Custom Software Solutions for E-commerce
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THE CLIENT:
Our client is a top multi-channel, direct to consumer company with more than 100 years in business. They offer a wide range of affordably priced, hard to find and exclusive products for home and garden, health and beauty, apparel, hobbies, and accessories. Since 1997, the client has smoothly transitioned from primarily catalog sales to a top internet retailer. In the past few years, the company acquired several new brands blending them into the existing ecosystem further extending the quantity and quality of products for sale.
THE BUSINESS NEED:
The addition of a new brands with loyal customers coupled with increasing American preference for ecommerce shopping, our client faced a dramatic upswing in online traffic. Having traditionally averaged 1200-1500 orders per day, the average increased to 2500-3000 and then complaints about system slowdowns, crashes, and other online shopping issues began to flood customer service. The client planned to roll in two more new brands and needed a way to handle the increased volume of business quickly. Marketing and sales teams had already launched customer campaigns with publicized dates for the recent acquisitions to join the main ecommerce site.
WHAT GENECA DID:
As the client was losing orders and upsetting current and potential customers, the first step was to design and implement an immediate fix. Our rescue team worked through the initial weekend and had new logic in place for start of business Monday. A rescue team member stayed with the in-house technical team to monitor the site and make continued adjustments to keep it stable.
Next, Geneca conducted a deeper analysis of the overall system to design a path for a more scalable, reliable, and maintainable site. The client had several additional acquisitions in progress which would again increase customer volume and the site needed to handle the volume. By focusing on the data level, Geneca was able to streamline the way the ecommerce system accessed the increased catalog of products dramatically increasing responsiveness for the customer view. Additionally, the team redesigned the way data was stored during the add to cart and checkout processes allowing for faster completion of sales.
While completing the data design, we met with the business team to suggest functionality that could be added to increase customer interactions with items. Using the new data schema, we would now have the ability to gather and utilize data on customer searches, items viewed, products added and then removed from a cart, and more. With this data, we could add functionality to represent these items to customers in a variety of ways on different pages and contact them directly for related promotions. Although these suggestions would add to the scope and the immediate cost, the client could see the potential revenue generation for the existing and upcoming brands. Working closely with the in-house marketing team, we designed new logic and automated pathways for displays and email jobs to reengage customers with potential purchase items.
THE RESULTS:
The initial rescue had the site up and functioning within 48 hours of engaging Geneca and stayed stable throughout the redesign with no downtime for customers. The data redesign and needed code adjustments were completed prior to the first of the two planned launches. The average daily orders increased with the new brand launch to between 4,500 and 6,000 with no issues.
Prior to the second planned brand launch, Geneca built and launched the reengagement functionality. Data confirmed customers returned to buy those items 34% of the time in the first 2 months. With the reengagement features and the launch of the second brand, daily orders topped 10,000 and continued in the 10,000-12,000 rate over the next 6 months. Customer repeat purchase rates during this time period averaged 54%, far above the national ecommerce average of 30%. Client satisfaction with the ecommerce site contributed to customer repeat ordering. Surveyed customers gave the ecommerce site high scores on ease of use and site speed.
ABOUT GENECA
Geneca is a custom software consulting company with 20+ years of experience using advanced strategies to help clients stay ahead of their competition. At Geneca, we know that software isn’t one size fits all. We explore your unique needs and identify the right solution to accomplish your goals. We create lasting, solid partnerships with our clients and work together to design revolutionary products that engage users, transform industries, and evolve with your business.