2022–2025
Ohio Department of Natural Resources: one store for every division, online and in person
Several divisions of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources sell products to the public, such as Ohio State Parks gear. We designed and launched one online store for all of them in November 2022, then added in-person sales on tablets from the same inventory and sales reports by division for ODNR’s finance team. More than 1,400 products sold in the first weeks, and we supported the store until 2025.
- 1,400+
- products sold in the first weeks after launch (November 2022)
- 50+
- products from ODNR’s divisions in the launch catalog
- Client
- State of Ohio · Ohio Department of Natural Resources
- Industry
- Public sector
- Scope
- E-commerce · Service design · Point of sale · Division reporting · Training · Support
- Platform
- Shopify + InnovateOhio Platform (HCL Digital Experience)
- Partnership
- 2022–2025
Challenge
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) looks after Ohio’s state parks, forests, wildlife areas and waterways, and several of its divisions sell products to the public, such as Ohio State Parks merchandise. ODNR wanted one online store where people could buy from all of them in a single cart, while each division kept managing its own products.
The store had to sit alongside ODNR’s website on the InnovateOhio Platform and follow the department’s brand. It had to take payments the way the State requires, handle Ohio sales tax and tax-exempt purchases, and ship orders from a fulfillment center. And it had to work for the people behind the counter too: staff selling in person needed the same inventory, and ODNR’s finance and operations teams needed to see sales and stock by division.
Approach
One store, many divisions
We chose Shopify for commerce and set up a dedicated store for ODNR, connected to its website on the InnovateOhio Platform and designed to its brand guidelines. Each division’s products live in one catalog and one cart, with guest checkout, promo codes, tax-exempt purchases and shipping costs set per product; customer accounts followed in the second release.
The same inventory online and at the counter
In early 2023 we added point of sale on tablets, so staff selling in person draw from the same inventory as the online store, and trained ODNR’s team to use it.
Reports the finance team can use
We built sales and inventory reports by division for ODNR’s finance and operations teams, and later helped resolve differences between Shopify’s reports and the store’s deposits.
Shipping, training and support
We set up shipping rates and the fulfillment process, documented them, and trained ODNR and its divisions on store administration, reports and inventory, point of sale and the fulfillment center. After launch we supported the store month by month: a plugin that tracks each shipment’s status with the carriers, the set-up for Ohio’s sales tax holiday, and user access.
Impact
The store went live on November 21, 2022, with more than 50 products from ODNR’s divisions, and more than 1,400 products sold in its first weeks. In-person sales on tablets and the division reports followed in early 2023.
We designed, set up and supported the store for ODNR, from requirements in October 2022 to our last support request in 2025.
