Ocean Air Sports, formerly Windsurfing Hatteras, is a full service wind- and water-sports retailer and school located on the beautiful sandy beaches of the Outer Banks, North Carolina.
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The Project
Background & Challenge
Ocean Air Sports had a loyal customer base from around the country who turned to OAS for gear because of their excellent customer service and product expertise. However, with the increasing competition and price wars online, Ocean Air Sports had to come up with a solution to remain competitive while still being able to deliver great service and keep loyal customers happy.
Solution
Locus developed an e-commerce site for OAS that was home to over 1500 products, but also encompassed a “Local Shop” navigation for visitors looking for water recreation information if they were visiting the area. A Review Center section added an inviting viral element, encouraging every customer to leave a review, whether it was on a restaurant or a windsurfing board.
Result
Ocean Air Sports added a very active and extremely lucrative revenue stream that was non-existent before the website launch. Not only were website sales off the charts, OAS came up consistently in the top 5 search engine results for many of their targeted keywords. With the help of the Locus Email Newsletter integrated into the site, OAS notifies over 2400 subscribed customers about upcoming sales and shop events, which consistently drive traffic and sales.
View www.OceanAirSports.com >Tech Highlights
Rotating Feature Product Pods:
Locus developed rotating content pods so that OAS can designate feature products, special events, or any targeted message to display in a particular section or related to a particular product. Pod content is adminable through each product and section in the website admin.
Review Center
Locus developed a fully-adminable review center that allows users to review everything from restaurants and beaches to flip-flops and kiteboards, then instantly notifies OAS of a new review. The OAS administrators can then easily preview, rate, categorize, and post reviews through the site admin.
Google Base Integration
Locus integrated a Google Base administration tool directly into the site admin, which generates an xml file of inventory and allows the client to send a list of updated products and product attributes to Google, making them searchable on Google.
Site Features
Product reviews and an extensive product offering are 2 features that make shopping online at OceanAirSports.com easy for users.