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Based in Northern England, House of Malt is a family-owned business that has grown into one of the most prominent online stores of specialty whiskies and spirits in the U.K. They were founded in 2015 as an independently-owned family company and has been able to run their online operations from 2017.
House of Malt has a store and retail outlet situated in Northern England, though a significant portion of their transactions are done online via their store. The company currently ships across their own 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 wanted to avoid the other, highly regulated platforms; they liked how customizable the Woo platform was and were looking to be in control of as much of their business online and operations as they possibly could.
Since that time, House of Malt has joined forces with Woo by way of their Enterprise Ecommerce program, which has improved their cash flow. Woo is a blessing to their business in many other ways, too: an increase in average order value, conversion rates, and a decrease in time to deposit from seven days to one day, have all assisted them make sure they have enough working capital to support the growth of their business.
Big wins
- Conversion rates increased, and the average order value by 22% after implementing Apple Pay through WooPayments.
- The time to deposit cash has been reduced from seven days to one day thanks to Woo Customer Success. Woo Customer Success team.
- In 2015, House of Malt was founded. House of Malt has grown to be among the three top online retailers of alcohol across the U.K.
Key Extensions
- WooPayments and Apple Pay
- Payments through PayPal as well as Pay Later with PayPal
- Searchinise
- The Storefront theme
- Google Listings and ads
- Klaviyo email marketing
Success in the time of Brexit and Covid-19
Like many British firms, House of Malt was affected by export tax charges imposed by the Brexit law. With the complications that arose and a need to adapt, they decided to shift their focus to customers within the U.K. They have since become one of the top three businesses within the U.K. in online whisky sales.
During the closures of Covid-19, House of Malt was in a position to continue their operations despite the shutdowns, operating solely through their website.
Their physical location remains an integral part of their brand and gives unique experiences to clients that they can't match.
Data mining: using data to serve customers
House of Malt has a an excellent understanding of their clients who use their website and this informs their online strategy.
In general, House of Malt serves four diverse customer segments:
- People who want to test new items on our website.
- Returning customers who visit houseofmalt.co.uk to purchase their most-loved products, and then purchase the same each time.
- Collectors who are keen to stay informed about the most recent release and collection.
- Wholesalers who can't find an item elsewhere and who frequent House of Malt for repeat purchases, which allow them to replenish bar stock and smaller shops.
The data can be extremely helpful due to restrictions on ads that are placed on liquor merchants, which House of Malt combats with a strong email marketing program.
Increasing average order value by 22% with Apple Pay and WooPayments
House of Malt offers a number of different payment options that include PayPal, PayPal credit card processing, and Apple Pay and Google Pay via WooPayments.
The decision was made to launch WooPayments for Apple Pay specifically due to the volume of traffic they receive on their website. Jethro noted that "The majority of our users are mobile and Apple users on Safari. I'm able to understand why the conversion rate will increase as a result of having Apple Pay. I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't. There's more friction. This has been an important game changer in our favor."
Since introducing Apple Pay, House of Malt has seen the increase of 22% in order volumes as well as the rate of conversion has increased since offering additional payment options.
"The more payment options we provide, the better 100%. The conversion rate has increased when we began offering more payment methods. Using all the payment methods as well as WooPayments have seen a great increase in our business over time. The outlook is good to keep using it for growth." -" Jethro Hazelhurst, Ecommerce Director, House of Malt
Bringing whiskey across the lake
House of Malt is planning for international expansion, first to Europe followed by the U.S. They're working to find shipping partners and their customs logistics, in the hopes of providing the best service for customers who purchase from overseas.
With their new warehouse, House of Malt anticipates thriving in times of high demand quantity, such as during the time of year when they are most busy and potential global expansion.
The integration of more product and payment options
House of Malt is also working on expanding their product catalog, improving the user experience on their website, as well as designing a subscription and loyalty program to their loyal customers.
They're looking to find more payment options to better meet the needs of customers preference for payment. This includes expanding the buy now buy later (BNPL) options to include additional suppliers.
Hazelhurst knows the benefits from BNPL: "The fact that customers can make use of buy now, pay later will increase the your average order value. Any buy now options that allow pay later will aid."
Overall, House of Malt has had a great experience with its customers, and we are looking forward to the future.
"All you've done on WooPayments makes a great small impact" Hazelhurst said. "Somewhere in northwestern of England In a tiny little corner of an ancient town. The whiskey we're selling is getting into the hands of folks who use Woo."