An outdoor brand
for wanderers
See how we bootstrapped an outdoor shopify ecommerce store for amateur and beginner hiking enthusiasts.
Results & Outcomes
WordPress site launch
10%+ ad campaign CTR
Scope
ecommerce WordPress store integrated with Shopify, product collection landing pages for hiker personas, A/B testing on social websites
Project length
2 months

Brand strategy
For an outdoor WordPress and Shopify ecommerce store, we first needed to establish a strong brand that represented the desires of the customers. So after doing a lot of research on ultra light hiking on places like Reddit and Instagram, we narrowed in on potential customers who are new to hiking and probably in their 20s.

Design guide
We wanted Hiker Tan to feel like a cozy fireplace or the colors of Fall, but wanted to communicate a classical design aesthetic with traditional looking serifs and sans-serifs.

Ultra light gear
Since we were using a Shopify store integration, we mainly used AliExpress to source our outdoor products for the store.
One of the hardest parts of a dropship store from a design point-of-view is getting product images to feel like they aren’t from AliExpress.

Product collections
A concept we wanted to test out was being able to create collections of products on the site that would come with an aggregated estimate of the weight of the total collection of products.

Homepage
For the homepage we really wanted to tap into the aspirational dreams and goals of our audience. So we thought nothing better than sitting under the stars, on top of a mountain edge with an incredible view.

Product page
One of the questions we got a lot in the early development of Hiker Tan was validating if the products were good or not. Many people in the outdoor industry are loyal to certain brands.
So we felt that for every product we put into a collection, that we had actual hikers go out and report back if it was good or not. This made the ‘field test’ a major component to the product page.
Testing
Once we had a brand and operational store, we took to social media to get the awareness out. Some of our promotions lead to sales and views and others didn’t work as well.
Let's chat
Whether you’re looking to start a new project, or just to get in touch feel free to say hi by email.