Marine OEM · Clarkston, WA · Shopify
Launched
PPI Marine
Pacific Powertrain needed a Shopify storefront that could talk to boat builders and dealers, not a lifestyle shop pretending to sell candles.
The business
PPI Marine, Pacific Powertrain, Inc., sits at 1020 Port Drive in Clarkston, Washington. They distribute Rotax jet propulsion packages for aluminum boat builders in the U.S. and Canada, alongside marine parts. This is OEM and dealer territory: EPA-certified packages, warranty language, freight that actually matters, and customers who will smell a generic theme from the first scroll.
The studio that built the storefront is in Idaho. The client is across the river. That is allowed. Geography is not a personality.
The problem
A marine OEM cannot run on a brochure Squarespace and a PDF. They need collections, product detail, technical resources, a contact path for dealer and Rotax inquiries, and a storefront that can take an order without looking like a fashion theme with the logo swapped. The content is dense: engines, warranties, FAQs, shipping realities. If the information architecture is cute instead of clear, a builder leaves.
Project goals
Stand up a Shopify storefront that presents engines and parts as industrial products. Keep dealer and consumer paths from collapsing into one vague “contact us.” Give technical pages a template so PPI can publish resources without redesigning the internet every time a grate or warranty note changes.
Design direction
The site should feel like a shop floor, not a lifestyle magazine. Strong type, product photography that is the product, and navigation that prefers names of things over metaphors. Custom theme work (from the D & D Shopify theme built for this client) rather than an out-of-the-box theme with a hero slideshow of sunsets.
Website strategy
Home has to route: shop, engines, resources, contact. Product and collection templates do the selling. Resource pages (warranty, technical, instructions) protect the sales team from repeating the same email. Contact distinguishes Rotax inquiries from general ones because those are not the same email pile in real life.
SEO work completed
Indexable product and page templates. Human titles. Technical content that can rank for the names of the things PPI actually sells, not a blog farm. No invented ranking claims. No fake review stars in schema.
Key features
Shopify Online Store 2.0 sections for hero, collections, promo grids, FAQ, and footer. Resource page template. Contact paths for OEM/dealer versus general questions. Engine information presented as packages, not mystery SKUs.
Outcome
ppimarine.com is live and selling the catalog. Order volume, conversion rate, and revenue change are not listed here because they have not been documented for publication. The outcome I will stand on: a custom Shopify storefront exists for a real OEM, with real products and real contact paths.