“I was spending a lot of time, effort and money and not moving the needle.”
See how Off the Wagon leveraged ecommerce growth to reinforce its retail operations and grow revenue.
Off the Wagon is a specialty toy and novelty retailer with three retail locations in Northeast Ohio, owned by Michelle Sahr. Founded in 2009, the business carries over 10,000 SKUs of games, plush toys, gag gifts, candy, and the kind of fun, eclectic items that customers say make them laugh out loud. Ecommerce has been part of the business from inception, with national and international shipping, and is the primary channel for reaching new customers. As a retail operator, she wanted to leverage her ecommerce presence as both a sales driver for out-of-area buyers, and a way to attract in-store buyers locally.
3 Core Challenges
Off the Wagon Faced
1st Core Challenge:
Organic search rankings were sliding, including for keywords the business had previously held the number one position for.
1st Strategic Shift:
Rankings recovered to the top of search results for the original priority keywords, and thousands of additional terms now rank at the top of the page, driving organic traffic and revenue growth.
2nd Core Challenge:
A previous agency focused on a narrow set of keywords, used black-hat tactics behind the scenes, and never increased revenue, leaving Michelle skeptical of agency partners.
2nd Strategic Shift:
KeenView’s IOS model expanded her reach across all search and discovery platforms, with AI developments discussed openly so Michelle can see what is happening and where the strategy is going.
3rd Core Challenge:
AI was beginning to reshape how buyers discover products, and her existing team had no strategy or technology to help navigate the change.
3rd Strategic Shift:
Off the Wagon is positioned to capture buyers who increasingly start their searches on AI platforms including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. KeenView’s work is focused on staying ahead of the shift rather than reacting to it.
The Problem
Off the Wagon was built on a simple premise: stock the weird, fun, funny, eclectic things customers cannot find at Amazon or Target, and they will keep coming back. That idea has held up for over fifteen years across three retail stores and an ecommerce operation that ships nationally and internationally. But the online side of the business was losing ground. Organic rankings on the keywords that had been driving traffic for years were in decline, and Michelle was trying to fix it while running her retail stores at the same time.
She had reason to be cautious about hiring another agency. She had trusted her last partner to help her, but it wasn’t working. A lot of money was spent. A lot of time was invested. In the end, the traffic wasn’t growing, the online world was changing and she needed a partner she could trust.
The Solution
KeenView began restructuring the product data on her site. The search terms that had been sliding moved back to the top. Organic traffic has grown exponentially, and in Michelle’s words, faster than she thought was possible for a business of her size.
A year and a half in, the partnership has become part of how the business operates. Monthly sessions cover what is happening on the website, what is shifting in search, and how AI is reshaping product discovery. As buyers increasingly begin their searches on AI platforms instead of Google, Off the Wagon is positioned to be found there. Last year was the best in the company’s history, and this year is tracking to top it.
I was spending a lot of time, effort and money and not moving the needle, and it was a very frustrating experience. When we started with KeenView, our search engine results were dropping. Now we’re all the way at the top again, number one in most cases, and thousands of other similar terms. Our sales have increased every year. Last year was our best year ever, and we’re looking for our best year ever this year.
Michelle Sahr – President & Owner, Off the Wagon
Michelle Sahr – President & Owner, Off the Wagon