Founded by high-fidelity audio aficionado Kevin Deal, Upscale Audio has built a reputation as one of the world’s leading providers of high-end home audio equipment. From turntables to amplifiers, cables, tubes, and accessories, Upscale Audio has built a customer-centric reputation as “your friend in the high-end audio business.”
When Upscale Audio outgrew its original commerce platform, it moved to Shopify Plus, where it has:
- Grown online revenue from $3 million to over $20 million per year
- Increased average order value by 122%
- Increased conversion rate by nearly 300%
Challenge
Upscale Audio prides itself on an irreverent, for-the-customer approach, and has become famous for its video “teardowns” to get inside—literally—the products it sells. With an average order value of $1,300, shoppers take their time in planning purchases, and Upscale Audio wanted them to feel completely confident in their shopping experience.
But its previous website was problematic. It was unreliable, experiencing outages with even modest loads, and suffered from security issues. Setting up promotions was time-consuming and tedious. The team spent a lot of time troubleshooting issues, which distracted them from proactive steps to further improve the shopping experience.
I've used many other ecommerce platforms throughout my career, and I'd rarely take a vacation. Every time I did, things would go wrong. We'd get hacked, or the site would go down. I'd be fixing issues on my phone in Mexico. Moving Upscale Audio to Shopify was my first order of business
Solutions
As soon as he joined Upscale Audio, Hoffman switched the store to Shopify, launching on the Advanced plan and immediately benefitting from the stability, scalability, and security of the Shopify platform. With stress and headaches solved, the team focused its time on activities that grew engagement and revenue. In the summer of 2019, Upscale Audio upgraded to Shopify Plus.
The company’s marketing strategy is built around the online store, with videos and other rich media content driving potential shoppers directly to the relevant product page. With the customizability available on Shopify Plus, Upscale Audio provides all the information the shopper needs, including video tear-downs, pricing and payment options, customer reviews, and warranty information.
The Upscale Audio team works closely with Shopify Plus to identify new ways to boost engagement and conversion. Several features of Shopify Plus have been implemented, alongside capabilities from the Shopify Plus Certified App Partner community:
- Launchpad: Allows Upscale Audio to define sales promotions ahead of time, scheduling these to launch automatically, any time of day or night.
- Email marketing: Tapping the power of Klaviyo, Upscale Audio runs hyper-personalized email campaigns based on products that customers have looked at, or may be interested in.
- Onsite chat: Using Gorgias, Upscale Audio welcomes shoppers to ask questions, often getting into technical details regarding specific products and system set-ups. The insight gathered here helps the team improve the technical specifications provided on product listings found online.
Shopify Plus allows us to have a direct relationship with our customers. We’re able to build journeys into our store, allowing customers to explore a category, learn more about our products, ask questions, and buy with confidence.
Results
Since shifting to Shopify Plus, Upscale Audio has grown its online revenue from $3 million to over $20 million, and in 2020 has experienced record-breaking months as more shoppers turn to the brand to upgrade and improve its home audio set-ups during stay-at-home orders.
The additional functionality of Plus, combined with a robust ecosystem of top-tier apps and partners, has allowed Upscale Audio to save time with automation, and craft the perfect customer journey for its shoppers. Average order value has increased by 122%, and the brand has even seen a 300% increase in conversion rate.
With Shopify Plus, we’ve been able to deliver a superior customer experience and not worry about our ecommerce platform. Shopify Plus works as hard as we do.