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Located in Northern England, House of Malt is an independently-owned family firm that has grown into one of the leading online retailers of specialty whiskeys and spirits in the U.K. It was established in 2015 as an independently-owned family business and have used for their online business from 2017.
House of Malt has a store and retail outlet situated in Northern England, though a significant portion of their sales are conducted online through their online store. The company currently ships to the U.K. and plan to expand their business internationally.
Woo interviewed Jethro Hazelhurst, House of Malt's Director of Ecommerce.
for Whiskey
House of Malt chose as their online store platform since they wished to stay away from other platforms that are highly controlled and they were impressed by how flexible the Woo platform can be and desired to control all aspects of their online business and operations as they could.
Since then, House of Malt has been working with Woo by way of the Enterprise Ecommerce program, which improves the flow of cash. Woo has proved to be a benefit to their business in many other ways. an increase in average order value as well as conversion rates and an improvement in the amount of time needed to deposit from 7 days to 1 day have all helped them make sure they have enough sufficient working capital available to fund their growth.
Big wins
- Conversion rates increased, and the average order value to 22% since implementing Apple Pay through WooPayments.
- Decreased their cash deposit time from seven days to one day, with the help of the Woo Customer Success team.
- Founded in 2015, House of Malt has grown to be among the top three online sellers of spirits across the U.K.
Key Extensions
- WooPayments using Apple Pay
- Paypal and Pay Later by PayPal
- Searchinise
- The Storefront theme
- Google Listings as well as Ads
- Klaviyo email marketing
The success of Brexit and Covid-19
As with many British firms, House of Malt was impacted by the export tax assessments that came with the Brexit law. With the complications that arose, they decided to shift their attention to clients within the U.K., and have since become one of the top three firms in the U.K. to offer online-based specialist whisky sales.
During the closures of Covid-19, House of Malt was in a position to continue their operations even through the closures. They operate entirely through their site.
Now, their physical store is an essential element of their branding and gives unique experiences to customers that other stores aren't able to match.
Malt matching: Using data to provide customers with the best service
House of Malt has a amazing knowledge of their clients who use their website and this informs their strategy for e-commerce.
In general, House of Malt serves four distinct customer needs:
- People who want to test the new products offered through the site.
- Customers who have been returning to houseofmalt.co.uk for their top products, and then purchase the same each time.
- Collectors who want to keep informed about the latest release and collection.
- Wholesalers who cannot find the product elsewhere, and who frequent House of Malt for repeat purchases that restock bars and small stores.
The data can be extremely helpful due to restrictions on ads which are imposed on liquor merchants, which House of Malt combats with the use of a robust email marketing program.
Increase the average order value by 22% when using Apple Pay and WooPayments
House of Malt offers a variety of payment options, including PayPal, PayPal credit card processing, Apple Pay and Google Pay through WooPayments.
They decided to introduce WooPayments for Apple Pay specifically due to their traffic on their site. Jethro stated that "The majority of our customers are mobile, and Apple users are on Safari. I'm able to understand why the conversion rate would go up because of the addition of Apple Pay. There's no justification why it shouldn't. There's no friction. This has been an important game changer to us."
After introducing Apple Pay, House of Malt is reporting an increase of 22% in order volumes, and a rise in conversion rates since offering different payment options.
"The more payment options we can offer, the better- 100 percent. There has been an increase in conversion rates since we started offering various payment options. Utilizing all payment options and WooPayments We've witnessed a nice increases over the past few years. It's all been looking good for us to continue for growth." --- Jethro Hazelhurst, Ecommerce Director, House of Malt
Transferring whiskey across the water
House of Malt is planning an international expansion plan, first to Europe followed by the U.S. The company is working to find shipping partners and their customs logistics, striving to provide the most pleasant customer experience when ordering overseas.
Thanks to their brand new warehouse, House of Malt anticipates thriving during times of peak order volumes, such as the holiday season and their potential global expansion.
The integration of more product and payment options
House of Malt is also developing their catalog of products, improving the user experience on their website, as well as creating a subscription service as well as a loyalty programs for their regular customers.
They're looking to find additional payment options in order to meet customer payment preferences. It's a good idea to expand their buy now, buy later (BNPL) options to include additional service providers.
Hazelhurst is certain about the benefits that come with BNPL: "The fact that buyers can choose to use buy now, pay later also increases an average value for orders. All buy now pay later choices will aid."
In the end, House of Malt has enjoyed a wonderful experience , and is looking towards the future.
"All your work on and WooPayments is making a nice tiny impact" Hazelhurst said. "Somewhere in the north-western region of England located in a small little corner of an ancient town. We're putting great whiskey in the hands of folks who use Woo."