Case study: How we helped increase conversion rate by 127% at Schronisko Bukowina

Case study: Schronisko Bukowina

How we helped increase conversion rate by 127%

Company: Schronisko Bukowina

Industry: Delicatessen products

E-commerce system: Magento 2

The following case study is a reprint from the original Schronisko Bukowina Case Study prepared by Alpacode.

Alpacode is a partnership alliance of two e-commerce companies Virtua and Hatimeria.

About the Customer

Schronisko Bukowina is a company that was born out of a passion for delicious cuisine and great food. The story originated in December 2015. The concept was based on the use of fresh products, both local and imported from all corners of the world, as the foundation for creating the restaurant menu.

The company operates a restaurant and an online store, and also acts as a wholesaler of Italian products. It has a separate hall where it handles up to 3,000 packages a day and supplies other restaurants and stores.

In 2018, a completely new store was launched, which quickly proved to be insufficient to meet demand. In response to customers’ expectations, it was decided to radically expand the offering with products imported from Italy – delicious, healthy, fresh products, with natural ingredients. You can enjoy their unique taste by buying from the online store.

About the project

At the end of 2022, we became involved in modernizing Schronisko Bukowina’s online store, which was running on a platform based on Magento technology. The store included many solutions characteristic of those typically implemented on the Magento platform. Nevertheless, significant technological limitations had led to poor performance and difficulties related to user experience (UX/UI).

Prior to our involvement, maintenance of the platform was outsourced to various entities. In addition to our client’s dissatisfaction, metrics such as the page load speed (page speed) indicators (shown below) confirmed the difficulties faced.

During initial conversations between the team and Schronisko Bukowina, it became apparent that efforts to modernize the site had been planned for several years. This long-term delay resulted in the perception that Schronisko Bukowina lacked sufficient commitment to the project, which could also have led to the impression that the company was unwilling to invest.

Goal and challenges

Given the aspects outlined above, our goal was clear: to carry out a comprehensive overhaul of both the visual website and the checkout process, which in turn would result in faster platform performance and improved user experience (UX) in the online store.

Analysis showed that it was primarily the slow performance of the site and problematic aspects of the interface that constituted the main difficulties when using the store. These issues led to interrupted shopping processes and customers abandoning the site while browsing the offer. We were fully aware that fixing these two problems would immediately contribute to a significant improvement in the perception of the store by its users, which in turn would translate directly to better sales results.

During the first discussions with the client, the team stressed the need to focus on effective modernization of the site and at the same time eliminate the fundamental errors that characterized the old template. In order to achieve these goals, we assumed that it would be necessary to introduce a completely new template based on Hyva technology. We realized that this would also involve updating the Magento version, refactoring existing solutions and adapting them under Hyva. From our perspective, this approach presented itself as more attractive and cost-effective for the client, (both in the short and long term), than upgrading an old template based on native Luma.

Implementation

As we began development work on the project, we first upgraded the Magento version, including the PHP version to 8.1. In addition, we proceeded to remove the old template along with its dependent modules. This was a necessary step that enabled us to reduce a significant portion of technological debt and opened up space for further work on the new template.

Then, based on brand new graphic designs, we proceeded to create a new layout for the site, using Hyva technology. Given the complexity of the earlier template, the main goal was to ensure that the new design would feature a clear and consistent layout, while allowing the content of the site to be easily edited via the admin panel. As a result, a sizable portion of the site’s content could be customized by the client, without requiring programming resources.

It is also worth noting that we completely redesigned the checkout as part of this implementation. With the previous template, this module was a particularly crucial area, and unfortunately caused some confusion for customers. Within the scope of this work, we transformed the service process from a multi-step and unstable process to a one-step, more reliable one, with a seamless checkout experience.

In the context of the customer’s decision to implement a one-step order fulfillment process, it became necessary to adapt two more demanding delivery methods. Under these options, the selection of the pickup point is made during the ordering process. These are Inpost Paczkomaty and Orlen Paczka.

The implementation included integration with a variety of payment systems. In addition, it included an external Magento module to support the Schronisko Bukowina Foundation through voluntary donations.

Results

The design of the new template was officially put into production in spring 2023. Practically from the very beginning of the implementation, there was a noticeable improvement in the performance of many key indicators, as shown below:

1. Ecommerce conversion rate increased by 127%

The most important feature of conversion in online stores is its impact on revenue generation. Each successful conversion is a potential customer who has made a purchase, thus contributing to turnover and profits. A high conversion rate signifies the efficiency of the sales process and the ability to convert site visitors into real customers.

With regard to the rest of the data, especially the e-commerce conversion rate, which was a key aspect for us, it was necessary for some time to elapse before we could assess its condition more accurately. A few weeks after implementation, we saw significant progress. Making a comparison with the same period of the previous year, when the store was operating in a more stable period in terms of sales, we saw a significant increase in the conversion rate and the number of orders placed.

The improvement in the conversion rate of the online store was a significant result, which was achieved by the team thanks to the use of the Hyva theme. Hyva played one of the key roles in raising conversion efficiency, helping to increase the number of visitors who convert into active customers. In the end, ecommerce conversion rate increased by 127%.

2. Average page load times have improved significantly, decreasing by more than 60%.

The chart below further illustrates this improvement through a comparison with the same period from the previous year.

The results obtained regarding the speed and efficiency of the store are the result of measurements made using our own tool, which is integrated with the official Google Pagespeed Insights API. The analysis is based on specific data obtained directly from Google relating to the store’s mobile homepage. It can be observed how the implementation of the new template significantly improved the page load speed (page speed) score within the reports generated by PageSpeed Insights (PSI). These reports provide analysis on the quality of the site, with respect to both mobile and desktop devices, while providing guidance on potential improvements.

3. Bounce rate decreased by 24%

This shows that users are more likely to stay and navigate the site, and are less likely than they were on the old template to leave the site at the first interaction.

To summarize the results of the work, after about 28 days (the period during which the store’s speed and performance data were updated), the site successfully passed Core Web Vitals tests on mobile, as well as on desktop. Core Web Vitals are a set of key site performance indicators that measure the quality of a user’s experience on a website. They were introduced by Google and are a key part of evaluating the quality of sites for speed and responsiveness.

Summary

With the implementation of the Hyva-based template, the site has gained significant improvements in speed (Page Load Time):

In addition, this change has increased overall user satisfaction and improved user experience when visiting the online store. Alpacode’s implementation of the Hyva template-based solution resulted in improved website performance. As a consequence, a noticeable improvement in the online store’s sales performance could be observed. Revenue increased by 14%, ecommerce conversion rate increased by more than 127%, while the number of transactions in the store increased by almost 22%.

In addition, as a result of the upgrade and the transition to Hyva technology, the process of creating new functionality in the store has become more efficient. Consequently, the site itself has gained much greater stability and a higher level of security.

In conclusion, we are proud of the progress achieved so far. However, we realize that developing the online store is an ongoing process. In order to maintain the favorable results already achieved, we are committed to ongoing improvement.