PakShak Case Study

“When PakShak.com commissioned our first Solid Cactus redesign in 2005 our goals were simple. We needed to look big time. We wanted more functionality, a more pleasant shopping experience for our customers which included ease of shopping and ease of ordering. We were referred to Solid Cactus by a competitor. After the redesign our customers noticed right away, and we noticed huge changes to the bottom line. Before Solid Cactus you couldn’t find PakShak.com on the first 5 pages of search engines. Now we’re #1. We rank higher on the search engines than our manufacturers! But we’re not stopping. Solid Cactus is doing another redesign for us.” — Ranney Pak, PakShak.com

PakShak.com is an e-commerce store where auto detailing enthusiasts buy better quality products than they can find over the counter. They have been in business four years and have over 100 products specially offered to their niche market-people who really enjoy taking the time to make their cars look perfect. PakShak. com is famous for micro-fiber towels, a high-end product that won’t scratch the finest finish or paint. For PakShak.com, “car nut” is a term of affection. PakShak.com sells all over the US and has distribution centers worldwide.

“Do a Google search for a micro fiber towel,” says Ranney Pak proudly. “PakShak.com is #1.” That was the reason why PakShak.com sought out Solid Cactus. Prior to their redesign, PakShak.com got most of its new business through referrals. Now the search engines like Google and Yahoo! rank the company at or near the top of every list. That translated immediately and dramatically into new sales. Says Ranney Pak, “we had a 100% increase in visits to our site the first month! That led to a 60% increase in sales.”

The most important question which accompanies any planned redesign-money. How much will it cost? Is it worth the outlay? “Our investment was minimal compared to the surge in our business,” says Ranney, “and we recouped our investment in the Solid Cactus changes in a few months. It is really difficult to put a price on having our business surge, our average order increase and our ‘hits’ multiply. Solid Cactus made it easier for our customers. How do you put a price tag on that? The fact is, Solid Cactus gave us the edge to capture the market we’re trying to capture. Now we’re number one and we intend to stay on top.”

For PakShak.com to “stay on top” means another redesign from Solid Cactus. Ranney Pak wants to add features like Multiple Add to Cart, Dynamic Shipping and Product Reviews. He also plans on adding an online forum so customers can talk about products. This provides more key words for search engines to identify, and helps keep PakShak.com atop the search engine rankings. It also has the more obvious value to PakShak.com customers. “This will draw more attention to our site and our products,” says Ranney. “We’ll be able to generate more feedback from our customers. This should improve the shopping experience and show we actually care what our customers think. We do care.”

And PakShak.com is more than happy with Solid Cactus. “Professionally they’ve catered to our every need,” says Ranney. “They have been in this business and proved themselves time and time again.” Ranney Pak also loves the accessibility of Solid Cactus’ senior management. “I’ve exchanged email with Joe Palko the CEO. There aren’t many places around where the CEO is sending you email.” PakShak.com is yet another Solid Cactus success story. “Solid Cactus turned us around,” says Ranney Pak. “We’re not the biggest, but Solid Cactus made us look like the best. We do no advertising at all. None! We don’t even do paid sponsorships. The Solid Cactus programmers got us noticed by the search engines which got us noticed by our customers. Because of Solid Cactus we don’t advertise.Because of Solid Cactus, we don’t need to.”