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“Before WizCommerce, customers were frustrated and our team was answering the same questions over and over. Bringing inventory, pricing and product information into one place changed that.”
As buying behavior shifted toward digital-first research and self-serve shopping, the business needed a way to make information easy to find, always accurate, and consistent across what customers saw and how they placed orders.
The challenge
Clunky portals and disconnected catalogs created daily friction
Before WizCommerce, Fireside Lodge relied on digital and printed catalogs for visibility, then a separate wholesale portal for dealer pricing. Pricing could not be printed in catalogs, so customers had to bounce between systems. That sounds workable until you live in it every day.
The wholesale portal was difficult to use. Customers struggled to navigate, even down to basic functions like the back button not working. Questions that should have been self-serve became interruptions for the sales team: dimensions, current availability, accurate product details, and whether an item was discontinued. Meanwhile, customers were looking at one set of visuals in the catalog and trying to reconcile it with another experience in the portal. The result was frustration, slower decisions, and a sales team pulled away from higher-value work.
“I was getting calls all the time from my customers basically frustrated because the back button was broken and they couldn’t find the information they needed easily and quickly.”
The turning point
Everything moved into one up-to-date system customers could actually use
Fireside Lodge decided to stop patching the gaps between catalogs, portals, and ordering workarounds. They adopted WizCommerce to bring product information, pricing, images, and ordering into a single place that could stay accurate over time.
Instead of customers referencing a printed catalog and discovering later that an item was discontinued, the team could keep the portal current. Pricing, dimensions, images, and product details were accessible in one experience, so customers and internal teams operated from the same source of truth. For a lean sales organization, this mattered. It reduced the volume of avoidable questions and removed the daily friction that came from running two systems that never fully matched.
“We can keep product details and pricing up to date in one place, so customers always have accurate information at their fingertips.”
AI search made complex projects easier to build, even when teams were not side by side
In hospitality, projects are rarely simple. The sales team often collaborate with customers who are not sitting next to them, making shared visibility critical. With WizCommerce, both sides can look at the same products in real time, review the same details, and keep projects organized through separate wishlists and carts.
Just as important, the workflow helps customers make required decisions earlier. When a product has options and variables, the system prompts buyers to select what is needed before moving forward. That reduces the back-and-forth where customers place an order with missing decisions, then have to pause, ask their client, and restart. The portal starts doing the upfront qualification work so the sales team can step in when the customer is actually ready.
One of the biggest shifts for Fireside Lodge was how easily customers adapted to the new portal. Buyers did not need training or walkthroughs to get started. The experience was intuitive enough that customers could browse, find what they needed, and place orders on their own.
“The portal almost acts like a salesperson when I’m not there or not available.”
Results
Bigger online orders and a sales team that finally got time back
Once customers could shop and order in one place, buying behavior changed. Kelly noticed accessory orders growing, not because the team pushed harder, but because the experience started matching how people naturally shop online. Customers add to cart, discover additional items, and build larger orders in the moment. Before, even if someone wanted more, they had to look products up in one system and then email or create a purchase order separately. That extra effort turned shopping into necessity instead of discovery.
Internally, the time savings were just as real. Fireside Lodge runs a lean salesforce with an internal team rather than outside reps. The “extra time” was not about doing less. It was about finally having the time they always needed, time that used to get consumed by avoidable support questions. With customers able to self-serve dimensions, pricing, descriptions, and visuals, the team could focus on projects, customer needs, and the work that actually grows the business.
“Our accessory orders, they just seem to be growing and getting bigger as they come in because naturally when you’re on an easy-to-use online portal, you’re adding things to your cart.”
“We know exactly who to go to when we have questions, and the response is always timely. That support gives us confidence to do more with WizCommerce, and we speak very highly of the partnership.”
