A modern digital experience for a 300-year-old brand

“The conversation [to upgrade the platform] started during the COVID period, when obviously a lot of business shifted online as a result of the need to close physical retail locations. This prompted a lot of discussion internally about the limitations of our existing platform,” said Darragh Verschoyle, Head of eCommerce at Avoca Ireland.  

Avoca’s legacy platform had a number of problems. It lacked a strong product CMS and uploading new products onto the website, Darragh explained, involved an “incredibly cumbersome” manual process. It also prevented the company from selling the same expansive range of products offered in its brick-and-mortar stores.  

Worse, its commerce engine occasionally refused payments that otherwise should have been processed, costing Avoca money and leaving would-be customers unsatisfied. 

Avoca needed a platform that was agile, but also reliable and able to handle the complexities of cross-border trade. Any replacement solution had to integrate seamlessly with the inventory, accounting, marketing, and EPOS systems in use at the retailer.  

Importantly, it needed a solution that looked good. Avoca has a unique aesthetic that it wanted to replicate online. While it evaluated multiple consultancy firms, it ultimately selected SQLI, based on its proven track record for crafting stunning visual experiences.  

Avoca had several key requirements for its new eCommerce system. It needed to be extensible and scalable, allowing the company to rapidly expand its online catalog without any tedious manual processes.  

It was also important that it provided a high level of flexibility with respect to its design, allowing Avoca and SQLI to craft a user experience that adheres to the brand’s visual ​ethos of “wander and wonder.”​ 

In each case, the solution provided by SQLI delivered on those requirements. As Darragh explained: “With respect to interoperability, some of the things we were most concerned about were multi-currency transactions and tax and duty calculations. Getting this right would potentially give us a price advantage and help us deliver a more seamless journey for our international customers, particularly those in the US, Canada, and Australia where there’s a huge Irish population.”  

While large-scale online retailers might be able to avoid this problem by employing an in-house tax team, that wasn’t feasible for Avoca.  

“This is why it was so important to use a third-party tool to stay on top of all these things. There are so many moving parts, and duty differs depending on the product,” said Darragh.  

Darragh added that the extensibility inherent within Adobe Commerce would help the company as it responds to changes in the adtech ecosystem, particularly with respect to the shift away from targeting.  

With Google actively retiring third-party tracking cookies within the Chrome browser, brands are forced to rely heavily on the data they’ve collected through their own analytics, CRM, and sales systems. This on-site data is commonly known as first-party data. For brands, the challenge is to aggregate the first-party data that’s automatically generated across multiple touchpoints and centralise it in a way that allows for marketing analysis. 

“The core of our digital strategy sits around first-party data. We’re obviously not alone in that, but it played a crucial role in our transition strategy. We needed a platform that was interoperable with other platforms. Being API driven is crucial to us, as it means we’re able to leverage the first-party data on whatever platforms we execute across,” said Darragh.  

The Adobe Commerce solution implemented by SQLI has significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to upload new products to the Avoca website, which, in turn means the company is better able to respond to seasonal changes and new trends. 

“Fashion is a very interesting thing to sell online because of the seasonal nature of things,” said Darragh. “One of the things we can now do is transition between seasons and make sure our product line is up-to-date with the latest trends. Right now, we’re working on our spring and summer collections and the clearance of our autumn and winter lines, and that is something we couldn’t have executed on in the past.”  

Darragh also praised SQLI’s ability to faithfully replicate Avoca’s visual style and brand values. “SQLI has the UI and UX experience we needed, and they spent a lot of time working with Avoca’s design team to ensure that the new platform followed best practices, but was still designed in a way that felt quintessentially us.  

“The concept behind Avoca’s retail stores is called ‘wander and wonder.’ If you’ve ever been to an Avoca shop, you’ll know they’re very experiential places. They’re typically set in very scenic locations. There’s restaurants and cafes in each of them. Bringing that to life online was a huge part of the design process, and I think it’s something that’s been achieved across the site,” said Darragh.  

It’s still early days for Avoca and its new eCommerce platform, and the company is eager to expand its online capabilities. “A lot of our future strategy is about leveraging our first-party data around loyalty and personalisation. We’re also looking into integrating channels to deliver things like true click-and-collect. Right now, we have ship-to-store, but we’d love to be able to do that on live inventory for each branch, with customers able to pick up their order within one hour,” he said.  

While Avoca’s excited about its long-term opportunities, it’s equally happy with the results it has already achieved from its new eCommerce platform. Within the first three months of launch, the company doubled its online revenue and gift card sales.  

The transition has also allowed the company to better use its marketing budget, increasing its Google Adwords RoAS (return on ad spend) from 2x to 14x, with conversions increasing by 200 per cent.  

“We’ve seen a massive uplift in marketing efficiency because we’re in a better position to send customers to pages that convert and track their behaviour on the site. That, obviously, improves our ability to show them relevant information or products,” Darragh said.  

“The expertise that SQLI brought to the table has been unquestioned. When it comes to these large projects, there’s a lot of moving parts, but SQLI has been very flexible when requirements change. There was a definite understanding of the goals of the project from the start,” he added.