White Orchard is an independent gift shop in the heart of Shrewsbury Town; taken over by Jennifer Wadhams in 2019, she has continued to cultivate relationships with new and existing suppliers and customers all the while keeping the individuality that is synonymous with White Orchard.
Jennifer came to Country with two aims; firstly to create a new look for the established retail brand, as the changes to make it her own no longer felt inline with the original business, and secondly to launch her first eCommerce to expand her community of customers, making a welcome space for new customers whilst retaining and increasing the spend of the existing.
To understand White Orchard, our team had to create a human connection; taking the time to speak with its owner Jennifer, and fully understand her ethos, purpose and vision for the business.
Both companies shared their expertise and feelings, using our Personality Led Design process. These conversations uncovered the idea behind everything White Orchard is and together we created a central thread that defines the company, its new identity and eCommerce website.
We had to create an eCommerce website that would be simple for all to use, new and returning customers.
“Our greatest accomplishment has been developing a brand that our customers love and can trust .”
Jennifer Wadhams, White Orchard Owner
Through the brand identity we were able to launch a successful and succinct Shopify eCommerce site and set up Google shopping, fitting with new shop signage and flexible branding; Whilst through digital strategy we were able to set up a collection of campaigns, encouraging growth of the business outside of the bricks and mortar shop.
With our strategy team we were able to identify the current customer demographic, helping us to see where it needed to be expanded to encourage the growth and appeal to a wider net.
Though we agreed for three months to refresh White Orchard’s identity, due to the pandemic it was within a month that we had to create the eCommerce website. But, we used this as an opportunity, working symbiotically with Jennifer as she took the quiet months of the first lockdown to refurb the shop, we began to work on the website and refresh the brand.
“After our first full year in business we had exceeded the sales record of the previous owner. That was a great achievement for us, however, our greatest accomplishment has been developing a brand that our customers love and can trust and in doing so taking our business online, helping us to grow our business at a time when growth can be difficult to achieve.”
Jennifer Wadhams, White Orchard Owner
We are continuing to work with White Orchard on their Google shopping management, SEO, and evolving the brand identity to support key campaigns such as Mother’s Day. This involves keeping the tone of voice consistent, and making sure visuals stay on brand throughout each campaign.
Over our work with White Orchard we have seen eCommerce sales rise by 50% within one month of trading, against in-store sales. Meaning the company was able to stay afloat through an unstable 2020 due to the pandemic and continue trading through the multiple lockdowns.
