CASE STUDY
ROSE ST TRADING CO
Industry: Clothing, Homewares & Gifts
CASE STUDY
ROSE ST TRADING CO
Industry: Clothing, Homewares & Gifts
Rose St Trading Co is a successful clothing, homewares and gifts store based in Armadale, Melbourne. At one point, the business had three bricks-and-mortar stores around Melbourne, but their online presence was minimal. Now, a few years and a couple of website iterations later, e-commerce is Rose Street Trading Co’s major sales channel, which has enabled the business to consolidate their physical stores and streamline their business. The success of their Shopify website has been a strong foundation for growth and has seen the business go from strength to strength.
We chatted with Cate Boots, founder of Rose Street Trading Co, about the experience of working with Firestone Digital on the design and build of her successful website.
Q&A WITH CATE
OF
ROSE ST TRADING CO
Hi Cate, could you give us a bit of background on your website and where you started with e-commerce?
We had an old Wix website originally, but we knew the online was going to be an area we wanted to focus on and grow and that old website definitely wouldn’t have enabled us to do that, it was really clunky to use and had no reporting functions.
I came across Sam from Firestone Digital after I noticed and liked a site she’d done. We’ve now been working with Sam for more than 3 years. As we keep growing we keep updating the website all the time, and it’s just getting better and better.
So, how would you describe your experience working with Sam and the team?
Oh it was super easy, very streamlined. Sam made sure we both had clear objectives, so it was clear what we had to do and what she had to do. She managed the process and made sure she always had what she needed. It just worked really seamlessly and made it really easy for us!
Can you describe the process Sam went through with you in designing and building the site?
We met in person initially and Sam went through an intensive process to make sure she had a good understanding of our products, our brand and our aesthetic. After that, she went away and put a proposal together so we had a clear idea of what to expect. Then she built the website and we spent some time fine-tuning it. Now we’ve got such a good working relationship, she is really integral to our business growth.
It felt really holistic. Sam looked at everything – she was clearly focused on the aesthetic of the site but also the functionality and how it converts. It gives me confidence to invest in marketing and plan for the future knowing that our website looks great, the functionality is seamless, it’s reliable, and it converts!
Plus, more than just focusing on the website, Sam has really helped me think about our strategy and our plans going forward. This has made me really conscious of spending time working on the business not just in the business.
Could you tell us a bit about the impact your new website has had on your business?
It’s been absolutely game-changing. The turnover we have developed through the website is better than we’d do in a bricks and mortar store. And it’s a growing channel, it’s really set up a strong foundation that we can build on to grow our business.
Especially in the world we’re in [with the COVID-19 pandemic], you don’t know week-to-week or month-to-month what’s going to happen. The website gives us the ability to sell to customers even if things get shut down. It has been more than a lifeline with the massive shift in day to day retail trading.
STATISTICS YOU SHOULD KNOW
