The Whisky Barrel: Pioneering Ecommerce With A PWA

ECOMMERCE PROGRESSIVE WEB APP

Type

PWA - Magento PWA Studio

Sector

Food & Drink

Launch Date

May 2020

The Whisky Barrel

The Whisky Barrel is an independent, Edinburgh based, online whisky specialist with over 1000 single malt, blended whiskies and an impressive collection of rums.

We’ve had the pleasure of working with The Whisky Barrel for over a decade now, from their first bespoke auction site to their move over to Magento in 2016. They've grown impressively over that time and have taken their spirits worldwide with noteworthy success, even winning a nod from Her Majesty in the process!

ecommerce progressive web app by Digital Six

The Challenge

Their growth, launch of their own exclusive bottlings and increased demand for rare bottlings, meant they needed a site that could offer the best possible experience, even during peak demand. They’re a forward-thinking innovative bunch and to make sure they continue to be pioneers in the distribution of uisge beatha, we needed a beautifully designed and innovative solution; a Progressive Web App was a natural next step.

Every whisky...

A Progressive Web App (PWA) is the ideal fit as we knew we could create a beautiful design, fitting of the standard of product and service from The Whisky Barrel. User experience was drastically improved as it was an opportunity to optimise the site structure and user navigation. This has improved user journeys, making products easier to find and with significantly improved site speeds and performance. The super-smooth user experience gives customers the best of both worlds with the functionality of a website but with app-like useability.

The capabilities of progressive web app technology, coupled with our technical team, meant we were able to develop an ecommerce offering that not only offers an exceptional customer experience but it also enables flexibility for efficient management and future growth.

...wants to be found

It was also an opportunity to go from 2 domains, serving different locations, to one domain serving all locations - pretty much everything else is not what it used to be so there was no longer any need to retain the 2 domains…...significantly reducing the management workload in one go!

PWAs are discoverable, linkable and fit very nicely with Google’s stance on site speeds, performance and page experience. This is hugely positive for things like creating landing pages, native push notifications for enhanced audience communication, email marketing, social media activity and paid advertising are all concerned - we weren’t kidding about the scale of the impact!

Visit Site

Ecommerce Evolution With PWAs From Digital Six

All the numbers....

27%

Organic Impressions

44%

Clicks

84%

Lighthouse Performance

88%

Server Response Time

Slàinte

We're results-focused and this project was no different, our ultimate goal is to grow our clients’ online revenue so making sure the technology delivered was key. The responsive, flexible framework of a PWA allowed us to think outside of the box and create bespoke solutions for a number of integrations.

Working with The Whisky Barrel, we have been able to deliver an exceptional and frictionless app-like user experience, streamlined administration of the site and marketing activities, and vastly improved site speeds...because every whisky deserves to be found.

This is one we’re raising a glass to, slàinte!

More about Our PWAs

“With our eCommerce site in need of an update and refresh, the fantastic team at Digital Six fully understood both what we wanted for the new website and also what we needed. Their knowledge and expertise of international eCommerce across multiple platforms and the latest eCommerce solutions, has provided us with a fantastic fresh, modern and dynamic new e-commerce website for thewhiskybarrel.com.”

Alastair Brown, Managing Director

The Whisky Barrel