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Within Northern England, House of Malt is a family-owned, independent company that has grown to become one of the top online retailers of specialty whiskies and spirits in the U.K. It was launched in 2015 as a family-owned independent business and have used the internet for managing their business since the year 2017.
House of Malt has a physical store as well as a warehouse within Northern England, though a major portion of their transactions are done online via their online store. It currently delivers across all of the U.K. and have plans for expansion into international markets.
Woo interviewed Jethro Hazelhurst, House of Malt's Director of Ecommerce.
for Whiskey
House of Malt chose as their online store platform since they were looking to stay away from highly-regulated marketplaces; they were impressed by how flexible the Woo platform is and would like to be the owner of the entirety of their online business and operations as they possibly could.
Since then, House of Malt has joined forces with Woo by utilizing Woo's Enterprise Ecommerce program, which helped improve their cash flow. Woo is a blessing to their business in many different ways. An increase in the their average order value, conversion rates, and the reduction in the amount of time it takes to make a pay from 7 days to just one day help them to ensure they have enough working capital needed to help the growth of their company.
Big wins
- The conversion rate has been increased and the average value of orders was increased to 22% following the implementation of Apple Pay through WooPayments.
- Reduced the time for cash deposits from seven days to just one day thanks to Woo Customer Success. Woo Customer Success team.
- In 2015, House of Malt was founded. House of Malt has grown to become one of the top three online spirits sellers in the U.K.
Key Extensions
- WooPayments as well as Apple Pay
- Payments through PayPal as well as Pay Later with PayPal
- Searchinise
- The theme of Storefront
- Google Listings and ads
- Klaviyo email marketing
Success in the wake of Brexit and Covid-19
Similar to the majority of British firms, House of Malt was affected by export tax levies following the Brexit law. Because of the difficulties which followed and the need to adjust, they chose to shift their attention to customers in the U.K. The company has now become among the top three businesses within the U.K. in online whisky sales.
After the closure of Covid-19, House of Malt was in a position to continue their operations even through the closures. They operate exclusively through their web site.
Their physical location is a crucial aspect of their business and offers special experiences for customers that they can't match.
Matching data to a malt: to provide customers with the best service
House of Malt has a an amazing understanding of the people who visit their website, which informs their ecommerce strategy.
The rule of thumb is it is that House of Malt serves four distinct customers needs:
- Customers who wish to try the latest items that are available on our site.
- Regular customers who go to houseofmalt.co.uk to purchase their most-loved merchandise and then purchase it the next time.
- Collectors who like to stay updated on the latest release and collection.
- Wholesalers who cannot find a product anywhere else, as well as frequent House of Malt for repeat purchases to refill bars, in smaller shops.
This information can be very helpful due to restrictions on advertisements that are applicable to retailers selling alcohol -- that House of Malt combats with an efficient email marketing strategy.
The value of an order can be increased by as much as 22 percentages with the help of Apple Pay and WooPayments
House of Malt offers a array of payment options including PayPal, PayPal credit card processing, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay through WooPayments.
It was decided to launch WooPayments to support Apple Pay specifically due to their site traffic. Jethro stated that "The majority of our customers are mobile and Apple customers use Safari. It's easy to imagine the way that conversion rates could increase because of the addition the payment option of Apple Pay. It's tough to come up with a motive why it wouldn't. There's just less friction. This could be a shift in our game."
Since introducing Apple Pay, House of Malt is seeing the growth by 22% in orders quantities, along with an increase in conversion rates as they have offered additional payment options.
"The more payment options we provide, the better -- 100 100%. The conversion rate has risen as we've expanded our payment options. Using all the payment methods and WooPayments, we've seen nice increases over the past few years. The outlook is good for us to keep using the methods to expand." -Jethro Hazelhurst, House of Malt Ecommerce Director. Jethro Hazelhurst, Ecommerce Director, House of Malt
Transferring whiskey across a lake
House of Malt is planning expansion internationally. Initially, they'll go towards Europe before moving to the U.S. The company is trying to find shipping partners and logistical support for customs in the hope to provide the most satisfying customer experience for overseas orders.
With their new warehouse, House of Malt anticipates thriving under periods of high order volume, for example during the time of year that they're most active and future global expansion.
Incorporating a variety of payment and products choices
House of Malt is also developing their catalog of products as well as improving the customer experience on their website and also developing the subscription service as well as a loyalty program for their repeat customers.
They're looking to expand their payment options that can accommodate customers who prefer to pay cash. The company is also expanding their buy now, buy later (BNPL) options by partnering with other providers.
Hazelhurst recognizes the benefits from BNPL: "The fact that customers can select to purchase now and pay later, will boost an average value for orders. Buy now and pay later choices will help."
In the end, House of Malt has enjoyed an amazing experience with the business and is looking forward to the future.
"All you've accomplished on WooPayments creates a huge impact" Hazelhurst said. "Somewhere in the north-western region of England located in a small portion of an old town. We're putting great whiskey in the hands of those who have Woo."
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