Project Overview

When we first spoke, Italica.com, an online furniture store wanted to make their website faster, smoother, and more useful – not just for shoppers but also for investors since their parent company, PIL Lifestyles, is listed on the NSE (National Stock Exchange).

Discovery Phase

• The site wasn’t fully mobile-friendly/responsive.
• The checkout process was long and distracting.
• There were too many plugins (30-40!), making the site slow.
• It didn’t show recommended or related products to help people discover more items (upsell & cross-sell).
• No product variations (different colors, sizes, combos).
• There was no proper Investor Relations page for shareholders. (Necessary when you are listed in the stock market)
• Customers couldn’t track their orders live or get SMS updates.

What We Did

After a thorough analysis, we picked these improvement areas and started working on the ones listed below.

• Creating a Mobile Ready Website: We redesigned the necessary areas so it looks great and works fast on smaller screens.

• Added the Investor Page: We added a page with official reports, updates, and documents for investors.

• Updated and Fixed the Checkout Process: We cut down the steps so buyers can finish quickly – fewer clicks, fewer distractions so they don’t leave halfway through checkout.

• Added Related and Recommended Products: We added small blocks showing “You might also like” or “Frequently bought together” so as to increase the average order value.

• Displayed Product Variation Options: We added support for different colors, sizes, and price variations to ease the process of selecting a variation the buyers want.

• Helped Create and Display Combos: We created special bundle offers (like “Buy 2 at a discount”) to attract more buyers and increase the average order value.

• Reduced Plugins: We removed unnecessary plugins and kept only 28 (down from almost 40!).

• Implemented Live Tracking: We connected Shiprocket’s API so customers could track orders live.

• Enabled SMS Alerts: We added automatic text updates when the order is shipped, in transit, or delivered.

• Improved Website: We used caching, image compression, and code clean-up to make the site faster.

Challenges

• Site Stability while reducing plugins: The most important challenge was to identify the plugins that were actually in use and those that could be removed. We had to ensure the site was stable while removing plugins without breaking anything for the customers.

• Backward compatibility while introducing new features: Since the website was already live, we had to ensure every new feature we add (like variations and tracking) works well with old data.

• Maintaining security and simplicity in the checkout process: While we worked on improving the checkout experience, we had to ensure it remains secure and simple.

• Focusing on design, functionality and speed: We had to maintain a balance between speed and design – to ensure the site loads faster while having the best design possible.

• Maintaining a formal tone while matching the design: Adding the Investor page had to be done carefully so as to maintain the formal tone and match it with the website’s look and feel.

The Outcome

By the end of the project, Italica.com loaded faster, looked more professional and was easier to use.

Here are a few notable improvements we observed on the website within 3 months of implementation.

• The website saw a 9.67% rise in purchases through mobile within a month as compared to the 0.78% earlier.
• The introduction of product combinations increased the average order value by 18%.
• Simplifying the checkout process and highlighting product variations reduced cart abandonment by 23%.