Wife and husband duo Steffanie and Matt Ball founded En Gold in 2018 with a vision to incorporate Asian craft into the design of modern Australian furniture. Using elements of delicate materials such as fossil stone, En Gold stands at the forefront of offering customers signature pieces to create unparalleled living spaces.
Challenge
Since its launch, En Gold has predominantly focused on a direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model. However, recognizing the importance of the wholesale and trade sector in the furnishing industry, the brand knew it had to integrate a business-to-business (B2B) sales model eventually. Yet, it didn’t have B2B-focused ecommerce tools immediately at its disposal.
Moreover, it was important for the brand to customize its website in order to improve how it catered to its varying customer segments. For instance, En Gold was unable to customize shipping costs based on order size, which resulted in a flat delivery fee being applied to all orders regardless of size. The discrepancy between the actual shipping costs and those charged to customers was a financial drain on the brand.
Solution
En Gold upgraded to Shopify Plus in November 2021. The brand utilized checkout extensibility, a feature that allows easy customizations of the checkout page. This feature enabled the brand to not only customize shipping charges based on order size but also capture more customer data.
With Shopify Plus B2B, a suite of first-party features that integrate right into the Shopify admin for B2B selling, En Gold turned its online store into a blended digital shopfront that catered to both DTC and B2B customers. Once B2B customers logged into their customer profiles, they were able to review customized product catalogs and pricing tailored to their unique needs.
Results
With checkout extensibility, En Gold resolved the persistent issue of underestimating shipping charges for large customer orders. This enabled the brand to close the gap between the actual costs of shipping and those charged to customers. Moreover, En Gold improved its customer service by customizing the checkout and capturing more customer data.
By establishing a blended store, En Gold was able to expand its B2B operations while also ensuring that its ecommerce team could easily manage both DTC and B2B selling. The brand also implemented a tiered discount option that rewarded bigger B2B buyers with bigger savings. En Gold anticipates that this tailored experience will be instrumental in growing its total B2B sales.
What I love about Shopify is that it is constantly evolving at a rapid pace, which is evidenced by additions such as checkout extensibility. We are excited to further leverage customizations and create a tailored experience for our B2B customer accounts.