Surplus City

The Big Picture

Surplus City Liquidators, a trusted name in surplus inventory liquidation, recently completed a comprehensive website overhaul to modernize its e-commerce operations and elevate the user experience. In partnership with port80, the brand transitioned to Shopify 2.0, ushering in a new era of operational efficiency, digital sophistication, and seamless customer journeys.
This case study explores the transformation in depth, highlighting the challenges we addressed, the strategic solutions we implemented, and the measurable impact achieved through this collaboration.

Main Stack

The Brand

Since 1975, Surplus City Liquidators have specialized in providing surplus and liquidation products to both B2C and B2B customers. Over the past five decades, the company has grown into a leading ecommerce driven HVAC distributor, specializing in residential and light commercial replacement equipment and parts, at below-market prices.

The Challenge

The brand was facing significant challenges: a shopping experience that lacked ease of use, a backend system that was difficult to manage, and a website infrastructure that couldn’t keep up with their growing operational demands.
Recognizing the need for a comprehensive solution to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, they partnered with port80 to transition to Shopify 2.0.

1. Inefficient Backend Operations

   Surplus City Liquidators previous platform limited design agility and lacked seamless ERP integration, resulting in operational inefficiencies and an inadequate user experience.

2. Limited Customization and Design Constraints

   The previous platform restricted customizations, resulting inadequate user experience (UX) and limited design options for brand consistency and user engagement.

3. Outdated Website Architecture

   The former site lacked the scalability and intuitive navigation needed to support seamless product discovery and browsing.

Powering Liquidation With ERP Precision

Custom ERP Integration

Challenge

Surplus City relied on Pavin’ the Way to manage their extensive product inventory, complex order processing workflows, and fulfillment operations. As part of their digital growth strategy, they sought to connect to Shopify to create a future-proof integration architecture for scaling.

Solution

Our team designed and implemented a custom API connector between Pavin’ the Way and Shopify. This integration enabled bi-directional data exchange across all critical operational points: Products, Inventory, Orders & Fulfillment.

Benefit

Our custom connector enabled data consumption from both systems with secure authentication, real-time and scheduled data flows, resulting in frictionless e-commerce operations.

Results

The result is a unified, automated system that powers seamless digital commerce alongside their existing retail infrastructure.

Seamless Local Fulfillment

Challenge

Customers often faced confusion due to the absence of real-time pickup locations and delivery options, forcing the Surplus City team to manage pickup logistics manually.

Solution

We integrated the Local Pickup Delivery Option API into Surplus City’s Shopify Plus 2.0 Plus platform, enabling the website to automatically display real-time pickup location availability based on stock levels and customer proximity.

Benefit

The API integration streamlined the local pickup process by providing customers with real-time, accurate information on available pickup options. It also reduced the manual effort involved in managing orders, enabling the business to handle customer requests more efficiently.

Results

The implementation of the Local Pickup Delivery Option Generator enhanced customer satisfaction by offering greater transparency and a simplified process for selecting pickup locations. As a result, the store experienced a 20% increase in customers opting for pickup, while making operations more efficient by reducing the need to manually confirm orders.

Website Redesign

The Shopify Plus 2.0 website redesign significantly enhanced the user experience for Surplus City Liquidators through intuitive navigation, responsive design, and simplified product discovery. Key features such as Section groups, advanced filtering, and Metafields delivered a seamless shopping experience across all devices. Additionally, the integration of the Local Pickup Delivery Option introduced added convenience at checkout, further improving customer engagement.

Business Impact:

The digital transformation of the storefront delivered significant performance improvements, including a 20% increase in conversion rates, a 30% reduction in manual efforts, and higher overall customer engagement. Key platform enhancements—such as dynamic filtering, Metafields utilization, and responsive design—streamlined the browsing and checkout process. Integrated ERP functionality automated order management, reduced manual touchpoints, and minimized fulfillment errors. These upgrades not only enhanced operational efficiency and customer satisfaction but also laid a scalable digital foundation to support continued growth and expansion.

Liquidation That Delivered

Surplus City Liquidators is now well-equipped to compete in the ever evolving eCommerce landscape with a modern, Shopify 2.0-powered website. The transformation delivered a significantly improved user experience, optimized backend operations, and established a robust foundation for future scalability. Through a strategic partnership with port80, Surplus City Liquidators successfully transitioned from a limited, high-maintenance platform to a high-performing, scalable eCommerce solution—positioning the business for sustained expansion and long-term success.