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Beer Cartel brews 300% sales growth with scalable platform and integrated tools for maximum efficiency
See first-hand the features that empower businesses like Beer Cartel to grow with BigCommerce.
300%
increase in sales YoY
400%
increase in traffic
650%
increase in email database
The Beer Cartel success story
Richard Kelsey became enamored with the amazing flavors and aromas of craft beers he encountered while traveling throughout Australia and other parts of the world. He made it his mission to provide customers access to the world’s finest craft beers, those not commonly sold at bars or local retailers. In 2009, Richard opened Beer Cartel as a niche online business run out of a small storage shed in Sydney, Australia.
Beer Cartel originally started selling a monthly beer subscription and beer gifts online. Each month, the owners utilized the entire area of the self storage warehouse to pack boxes of beer to send to thirsty customers throughout Australia.
In 2011, Beer Cartel purchased a brick and mortar store and quickly grew its craft beer range from 60 to over 1,000 different beers in just three years and won Australia’s best craft beer bottle shop.
In addition, the company has a big focus on innovation. It has become known for its unique product range - particularly its Beer Advent Calendar which enables recipients to countdown to Christmas while enjoying a different craft beer each day.
Following its philosophy of educating consumers about craft beer, Beer Cartel created the Australian Craft Beer Survey, an annual study of craft beer trends and behaviors. More than 17,000 Australian craft beer drinkers participated in the 2017 study.
BigCommerce offers online platform to expand company growth
As told to BigCommerce by Richard Kelsey, Owner, beercartel.com.au
We began our business by setting up stands at beer festivals to promote our beer club and gifts, with our first sales largely coming from word of mouth following these festivals.
During this time we went through two different ecommerce platforms. Both were useful introductions to selling online but had limited functionality, which didn’t give us confidence they would be able to meet our needs as our business grew.
We were very thorough in our search for an ecommerce platform that would suit our long-term needs. In the end, BigCommerce won us over with its built-in functionality and strong support team. Our developers also loved that they were able to easily work with the platform to create a custom solution, which has helped us more effectively manage our constantly evolving inventory.
We were very thorough in our search for an ecommerce platform that would suit our long-term needs. In the end, BigCommerce won us over with its built-in functionality and strong support team.
RICHARD KELSEY OWNER, BEERCARTEL.COM.AU
Omnichannel selling drives higher traffic and sales
As told to BigCommerce by Richard Kelsey, Owner, beercartel.com.au
Today, we sell directly through our website using BigCommerce, utilizing other channels to drive traffic to the site. The channels that generate the most traffic for us are Google, Facebook, and email. Using the native functionality of BigCommerce has made it really easy for consumers to purchase online and pick up their order in store. Similarly, with BigCommerce's gift cards, consumers are able to purchase a gift card online to use both online and at our brick and mortar location in Sydney.
Since moving to BigCommerce in 2015, our traffic has grown by 400% per month. Both sales and orders have increased by more than 300%.
“The ease of integrating tools like MailChimp, Zapier, and Justuno with BigCommerce ensures that our business continues to run efficiently, which in turn provides us more time and energy to focus on new initiatives. ”
RICHARD KELSEY OWNER, BEERCARTEL.COM.AU
Integrated tools provide effortless scale and automation
As told to BigCommerce by Richard Kelsey, Owner, beercartel.com.au
We utilize several apps and tools with the BigCommerce platform to drive traffic and systemize each component of the sales process.
MailChimp has enabled us to highlight our weekly sales through email marketing campaigns, and we leverage Zapier for automating repetitive tasks, such as sending leads to Mailchimp.
Similarly, integrating Justuno has been very useful in allowing us to offer special discounts and promotions for our email list.
The ease of integrating these tools with BigCommerce ensures that our business continues to run efficiently even as we grow, which in turn provides us more time and energy to focus on new initiatives.
BigCommerce encourages innovative growth
As told to BigCommerce by Richard Kelsey, Owner, beercartel.com.au
We see BigCommerce as a platform that will effortlessly scale as we grow. As our business evolves and gains complexity, we know we have an ecommerce platform that can adapt with us.
For example, our next endeavor is developing a fully-integrated omnichannel experience for our shoppers which will consolidate our inventory, loyalty programs, and customer purchasing experiences. With BigCommerce, we know we can deliver this on time and within our budget using the variety of plug-and-play tools available through the platform.
Our developers also loved that they were able to easily work with the BigCommerce platform to create a custom solution, which has helped us more effectively manage our constantly evolving inventory.
RICHARD KELSEY OWNER, BEERCARTEL.COM.AU
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