About Willow Boutique: Redefining fashion shopping experience

Willow Boutique is an online fashion store based out of Northern KY. The boutique was launched in November 2020 and is owned by Chelsea Hindman, a full-time nurse and dog momma who loves shopping. Willow boutique was an idea that turned into reality to provide an affordable, high-quality shopping experience that was unlike any other while still working as a full-time nurse. The idea was born out of frustration when Chelsea graduated from nursing school and found it difficult to shop for good-looking outfits without burning a hole through her pockets. 

The seeds of Willow Boutique were sown by Chelsea and her fiancé, Adam, during the pandemic after being inspired by one of their friends. While Chelsea handles all the live selling and product displays, Adam takes care of all the backend activities, like operations, website & app maintenance, and so on.

Challenges: Bumps on the road to dress EVERY woman in style

• ‍Dependency on social media for engagement

Despite owning a stellar collection of women’s apparel and a passionate team to run the operations, Willow Boutique consistently struggled to reach its audience. This can be attributed mainly due to their over-reliance on social media in the past to sell their products. As a result, they were left stranded once when their Instagram account was hacked. They not only lost access to their account but also lost their prized audiences. 

• Poor experience with Commentsold

Willow boutique was previously using Commentsold for their live selling needs. While they didn’t have any issues working with the platform, Commentsold charged a portion of their sales for every live session they conducted. This took a major toll on Willow’s margins. It’s worth noting that they did not build a mobile app with Commentsold’s platform. 

Solution: Vajro breaking through the roadblocks in one shot

• A mobile app integrated with Shopify: The magic bullet to draw the audience

Vajro helped Willow boutique step into the world of m-commerce with the help of its low-code/no-code mobile app builder. Willow Boutique used the app extensively to engage and communicate with its customers through push notifications. They used it to announce all their live sessions, ongoing sales, and a lot more via real-time notifications straight from the app. Long story short, the team of Willow felt that they could finally call this audience their own. 

• Live video selling with Blynk: The ultimate bridge between the products and the audience

By partnering with Vajro, they automatically got access to Vajro’s in-house live-selling platform - Blynk. Blynk was powerful, beginner-friendly, and seamless, all at the same time. This made the lives of Adam and Chelsea much simpler while conducting a live session, either on the app or on Facebook. Blynk is also equipped with Rewynd, a replay functionality that allows shoppers to view older live sessions and purchase products from them. But the best part about Blynk is that it doesn’t charge anything extra for conducting live sessions, unlike Commentsold.

• Integration with Yotpo Reviews: Collecting social proofs became a breezy task

The team at Willow Boutique knew the value and importance of reviews and ratings for their store. With the help of Yotpo, a product recommendation tool that offers plug & play integration with Vajro, Willow Boutique could gather and analyze reviews effortlessly. They used this valuable data to bolster their brand image and amp up the trust that their customers have in them.

• Driving app adoption

Willow boutique offered early access to products and sale events for mobile app users much before website users. This slowly shifted the audience from their website to the app. The shift was further propelled by going live only on the app and offering special discount codes for app users. They also promoted their app widely via content marketing on social media.

Willow boutique’s unique strategies to scale live selling

Willow Boutique went full guns blazing in their live selling efforts. Here’s what has worked from the boutique:

• Going live at least 3-4 times a week and being consistent with the frequency. 
• Putting up at least 20-25 products for sale on every session. 
• Announcing events much in advance using push notifications and social platforms so that the audience is aware.
• Offering gift cards and special offers to make to convert more during the live sessions.

Impact: Positive changes across different metrics

Willow Boutique used every functionality of Vajro effectively to see their sales surge within a few months. They achieved - 

• 4x increase in live selling revenue
• 42.2% mobile revenue coming from Blynk
• 91% increase in Overall Revenue
• 95% increase in Total Orders
• 41% surge in Unique Customers 

BONUS - The mobile app maximized their live viewership in no time! 

The road ahead for Willow Boutique: What the future holds

With the help of their app, Willow plans to organize more live sessions on a more frequent basis. This way, they will maximize their presence and ensure that all their products reach those who actually need them. They also plan to launch new products over the next few months to ensure that they are always relevant and in sync with the latest fashion trends.