The challenge.
GOST Books has partnered with Atlanttico to undertake a website redesign, aiming to revitalise its appearance, enhance the overall customer experience, and, most importantly, boost sales.
The website was previously built on a combination of WordPress with WooCommerce, accompanied by a multitude of outdated plugins. It catered to customers globally, offering purchases in GBP, USD, and EUR, with PayPal being the sole payment processing option. Distribution was handled by Macmillan Distribution and Ingram Content Group.
However, the website lacked an efficient fulfilment setup, which became evident due to the significant surge in direct sales over the past five years.
The solution.
The initial project, which began as a redesign, evolved into a thorough exploration of an enhanced path towards operational excellence.
The proposed solution entailed migrating the website from WordPress to Shopify, and integrating with Macmillan and Ingram to ensure more precise stock information, accurate order dispatch to appropriate distributors for fulfilment, and transparent communication of order statuses to customers.
An agile approach was adopted to implement the solution in iterative phases.
Design refresh.
We prioritised an immersive experience by showcasing photography and book covers through full-screen visuals. While maintaining GOST's signature minimalistic look and feel, we ensured the spotlight remained on the books. The navigation was significantly improved, providing a clearer and more user-friendly interface. With a responsive template and a well-defined hierarchy, the website adapts seamlessly to various devices, enhancing user usability. We achieved a cohesive and harmonious user experience by implementing consistent components across all pages, elevating the website's overall appeal.
Content strategy.
Through our collaboration, we enhanced GOST's content strategy by creating a sales-oriented home page showcasing the latest releases and upcoming titles. The new product template emphasises author biographies and quotes to enhance book presentations. Using metaobjects, we identified reusable content, streamlining the publishing process. Custom templates differentiated standard, signed, and special editions as well as pre-order options. We implemented the automation of collections while related product recommendations will boost discoverability and user experience.
Migration, integration and custom development.
During development, we seamlessly migrated from WordPress/Woocommerce to Shopify while integrating the new website with existing CRM tools. The selected base theme underwent extensive customisation, resulting in a bespoke design that perfectly suited GOST's vision. We integrated select premium apps to enhance the user experience and distinguish between book editions. We minimised unnecessary international shipping and out-of-stock orders through advanced order routing rules, streamlining the fulfilment process.
Fulfilment improvements.
In their pursuit of operational excellence, we made significant fulfilment improvements that transformed how GOST operates. Leveraging the full capabilities of Shopify, we established multiple markets, inventory locations, shipping zones, and rates, optimising efficiency and expanding their reach. They strategically decided to centralise everything within Shopify to streamline order-related updates and internal communications, abandoning using SmartSheet. This consolidation simplifies the process and enhances collaboration and coordination across the organisation, resulting in a seamless and more productive workflow.
Final note.
Several improvements were made in the first iteration. Remarkably, the new website was launched after just a few hours of maintenance, ensuring minimal downtime and a smooth transition for customers.
At this stage, communication with distributors is still being conducted manually. In the next iteration, we will integrate Shopify with Macmillan and Ingram to increase automation.
Check their titles at gostbooks.com
