Industries — who we serve

Outdoor Gear

First Pier helps outdoor gear, apparel, and equipment brands grow on Shopify — turning spec-driven, high-consideration buyers into confident customers and loyal repeat buyers.

Book a growth audit See our work

The challenges we solve

Selling considered products online isn’t like selling impulse buys. These are the headwinds the category throws at you — and a generic Shopify build doesn’t address any of them.

High-consideration buyers

Buyers want specs, weight, materials, use cases, and proof it performs. If your product pages read like a catalog instead of a buying guide, you lose the sale to a competitor who explained it better.

Product & spec confusion

Sizing, capacity, temperature ratings, compatibility, intended use — the questions that stall a cart are the ones your PDP didn't answer. Product finders and comparison tools resolve that hesitation.

Seasonality & demand spikes

Outdoor demand swings hard with seasons, weather, and gifting windows. Your store, inventory signals, and paid media all have to flex — and email/SMS has to keep customers warm through the off-season.

Rising acquisition costs

Paid media alone doesn't scale profitably when CPMs climb. The brands that win pair efficient acquisition with CRO and retention so every hard-won customer is worth more over time.

Loyalty left on the table

Outdoor buyers are among the most loyal and referral-driven customers in ecommerce — if you give them a reason. Loyalty, post-purchase flows, and content keep them coming back for the next trip's gear.

How we grow your brand

Three levers that actually move the needle

01 · Convert

Convert the researcher

We turn dense product knowledge into buying confidence — PDPs that answer the real questions, comparison and finder tools, and CRO tested against your actual traffic, not best-practice guesswork.

02 · Acquire

Acquire efficiently

Paid search and paid social built around your margins and seasonality, not vanity ROAS — so growth is profitable, not just big.

03 · Retain

Grow lifetime value

Email, SMS, loyalty, and post-purchase experiences that turn a first-time buyer into a repeat customer and a referral source.

The First Pier method — how every engagement runs

Strategize

Tie every build to a growth outcome.

Integrate

Connect the tools and data that run the store.

Measure

Prove it in revenue, retention, and ROAS.

Iterate

Ship, learn, refine in fast sprints.

Results we’ve delivered

A man hiking through a narrow canyon in the mountains

Product Finder Quiz & First-Party Data for Hyperlite Mountain Gear

A product finder quiz for Hyperlite Mountain Gear converting 450% above site average, with 200% larger orders and a 76% completion rate.

Weebly to Shopify Migration for Versa Gripps

A nine-week Weebly to Shopify migration for Versa Gripps, carrying over customers and orders and lifting revenue 66%.

What we bring to your store

Shopify & Shopify Plus development

Stores built for technical, variant-heavy catalogs — fast and ready to scale.

Conversion rate optimization

Testing and buying-guide UX that converts high-consideration traffic.

Paid search & paid social

Google Ads and Meta built around your margins and seasonality.

Klaviyo email & SMS

Flows and campaigns that carry customers across seasons.

Retention & loyalty

Programs that reward repeat and referral-driven customers.

Migration to Shopify

Move off a legacy platform without losing SEO or sales.

Why brands choose First Pier

Senior team, no handoffs

You work directly with the people doing the work — senior Shopify specialists, not an account manager relaying to an offshore queue.

Shopify specialists

We build, optimize, and scale on Shopify and Shopify Plus every day — from technical catalogs to conversion and retention.

Maine-built, growth-obsessed

Headquartered in Portland, Maine, we partner with brands across the U.S. and measure our work in revenue, retention, and ROAS.

What clients say

“They're always advancing — always looking at what's coming down the pipeline.”

Hyperlite Mountain Gear

90% growth (2016) · 50% B2C growth (2017)

“They are the real deal.”

Shelter Institute

60% e-commerce growth YoY

“No idea was too big — they were able to run with everything.”

Versa Gripps

Improved SEO, PPC & engagement

They were receptive to my ideas and translated them into technology.

Oterra Designs

Outdoor products · Shopify

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you work with outdoor and gear brands specifically?

Yes. Outdoor gear is one of our deepest verticals — we've grown ultralight backpacking, training-equipment, and technical-apparel brands on Shopify, and the challenges of the category (high-consideration buyers, spec-heavy PDPs, seasonality) are ones we solve every day.

Can Shopify handle a complex, technical product catalog?

Absolutely. Shopify and Shopify Plus handle large, variant-heavy, spec-driven catalogs well — the difference is in how the store is built. We design PDPs, filtering, and product-finder tools specifically for products that require explanation before purchase.

How do you help with seasonal demand swings?

We plan store merchandising, paid media, and email/SMS around your seasonality — scaling acquisition into peak windows and using retention programs to keep customers engaged in the off-season so you're not starting from zero each spring.

We're on another platform — can you migrate us to Shopify?

Yes. Migration is a core service. We moved Versa Gripps off Weebly onto Shopify — customers and order history included — in nine weeks, without losing SEO equity or sales continuity.

Where are you located, and does it matter?

We're in Portland, Maine, in the heart of a major outdoor-brand region — see our work with Shopify brands across Maine. We work with brands across the U.S., but our roots in the outdoor ecosystem mean we understand this customer natively.

Book your free growth audit

Tell us where you want to grow. A senior First Pier strategist will review your store and send back a prioritized, no-obligation growth plan.

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