House of Chikankari specializes in promoting and selling clothing featuring Chikankari, the traditional Indian art of delicate hand embroidery. The brand was founded in 2020 after its co-founder, Aakriti Rawal, learned that a number of Chikankari artisans had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure that these artisans did not lose their livelihoods, House of Chikankari set up its online store, giving them the ability to share their hand-embroidered clothing with the world while getting paid for their work.
The brand has since grown to employ 120 people. It has gained a global presence and has been featured on “Shark Tank India,” securing financial backing in the process. With a growing customer base and increased traffic to its website, House of Chikankari upgraded to Shopify Plus for its app integrations and checkout customization capabilities.
With Shopify Plus, House of Chikankari has seen:
- 2x improvement in conversion rate
- 50% rise in orders
- 34% increase in revenue
The Challenge
Following the airing of its episode on “Shark Tank India” in January 2023, House of Chikankari experienced a surge in site traffic but not a corresponding surge in its customer conversion rate. But in the absence of extensive and in-depth visibility of online consumer behavior, House of Chikankari had no way of knowing why its site visitors weren’t converting or what it could do to improve its performance.
In addition, details about House of Chikankari’s loyalty program were difficult for customers to find, and its customer support team was inundated with loyalty program-related queries. Uncertainty around loyalty balances and how to redeem points added unnecessary steps to the customer journey. This led to some customers becoming distracted while looking for loyalty program details and leaving the site without finalizing their purchases.
The Solution
Having already achieved success with Shopify, the transition to Shopify Plus was a natural progression. Using ShopifyQL Notebooks, House of Chikankari gained access to the advanced visibility and analytics it needed to make informed decisions and improve its performance. With real time data at its fingertips, it was much easier for House of Chikankari to drive sales and conversions by determining things like which items should go on sale or which cohorts to target with special offers.
Shopify Plus also allowed House of Chikankari to incorporate details of its loyalty program into its checkout process using the advanced version of the Smile loyalty and rewards program app. This streamlined the brand's customer experience and made it easier for customers to checkout quickly, both of which reduced pressure on the customer support team. The visibility of loyalty points at checkout also encouraged customers to add more items to their carts or return later to redeem unused points, further driving sales.
The Results
Since leveraging the powerful data analysis tools and checkout customization features provided by Shopify Plus, House of Chikankari has doubled its sales conversion rate. In addition, using the Shopify Plus version of the Smile app has helped the brand increase repeat purchases and boost brand loyalty, resulting in a 23% increase to customer return rate. Each of these outcomes has contributed to an increase in revenue overall.
Having the loyalty points reminder on the checkout page really makes it easy for the customer to understand the benefits of the program and nudges them to convert faster.
