How Blitz Surf Shop rode the digital wave with omnichannel shopping

Pictured above: Blitz Surf Shop in Gisborne.

Blitz Surf Shop has successfully navigated changing tides by combining bricks with clicks for an omnichannel approach to retail shopping.

NZ Post’s 2024 ‘eCommerce Market Sentiments Report’ revealed that Kiwis have changed the way we shop. Two-thirds of shoppers look online before going in-store to purchase. Nearly a quarter of shoppers click online and collect in-store, and one in five start their shopping transaction in-store and then purchase online.

Retail marketing is no longer about choosing in-store or online; it’s about seamlessly combining the two to ensure your business meets customers wherever and however they want to shop. An omnichannel approach, integrating physical stores, online websites, mobile apps, and social media into a cohesive and unified customer experience.

This omnichannel approach is increasingly blurring the lines between brick-and-mortar and e-commerce, and retailers must adapt. One store doing this better than most is the local Gisborne legend, Blitz Surf Shop.

Known for its deep roots and connection to the coastal lifestyle, Blitz has been a go-to spot for surfers and outdoor enthusiasts since 1983. In 2009, Euan Nelson took over ownership and revitalised this iconic shop.

After nearly a decade in London, Euan felt home tugging him back to Gisborne. “I was working as a physio in London, and I’d been there for almost nine years. Home was calling me,” he recalls. “I was really looking forward to coming back to Gisborne. When the chance came up to run this iconic surf shop, I jumped at it. It was a complete change of scene and career.”

The laid-back lifestyle of New Zealand often means we’re a little slow to adapt at times, but Euan bucked this trend, ensuring Blitz had an e-commerce site immediately. “Coming from the UK, online was already massive over there, but hadn’t quite reached home yet. When I bought Blitz, I inherited a new website that had no e-commerce capability. It was clear that we needed to set it up to stay competitive.” And so began Blitz’s venture into omnichannel shopping.

Bridging the physical and digital worlds

Setting up the online store was no small feat. Everything had to be done yourself back then explains Euan. “We had to take photos of everything ourselves and make up descriptions. It was a huge job.”

Despite these challenges, Blitz Surf Shop successfully launched its e-commerce platform in 2010, initially using E-Retailer for its online operations, but the rapidly growing digital space soon outpaced this platform, leaving it old and inefficient.

Blitz quickly transitioned to using Shopify and Counter Intelligence for stock management. “Counterintelligence is the base stock management system,” Euan explains. “There’s an API that links Counter Intelligence directly to our online store platform, Shopify.” This integration ensures constant communication between the stock management and the online store, allowing for quick updates to product information.

However, having a reliable website up and running was only half the battle for Euan; the other, perhaps more important battle was marrying the website with the storefront operations.

This integration came through an emphasis on human touch. “Community is at the core of our brand. I love that I’m selling boards in the morning to the same people I’m surfing alongside in the evening.

“We carry this human touch through both online and in-store interactions, ensuring customers know they’re dealing with humans every step of the way, rather than an automated service,” Euan emphasises.

By treating online customers with the same care and attention as those who visit the store, Blitz has managed to create a cohesive and satisfying shopping experience across all channels.

Building buzz for Blitz online

But as Euan found out, just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. With their online store well underway, a shift in marketing approach was necessary to fully embrace omnichannel shopping.

Blitz Surf Shop’s marketing strategy evolved significantly with the introduction of e-commerce, transitioning from traditional media advertising to digital marketing. This shift allowed for more measurable and targeted efforts. “Going online makes everything measurable. We knew exactly how many people were looking at our website every day and where they were coming from,” Euan notes. This change was driven by the need for visibility and effectiveness, which traditional media couldn’t provide. “I was paying a lot of money to do daily surf reports on the radio, but with so many radio stations in Gisborne, I was left wondering if it was falling on deaf ears.”

Blitz also leveraged social media to maintain a strong local presence while reaching a broader audience. “Promoting our brand and our position in the community gets a lot better responses than just posting product photos,” Euan says. By sharing stunning images of local surf conditions and engaging with the community through surf comps and beach cleanups, Blitz kept their brand top-of-mind.

When taking an omnichannel approach, it isn’t always easy to bridge the gap between in-store customers and online audiences. For Euan, “the biggest challenge was making the shop more visible online; locals know about the shop but not always the website.”

To help close the distance between these two types of shoppers, in 2016 Euan set up his own surf camera at Wainui Beach. By “setting up a free surf camera live streaming from Wainui Beach, all our customers can check the surf for themselves for free whenever they want. And that made our website more visible really quickly,” he notes.

The live surf camera generates a huge amount of traffic for the Blitz website and effectively links its physical presence in Gisborne with a broader online community, enhancing customer engagement across all platforms.

This new marketing approach has allowed Blitz to compete effectively in a digital space, ensuring it remained relevant and accessible to both local customers and those further afield. “Everyone has a phone these days, right? And Google is the most used website in the world. It makes sense to put a lot of your eggs into that basket,” Euan says.

A lifeline through uncertain times

Like every industry across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the surf retail industry, shattering supply chains and leaving businesses both small and large reeling. Euan says that the aftershocks are still being felt today. “The COVID lockdowns caused problems with sourcing products and then massive demand once everyone had this newfound freedom. But once the initial rush was over, there was an oversupply.”

Blitz Surf Shop navigated these turbulent waters through a strategic omnichannel approach focused on integrating its physical store with a robust online presence.

With the country teetering on the edge of an uncertain recession, plenty of retail businesses are feeling a little unmoored. However, through their transition to omnichannel shopping, Euan has taken Blitz firmly back to dry land.

Euan shares that the key to this successful transition has been “constant education” and the need for staff to understand the value of online customers: “Keeping it in my staff’s mind that their online customers are just as important as the ones that live down the road from them.”