This year we helped CellarStash take their first steps with an ambitious new project on Shopify Plus. We set them up with a fresh new store and built some pretty unique customisations on top. As they approach their first anniversary we have taken the opportunity to reflect on their first year's success.
CellarStash started the year with the ambitious goal of partnering with a wide range of independent wineries and bringing all of their products together within one marketplace. We were asked to create a shopping experience that allow CellarStash's customers to browse a carefully curated selection of wine. The store would include all the features you would expect from a premium shopping experience as well as some exciting extras.
Customers would be given the opportunity to purchase individual bottles, but the real challenge was to increase average cart quantity by encouraging customers to build their own case of wines with clear signposting & communication through-out.
When the site launched with the 'build a case' feature, 45% of all orders placed within the first two months included a case of wine.
CellarStash wanted to reward customers for purchasing wines in cases. A case can be made up of a mixture of wines, and when purchased, a customer would receive a percentage discount on the entire case.
This creates an interesting challenge from a customer experience perspective as we needed to make sure customers did not lose sight of their goals as they navigated around the store.
We therefore had to combine clear and compelling, in context, messaging with site-wide prompts that keep the customer working towards their goal through-out the entire user journey. The customer needs to always be aware of...
Once a customer built their case and received their discount the promotion doesn't end. Customers would be further encouraged to build a second case and receive additional discounts such as free shipping. Of all orders placed within the first two months that contained cases, over 10% of orders were for two cases, as customers doubled up on their cart quantity to take advantage of the available offers.
CellarStash were given complete control over the size of a case required to trigger an offer - as well as exactly what reward the customers would receive. Giving them control to fine tune the offer to make it compelling for their consumers.
With the build a box functionality neatly in place the only thing left to do was everything else! We used a combination of built in theme features and developed a number of bespoke apps on top to make sure CellarStash's customers had a great experience through-out the entire customer journey. From the moment they land on the site to the point they checkout.
Selling & shipping alcohol across State borders can lead to legal issues if your suppliers aren't licensed to alcohol sell in all States that is why some bottles cannot be ordered to certain delivery addresses. But if a customer got as far as the checkout before finding out they can't order then that would be a terrible experience. This is why we ask customers where they are getting their order delivered to before they even start the journey. We then automatically filter out any products which aren't available to them.
Search is often where customers start their journey. So we made sure customers had access to one of the best smart search features going. As quickly as the customer starts typing the site starts displaying instant results.
That allows customers to go into product pages, add a wine to their case and then click back to return to the collection listing page without losing position - returning them to a filtered collection with all their filter options already selected.
That allows customers to add directly to their case without ever leaving the collection page. Removing the need for customers to go in and out of product pages as they build their case.
That not only allowed customers to build a list of favourite wines. But it also allowed customers to add their favourite wines to their case directly from the favourites list. Making it easy for returning customers to find the wines they love and to build a case.
With the access that Shopify Plus provides us to the checkout we were able to control how the discount was displayed in the checkout. Making sure customers can clearly see the savings they receive on the order without reducing the perceived value of the wine the customer is ordering.
Inspira stood out due to their experience, professionalism, and diligence. They were able to create some pretty unique customizations which were all very well done. Communication was strong throughout the process, the team members were all friendly and responsive. Would strongly recommend Inspira.
When a project comes together as this one did it is something, we as a team, love to celebrate. We've taken a unique and challenging list of requirements and built something we're truly proud of. But what really matters is what the client thinks...
