BigCommerce Customer Success Story

Industry

Business Technology

About the Company

BigCommerce helps enterprise and small businesses, such as Inhaven, use better tech tools to achieve better results.

Challenge

Inhaven needed a powerful ecommerce stack that could support high-volume B2B purchasing, onboard dozens of vendors quickly, and offer real-time inventory visibility across a complex supply chain.

Results

Inhaven is redefining B2B shopping in the booming vacation rental market. With the help of Flxpoint and BigCommerce, they’ve created an ecommerce experience built for speed, flexibility, and scale.

50 ^vendors

Onboarded in record time

6 ^month

Delay cut to 6 weeks

2 ^weeks

Or less spent onboarding with Flxpoint

The Challenge: A Growing Industry with Complex Needs

The vacation rental market has exploded into a $250 billion industry, accounting for nearly a third of global lodging. As demand soared, so did the need for professional procurement solutions to streamline the furnishing and restocking of rental properties. Ashley Ching, Founder and CEO of Inhaven, recognized this need.

“This is no longer a small industry. Itʼs a $250 billion industry, and they need to have a professional supply chain,” says Ashley Ching, Founder and CEO of Inhaven.

Ashley set out to create Inhaven, a B2B e-commerce platform dedicated to supplying top-quality home goods specifically for vacation rentals. But with clients managing anywhere from 20 to over 1,000 properties, she knew Inhaven needed a robust e-commerce platform that could handle complex B2B requirements, alongside an efficient dropshipping solution that would allow for quick, reliable vendor partnerships and streamlined inventory management.

After evaluating options like Shopify Plus and Magento, Ashley ultimately chose BigCommerce for its strong B2B features, customization potential, and ease of integration with essential tools like Flxpoint.

Building the Foundation: Why BigCommerce + Flxpoint Was the Right Call

Ashley selected BigCommerce as the ecommerce backbone for Inhaven’s multi-vendor, multi-location operation. Its B2B-native features and API-first structure gave her the flexibility she needed to scale.

Inhaven’s journey wasn’t without challenges. Initially, they partnered with a dropshipping provider who promised a fast six-to-eight-week onboarding. However, the process took closer to six months, delaying their website launch and incurring extra costs. “It actually took us about six months to onboard when they had said that it would take six to eight weeks,” Ashley recalls when speaking with Flxpoint.

This delay forced Inhaven to seek a faster, more reliable solution, leading them to Flxpoint.

Flxpoint’s reputation for robust automation, user-friendly interface, and reliable integrations made it the perfect fit. “We ended up switching to Flxpoint, and it has been a much smoother process,” explains Ashley. “Where it took us six months to get onboarded with the other company, we were up and running in a week or two with Flxpoint.”

The transition to Flxpoint was seamless, even with a tight holiday timeline. Inhaven’s Head of Merchandising, Niki Antonelli, shared, “We actually kicked off the move from our previous provider a week before Christmas,” Niki says. “Thanks to the support team and your customer success team, we finished the transition in just under two weeks.”

This switch allowed Inhaven to onboard 50 vendors in record time, cutting down onboarding time, reducing costs, and eliminating delays.

Creating a Seamless Vendor and Customer Experience

Switching to Flxpoint not only streamlined Inhaven’s operations but also improved relationships with vendors and customers. Vendors who were familiar with Flxpoint were thrilled.

The ease of integration and supportive customer service from Flxpoint set a new standard for vendor relationships. One vendor highlighted the quick integration process, saying: “We did an EDI integration in a day… I’ve never seen such great support in my 30-year career.”

Vendors found Flxpoint simpler than other platforms, and with quick response times and hands-on help, Inhaven built stronger vendor relationships, which strengthened their supply chain.

The improved integration process with Flxpoint meant Inhaven could sync real-time inventory data, ensuring customers saw only accurate stock levels, making their purchasing experience smoother. Ashley notes the importance of real-time inventory: “It’s really important that our product information is correct, that we have visibility into inventory.”

Enhancing the B2B Customer Experience with BigCommerce

In addition to Flxpoint, BigCommerce was critical in helping Inhaven develop a customized B2B shopping experience.

Inhaven collaborated with their agency partner, Cronix, to launch an e-commerce site that maximized BigCommerce’s native features.

“We needed to set up customer accounts at the company level to allow multiple users with different access levels. We also needed the functionality to build tiered pricing by volume quotes. BigCommerce had all of the B2B features that I needed to quickly launch the site,” says Ashley.

By integrating BigCommerce with Flxpoint and other tools like Searchspring and Zoho CRM, Inhaven could provide property managers with a streamlined, efficient way to furnish and restock multiple rental locations. Searchspring allowed customers to find products based on specific criteria, while Zoho CRM enabled Inhaven to manage customer and vendor data effectively.

To simplify the shopping process, Inhaven implemented checklists to help customers quickly purchase essentials for each room in bulk or individually.

“When we were researching with our customers, a lot of them talked about needing checklists,” Ashley shares.

BigCommerce’s flexibility allowed Inhaven to create these customized checklists and add other features to tailor the B2B shopping experience.

“These are businesses, and they do not have time to shop in the traditional way of searching on Amazon and sorting through 50,000 results.”

Efficient Operations and Streamlined Restocking

BigCommerce’s API capabilities enabled Inhaven to build a customer portal with tailored functionality for property managers. This portal allows users to place purchase requests quickly, ensuring that the specific items approved for each property are always on hand. Inhaven even developed a progressive web app that connects with BigCommerce, allowing users to submit restocking requests with a simple one-click checkout.

“Let’s say a housekeeper needs to replenish pillows. They can select the items easily through this visual-first tool. They can also upload pictures of damaged items or add notes to the purchase request,” Ashley explains.

The request goes directly to the purchasing manager, creating a fast and efficient process that ensures vacation rentals maintain high standards for quality and consistency.

With BigCommerce’s API-first approach and flexible B2B features, Inhaven was able to enhance the portal’s search functionality, enabling users to search by reference number, comments, or property. This improved order accuracy, eliminated errors, and helped Inhaven’s clients streamline their purchasing processes.

Transforming B2B Purchasing with Speed and Scalability

Since launching on BigCommerce, Inhaven has experienced double-digit revenue growth each quarter. The speed with which they were able to go live made a significant impact on their bottom line.

“The number one impact was being able to launch so quickly,” shares Ashley.

Not only did BigCommerce’s platform enable Inhaven to launch quickly, but its customization capabilities allowed the brand to expand offerings within the customer portal, improving operational efficiency and meeting the unique needs of the vacation rental industry.

Innovating for the Future with BigCommerce and Flxpoint

Inhaven remains committed to staying at the forefront of e-commerce innovation, exploring new technology to further support its clients. With BigCommerce continuing to invest in AI, Inhaven sees exciting opportunities to help clients make smarter, faster decisions.

“The investments that BigCommerce makes in its platform help make Inhaven a better place for our customers to shop and maintain their rental properties,” Ashley shares.

Through its partnerships with Flxpoint and BigCommerce, Inhaven has built a scalable, user-friendly platform that meets the complex needs of the vacation rental market. From onboarding vendors seamlessly to enhancing customer experience with advanced B2B tools, Inhaven has become a trusted partner for property managers across the industry.

By leveraging the strengths of Flxpoint and BigCommerce, Inhaven has streamlined B2B procurement, strengthened relationships, and set the stage for future growth.

Whether you're launching a B2B brand, managing complex vendor networks, or simply tired of doing everything manually, this story shows what’s possible with the right partners in your corner.

Ready to automate, optimize, and grow like Inhaven? Let's talk!