Birtchnells of Highcliffe

The brief

Birtchnells of Highcliffe is a family-run furniture business that stands proudly on Highcliffe’s main high street. For over 40 years, they have sold high-quality, predominantly British made, furniture to the residents of Dorset and Hampshire.

The business has been passed down through generations, now being run by Chrissy, the daughter of David Birtchnell who founded the company in 1980, and her husband Philip. While both had big plans for bringing Birtchnells of Highcliffe up to speed, it seemed everything would have to wait when the UK was put into a national lockdown in 2020… or would it?

Last year, the shop had to close following Covid-19 restrictions. While this wasn’t good news for Birtchnells of Highcliffe, it opened the doors to a brand new opportunity. The business had never sold products online before and now seemed as good a time as any.
As you’ll see from the images, the store had a great position on the high street which no doubt encouraged a lot of people through the doors. The shopfront looks the part, with a modern luxury feeling. However, when you looked at their website, something didn’t match.

Birtchnells of Highcliffe asked us to bring the website up to speed with a new design that better reflected the brand. Increasing footfall by inviting people into the store was a big part of this brief. However, they also wanted to sell their beautiful product range online… which was brand new territory for them.

They wanted to expand their reach. While the store had always performed well, the last year proved that Birtchnells needed a stronger online presence more than ever. They weren’t aiming to rival DFS or Argos, they just needed a website that would help more people find them and drive them closer to that household name status.

The site had to echo the high-end, luxury aesthetic brand that they had created. And it had to speak to the right audience demographic. Due to the type of furniture on offer and the location of the store, Birtchnells had always attracted an older customer base. They asked us to create a website that everyone could navigate easily.

The key takeaways from the brief were:

  • Complete redesign of current website
  • Mimic the high-end, luxury brand style
  • Develop an eCommerce side of the business
  • Build a website that is easy to navigate and user friendly
  • Increase online presence
  • Increase sales both online and instore

Our response

We love building websites. There’s nothing better than hitting that ‘publish now’ button and seeing our design go live. But we especially love working on projects like this because we know that they can make a huge difference to the businesses in our community.

Transitioning Birtchnells of Highcliffe online wasn’t going to happen overnight. The first step was designing a website that would mimic the luxury image of the brand so that customers knew exactly what to expect.

We considered a number of options before settling on the final colour scheme, fonts and overall style. Often the design process takes just as long as developing the site. We were really happy with the finished look, highlighting the products using a clean crisp design. What do you think?

Introducing the new online customer journey came with extra benefits. Birtchnells of Highcliffe offer a complex variation of products. Customers are invited to choose colours, sizes, lumbar adjustments and more. We developed custom tabs with all of the product information so that people could clearly see the product attributes and costs before making their final decision.

While a key element of this brief was transitioning Birtchnells of Highcliffe into an ecommerce platform, the store still had a great presence on the high street and we wanted to utilise that. We realised high-quality furniture isn’t cheap and the older age demographics are 25% less likely to have made an online purchase than those aged 16-44.

Rather than pushing web visitors to make a purchase, we decided to funnel people into the shop. We incorporated a map and the shop’s address onto every page so that potential customers knew where to find them. While online shopping has been made available, having a physical store makes the overall experience with Birtchnells more trustworthy.

To increase website conversions and generate more sales we introduced a product recommendations feature. 73% of customers say they prefer to do business with brands that make their shopping experience more relevant. The new website meant there would be more opportunity for data capture, allowing us to serve dynamic content and tailor the shopping experience on the website.

And finally, to help make the transition easier, we created how-to style videos using screen recordings and voiceovers to help the internal team upload and change content. We’re always just a phone call away if they ever need help with anything, but these videos show them the main features that they’ll be using regularly.

person shopping on true utility ecommerce store on an iPad
mobile furniture website

Results

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to see the improvement in the website’s design. The new, fresh looking site launches Birtchnells of Highcliffe into the 21st Century. It tells you everything you need to know about the luxury furniture brand before you’ve got to making a purchase.

The how-to videos went down a treat and their team have been busy inputting all of the content that they want on the website. Taking your business online doesn’t have to be a gruelling task! You just need to know how to use the systems.

While it’s still early days, we’re confident that the new website will increase sales both instore and online. The website makes it easy to see the full product range alongside all of the variations. All the information that you need to make a purchase is in one place and easy to find. Enriching their online presence also means that people in the local area will have a better chance of discovering the store if they’re looking for furniture shops near them.

Overall, both Digital Storm and Birtchnells of Highcliffe were really pleased with the finished website. We can’t wait to find out how the site benefits the business moving forward.

Birtchnells case study
Birtchnells Website Design

Birtchnells of Highcliffe

The brief

Birtchnells of Highcliffe is a family-run furniture business that stands proudly on Highcliffe’s main high street. For over 40 years, they have sold high-quality, predominantly British made, furniture to the residents of Dorset and Hampshire.

