Create & Craft
Changing shopping habits demanded a rethink of the technology platforms
Background
Create & Craft is the UK’s largest arts and crafts TV shopping channel. The bulk of their sales have traditionally taken place as a result of the TV shows via their call centre. They have a very loyal customer base.
But the market is changing with a younger generation now looking online for craft supplies, instead of TV channels. Hochanda approached Quba to deliver a deep dive into their business to establish how digital should evolve to better serve their changing customer base.
The business challenge
The technology behind the Create & Craft website was a major blocker to scaling their operations and was causing a lot of inefficiencies.
The existing legacy solution was built in-house and was very dated. It was responsible for almost all areas of operation from warehouse logistics to TV schedules and everything in between. This led to a lot of manual convoluted processes for staff with a severe lack of automation.
The solution was also not able to integrate easily with other solutions such as CRM’s and ERP’s, restricting the business's ability to move to a direct-to-consumer model, more suited to the online shopping audience.
With the customer base ageing and the next generation not adopting TV shopping, it was critical to find a solution that could support the adapting business model and fend off the gradual decline in audience numbers.
A big challenge for many organisations with ageing technology is gathering insights on internal and external users to ensure the right choices are made going forward that will serve both groups. That’s exactly what our Discovery does.
Our approach
The challenges faced by the business and its vision for the future were identified and explored through Quba's Discovery process, delivered over three months. Stakeholders and End Users were interviewed to understand the internal operational requirements for the new solution and to ensure we genuinely understood the needs of their future customers.
Two core areas were reviewed:
- The current technical architecture: We placed the CRM platform at the heart of our solution as it was fundamental to the experience.
- The website: We identified many opportunities for optimisation including improving the experience for new users to the site, the expansion of shipping options and a migration plan for data to the new solution.
What we recommended
We proposed a modern architecture with headless front ends and best-of-breed backend solutions, integrated via API. This included a recommendation to use BigCommerce for the main website using multi-storefront.
A considerable amount of research was put into picking the right CRM solution for Hochanda, we concluded that Dynamics 365 was the best choice.
We proposed a phased approach. Phase 1 would deliver the website with engaging branding and optimised user journeys to improve the conversion rate and a scalable and adaptable framework to build on in Phase 2.
Establishing the business case
We combined our proposal with a realistic ROI projection to show a solid business case for the investment.
In the short term through conversion rate optimisation and increasing AOV we showed a healthy uplift in revenue was very possible.
Long term the new solution recognises efficiencies of scale through the automation of manual processes and prepares Hochanda for the future, allowing them to adapt to a new audience with different needs.
Let’s move you forward
Are your digital experiences holding you back in some way, or do you need to propel the business forward, quickly?
Get in touch
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