Case Study: How we Helped Hogans Family Jewellers Start Selling Online With Shopify

Hogans Family Jewellers: Brand overview

Hogans Family Jewellers is one of Australia’s longest established jewellers. The company has been making bespoke fine jewellery since 1945, with a history spanning three generations. Today, Hogans boasts the biggest in-house jewellery team by number of benches in Queensland.

Proudly family owned and operated, Hogans prides itself on crafting the highest quality jewellery, as well as providing exceptional and highly personal customer service. In addition to stunning custom-made pieces, including exquisite handmade engagement and wedding rings, Hogans also carries a range of trusted third-party brands like Adina and Baume et Mercier watches.

Embracing online sales to drive growth

Hogans has traditionally operated solely as a brick-and-mortar retailer.

However, as the company moves further into the 21st century, third generation Hogans, Lachlan – General Manager – and Caitlin – Marketing Executive – have sought to introduce an ecommerce model, widening reach and meeting the expectations of their evolving customer base.

Crucially, they wanted the online Hogans experience to match that of their physical store – both in terms of ‘look and feel’ and the level of customer service provided.

With a new online sales channel in their sights, they engaged Swanky to support with platform consultation, store design and development. Having worked with an international portfolio of jewellery brands, including Australian retailers McKinneys and Medley, we were perfectly positioned to design and build an exquisite ecommerce experience for Hogans.

How Swanky helped

Platform consultation

For us, Shopify represents a compelling ecommerce solution for brick-and-mortar brands venturing into online sales for the first time.

For example, the platform allows users to implement changes quickly and easily with a drag-and-drop visual editor (no coding required), whilst a centralised back office helps to streamline business operations.

Overall, Shopify’s intuitive user interface, trusted ‘plug-and-play’ ecosystem of third-party apps and 24/7 support offering gives traditionally-offline brands a user-friendly and accessible route into ecommerce.

Reflecting on the appeal of Shopify for the new Hogans site, Marketing Executive Caitlin Hogan said:

“As a small family business launching an ecommerce arm, we needed a platform that would allow our in-house marketing resource to easily manage and update the site on a regular basis. 

“We also needed a platform that had proven security, compatibility with our existing point-of-sale system, and template customisability that would allow us to convey our business’ rich 78-year history. Shopify in conjunction with Swanky’s development skills offered exactly that.” 

Reflecting the in-store experience online

In order to create a consistent experience across sales channels, the design of the Hogans ecommerce site is inspired by the aesthetics and ambience of the brand’s brick-and-mortar store.

For example, the clean grid format of the site reflects the layout of Hogans’ physical store, whilst product images with travertine and linen backgrounds (example below) match the materials used in-store.

Plenty of website real estate is given to these images, in a nod to the visual experience of visiting Hogans’ physical store.

Prioritising imagery like this is particularly important within jewellery ecommerce, as consumers are unable to physically touch and admire products. Instead, high-quality, impactful images should be leveraged to showcase product details, immerse shoppers into your brand and create a sense of desire. This is something we discuss in more detail in our guide to Shopify jewellery store best practice.

Furthermore, some website sections have been designed with arch-shaped imagery to match the entrance to the Hogans store, as you can see in these images.

Discussing how cohesive cross-channel branding and design can impact customers, Namira Putri, Project Manager in Swanky’s Australian team, commented:

“It’s always small details like these that elevate the customer experience. In this case, these on-site design choices combine to mirror the visual experience of Hogans’ physical store – creating a sense of welcoming familiarity for shoppers who have previously visited the shop.”

As well as leveraging layout and imagery to recreate the brick-and-mortar experience online, we also considered other elements that would ensure a consistent experience for digital and in-person shoppers.

For example, features like a dedicated FAQ page, extensive educational guides and product recommendations work together to ensure that online consumers get the same premium service they would receive if they stepped into the Hogans physical store.

Consulting on a streamlined Shopify tech stack

Klaviyo

Email marketing can be particularly fruitful if executed effectively. In fact, the ROI of email marketing is the highest of all marketing channels.

Our email marketing specialists recommended and implemented Klaviyo for Hogans. This popular solution allows retailers to automate email flows, as well as tailored email campaigns.

Okendo

Social proof can be especially impactful for high consideration purchases like items of jewellery.

We recommended Okendo for capturing and showcasing product reviews on the Hogans site, adding an important layer of trust and empowering prospective customers to have confidence in their purchase decisions.

SEO Manager

For a team that’s new to online selling, SEO Manager is proving itself an extremely useful tool as the Hogans staff look to better understand their store’s SEO, and ultimately acquire more organic traffic from search engines.

Shopify Search & Discovery

We also used Shopify’s native Search & Discovery app to power search, category filtration and product recommendations across the site – helping increase the conversion rate and improve the browsing experience for Hogans’ shoppers.

Leveraging metafields to create linked product variations

Many of Hogans’ signet ring products are offered in a range of metal types. For example, the brand’s ‘Sunflower Signet Ring’ is available in three variations:

1. 18K yellow gold
2. 9K rose gold
3. 9K white gold

Each of these variations has its own supplier code, and so needs to be set up as a separate product in Shopify Admin, with its own product page on the site.

To enable better product discovery and provide seamless switching between each variation, in this case the Hogans team wanted each of the three product pages to display the other variations available, as well as link to the product pages for these different variations – essentially giving the effect of one product page with three variants.

We used metafields to achieve this, with the finished front-end experience shown below. When one of the sunflower ring variations is selected, users are subtly redirected to a different product page (note the change in the URL).

Unlocking a significant growth opportunity by selling online

Hogans’ new Shopify store has unlocked a significant opportunity for the company to accelerate growth. We have helped this ambitious jewellery brand to start selling online, which will allow it to reach a wider customer base and expand its presence in an increasingly competitive market.

Reflecting on the project, Sean Clanchy, Managing Director of Swanky Australia, said:

“With Swanky’s extensive experience working with jewellery brands around the world, it would seem we were the perfect fit for the Hogans project. 

“Luckily for us, the Hogans team were an absolute pleasure to work with, and I think we’ve both managed to achieve a great outcome. Their new store is sleek, leverages automation, and really does have a best-in-breed base tech stack  – setting the team up to continue their growth on Shopify, expanding their total addressable market outside of their regional POS footprint.”

For Lachlan, Caitlin and the rest of the Hogans team, their focus is now on driving traffic to their stunning new website whilst scoping out opportunities for customised product functionality.

Commenting on the success of the project, Caitlin said:

“Since launching the website, our monthly traffic statistics have almost doubled when compared to pre-launch periods. We’re also seeing steady growth of our eDM database.

“As a bespoke jeweller, we need to be able to customise the shopping experience for our customers and that includes the new online showroom. 

“Looking to the future, we will engage the team from Swanky to build more value-add features so watch this space!”

Explore the new Hogans website here.

Experts in jewellery ecommerce

Having worked with jewellery clients across Europe, Singapore and Australia, including the likes of Daisy, Essential Jewellery and By Invite Only, we’re well-versed in what it takes to launch and scale a dazzling jewellery store on Shopify – one that stirs desire, inspires sales and nurtures loyalty.

From ecommerce branding and tech stack consultancy, to bespoke app development and digital marketing, we offer a full range of ecommerce services to accelerate the growth of our jewellery clients.

To start a conversation with us about your jewellery business’ ecommerce needs, reach out to our team of certified Shopify Plus Experts today.