The business has been passed down through generations, now being run by Chrissy, the daughter of David Birtchnell who founded the company in 1980, and her husband Philip. While both had big plans for bringing Birtchnells of Highcliffe up to speed, it seemed everything would have to wait when the UK was put into a national lockdown in 2020… or would it?

Last year, the shop had to close following Covid-19 restrictions. While this wasn’t good news for Birtchnells of Highcliffe, it opened the doors to a brand new opportunity. The business had never sold products online before and now seemed as good a time as any.
As you’ll see from the images, the store had a great position on the high street which no doubt encouraged a lot of people through the doors. The shopfront looks the part, with a modern luxury feeling. However, when you looked at their website, something didn’t match.

Birtchnells of Highcliffe asked us to bring the website up to speed with a new design that better reflected the brand. Increasing footfall by inviting people into the store was a big part of this brief. However, they also wanted to sell their beautiful product range online… which was brand new territory for them.

They wanted to expand their reach. While the store had always performed well, the last year proved that Birtchnells needed a stronger online presence more than ever. They weren’t aiming to rival DFS or Argos, they just needed a website that would help more people find them and drive them closer to that household name status.

The site had to echo the high-end, luxury aesthetic brand that they had created. And it had to speak to the right audience demographic. Due to the type of furniture on offer and the location of the store, Birtchnells had always attracted an older customer base. They asked us to create a website that everyone could navigate easily.

The key takeaways from the brief were:

  • Complete redesign of current website
  • Mimic the high-end, luxury brand style
  • Develop an eCommerce side of the business
  • Build a website that is easy to navigate and user friendly
  • Increase online presence
  • Increase sales both online and instore

Our response

We love building websites. There’s nothing better than hitting that ‘publish now’ button and seeing our design go live. But we especially love working on projects like this because we know that they can make a huge difference to the businesses in our community.

Transitioning Birtchnells of Highcliffe online wasn’t going to happen overnight. The first step was designing a website that would mimic the luxury image of the brand so that customers knew exactly what to expect.

We considered a number of options before settling on the final colour scheme, fonts and overall style. Often the design process takes just as long as developing the site. We were really happy with the finished look, highlighting the products using a clean crisp design. What do you think?

Introducing the new online customer journey came with extra benefits. Birtchnells of Highcliffe offer a complex variation of products. Customers are invited to choose colours, sizes, lumbar adjustments and more. We developed custom tabs with all of the product information so that people could clearly see the product attributes and costs before making their final decision.

While a key element of this brief was transitioning Birtchnells of Highcliffe into an ecommerce platform, the store still had a great presence on the high street and we wanted to utilise that. We realised high-quality furniture isn’t cheap and the older age demographics are 25% less likely to have made an online purchase than those aged 16-44.

Rather than pushing web visitors to make a purchase, we decided to funnel people into the shop. We incorporated a map and the shop’s address onto every page so that potential customers knew where to find them. While online shopping has been made available, having a physical store makes the overall experience with Birtchnells more trustworthy.

To increase website conversions and generate more sales we introduced a product recommendations feature. 73% of customers say they prefer to do business with brands that make their shopping experience more relevant. The new website meant there would be more opportunity for data capture, allowing us to serve dynamic content and tailor the shopping experience on the website.

And finally, to help make the transition easier, we created how-to style videos using screen recordings and voiceovers to help the internal team upload and change content. We’re always just a phone call away if they ever need help with anything, but these videos show them the main features that they’ll be using regularly.

person clicking True utility Instagram advert
[et_pb_stop_stacking _builder_version=”4.4.8″ _i=”1″ _address=”3.2.0.1″ /]
mobile furniture website

Results

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to see the improvement in the website’s design. The new, fresh looking site launches Birtchnells of Highcliffe into the 21st Century. It tells you everything you need to know about the luxury furniture brand before you’ve got to making a purchase.

The how-to videos went down a treat and their team have been busy inputting all of the content that they want on the website. Taking your business online doesn’t have to be a gruelling task! You just need to know how to use the systems.

While it’s still early days, we’re confident that the new website will increase sales both instore and online. The website makes it easy to see the full product range alongside all of the variations. All the information that you need to make a purchase is in one place and easy to find. Enriching their online presence also means that people in the local area will have a better chance of discovering the store if they’re looking for furniture shops near them.

Overall, both Digital Storm and Birtchnells of Highcliffe were really pleased with the finished website. We can’t wait to find out how the site benefits the business moving forward.

Birtchnells Website Design
[et_pb_stop_stacking _builder_version=”4.4.8″ _i=”1″ _address=”3.4.0.1″ /]
Birtchnells case study

Birtchnells of Highcliffe

The brief

Birtchnells of Highcliffe is a family-run furniture business that stands proudly on Highcliffe’s main high street. For over 40 years, they have sold high-quality, predominantly British made, furniture to the residents of Dorset and Hampshire.

