where they need to go.
Ready to transform your hardware store’s digital presence? We’d love to learn about your specific challenges and explore how we can help. Contact Mountain Mojo Group to get started.