The business has been passed down through generations, now being run by Chrissy, the daughter of David Birtchnell who founded the company in 1980, and her husband Philip. While both had big plans for bringing Birtchnells of Highcliffe up to speed, it seemed everything would have to wait when the UK was put into a national lockdown in 2020… or would it?

Last year, the shop had to close following Covid-19 restrictions. While this wasn’t good news for Birtchnells of Highcliffe, it opened the doors to a brand new opportunity. The business had never sold products online before and now seemed as good a time as any.
As you’ll see from the images, the store had a great position on the high street which no doubt encouraged a lot of people through the doors. The shopfront looks the part, with a modern luxury feeling. However, when you looked at their website, something didn’t match.

Birtchnells of Highcliffe asked us to bring the website up to speed with a new design that better reflected the brand. Increasing footfall by inviting people into the store was a big part of this brief. However, they also wanted to sell their beautiful product range online… which was brand new territory for them.

They wanted to expand their reach. While the store had always performed well, the last year proved that Birtchnells needed a stronger online presence more than ever. They weren’t aiming to rival DFS or Argos, they just needed a website that would help more people find them and drive them closer to that household name status.

The site had to echo the high-end, luxury aesthetic brand that they had created. And it had to speak to the right audience demographic. Due to the type of furniture on offer and the location of the store, Birtchnells had always attracted an older customer base. They asked us to create a website that everyone could navigate easily.

The key takeaways from the brief were:

  • Complete redesign of current website
  • Mimic the high-end, luxury brand style
  • Develop an eCommerce side of the business
  • Build a website that is easy to navigate and user friendly
  • Increase online presence
  • Increase sales both online and instore

Our response

We love building websites. There’s nothing better than hitting that ‘publish now’ button and seeing our design go live. But we especially love working on projects like this because we know that they can make a huge difference to the businesses in our community.

Transitioning Birtchnells of Highcliffe online wasn’t going to happen overnight. The first step was designing a website that would mimic the luxury image of the brand so that customers knew exactly what to expect.

We considered a number of options before settling on the final colour scheme, fonts and overall style. Often the design process takes just as long as developing the site. We were really happy with the finished look, highlighting the products using a clean crisp design. What do you think?

Introducing the new online customer journey came with extra benefits. Birtchnells of Highcliffe offer a complex variation of products. Customers are invited to choose colours, sizes, lumbar adjustments and more. We developed custom tabs with all of the product information so that people could clearly see the product attributes and costs before making their final decision.

While a key element of this brief was transitioning Birtchnells of Highcliffe into an ecommerce platform, the store still had a great presence on the high street and we wanted to utilise that. We realised high-quality furniture isn’t cheap and the older age demographics are 25% less likely to have made an online purchase than those aged 16-44.

Rather than pushing web visitors to make a purchase, we decided to funnel people into the shop. We incorporated a map and the shop’s address onto every page so that potential customers knew where to find them. While online shopping has been made available, having a physical store makes the overall experience with Birtchnells more trustworthy.

To increase website conversions and generate more sales we introduced a product recommendations feature. 73% of customers say they prefer to do business with brands that make their shopping experience more relevant. The new website meant there would be more opportunity for data capture, allowing us to serve dynamic content and tailor the shopping experience on the website.

And finally, to help make the transition easier, we created how-to style videos using screen recordings and voiceovers to help the internal team upload and change content. We’re always just a phone call away if they ever need help with anything, but these videos show them the main features that they’ll be using regularly.

person clicking True utility Instagram advert
[et_pb_stop_stacking _builder_version=”4.4.8″ _i=”1″ _address=”5.2.0.1″ /]
mobile furniture website

Results

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to see the improvement in the website’s design. The new, fresh looking site launches Birtchnells of Highcliffe into the 21st Century. It tells you everything you need to know about the luxury furniture brand before you’ve got to making a purchase.

The how-to videos went down a treat and their team have been busy inputting all of the content that they want on the website. Taking your business online doesn’t have to be a gruelling task! You just need to know how to use the systems.

While it’s still early days, we’re confident that the new website will increase sales both instore and online. The website makes it easy to see the full product range alongside all of the variations. All the information that you need to make a purchase is in one place and easy to find. Enriching their online presence also means that people in the local area will have a better chance of discovering the store if they’re looking for furniture shops near them.

Overall, both Digital Storm and Birtchnells of Highcliffe were really pleased with the finished website. We can’t wait to find out how the site benefits the business moving forward.

Birtchnells Website Design
[et_pb_stop_stacking _builder_version=”4.4.8″ _i=”1″ _address=”5.4.0.1″ /]
Birtchnells case study