Boosting Site Speed with Advanced Filters & Search
How a luxury fashion store, boosted it's user engagement and conversions. Sparq Search and Filters optimized their websites speed and optimized SEO.
Client: Dora Maar is a luxury fashion consignment platform that intertwines fashion with compelling human stories. Founded by Lauren Wilson, it promotes conscious consumption and 'social luxury'. The platform required a comprehensive filtering system, interactive features, clear labeling of items, and an advanced search function to cater to its diverse inventory and clientele.
The Challenge: Dora Maar's previous filter app was slowing down the website as it was designed to sync the entire product database, including archived items. This led to frustrating load times and a less-than-ideal user experience, which was a significant roadblock for the platform. They needed a solution that could handle their extensive active product database without compromising on website performance or customer experience.
Solution: A dedicated onboarding team was deployed to establish necessary filters, integrate interactive elements, and label items for transparency. They also ensured the features aligned with Dora Maar's existing theme. The team decided to sync only active products, omitting the archived ones, which significantly boosted the site's speed. This comprehensive strategy improved both user experience and site performance, reinforcing Dora Maar's position in the luxury fashion space.
Introduction
Dora Maar: Reinventing Luxury Fashion With Storytelling and Sustainability In the dynamic world of luxury fashion, one name stands out for its unique approach to storytelling, sustainability, and circular economy: Dora Maar. Founded by visionary entrepreneur Lauren Wilson, Dora Maar is not just another luxury consignment platform. It's a space where the transformative nature of fashion intertwines with compelling human stories, fostering an inspiring community centered around conscious consumption and 'social luxury'.
Wilson's inspiration was drawn from Dora Maar, an influential figure renowned for her distinctive style that not only captured attention but also inspired and influenced those around her. Mirroring this philosophy, Dora Maar's 'Muses' — a diverse set of influential women — employ fashion as their powerful medium of self-expression. Every piece they consign or curate carries its own unique provenance, serving as a powerful narrative tool, and making Dora Maar much more than a platform for buying and selling clothing — it's a destination for sharing and discovering stories.
In a world saturated with fast fashion, Dora Maar dares to challenge the status quo by celebrating the 'sustainability of style and story'. It upholds the belief that behind every garment lies a rich tapestry of experiences, journeys, and memories, ready to be shared and passed on. This ethos fosters a thriving circular economy of fashion, where every item consigned becomes a vehicle for storytelling.
Despite the dominance of heritage brands, Dora Maar acknowledges the potential of emerging retail models such as resale and rental, recognizing their power to shape future generations. Their pioneering concept of 'social luxury' hinges on the twin pillars of community and the sharing economy, promoting a more conscious, intentional, and sustainable future.
The core of Dora Maar's philosophy rests on the importance of human connection. In the realm of luxury shopping, it seeks to reinstate the 'humanization' of the process, placing people at the forefront. It’s a testament to their belief that the women behind the clothes are the ones truly holding the power of the story. This creates an environment for conversation, change, and transformation, marking Dora Maar as a platform uniquely positioned to drive innovation in the luxury fashion space.
Requirement
To live up to its unique proposition and facilitate its conscious consumer base, Dora Maar had specific, non-negotiable requirements. At the heart of its demands was a comprehensive and intuitive filtering system. Given the variety of its inventory – clothing, bags, shoes, accessories – and the diverse preferences of its clientele, filters catering to product categories, size, color, and designers/vendors were indispensable.
Next, they sought to enhance the interactivity of their platform through features like hover effects and sorting options. The hover effect would provide users with additional information or images about a product without having to click on it. On the other hand, sorting would allow customers to arrange items based on parameters like price, popularity, or newness, streamlining the shopping experience.
The labeling of items was another crucial requirement. To uphold transparency and drive home its 'pre-owned' luxury narrative, Dora Maar wanted to clearly mark the designer pieces and distinguish pre-owned items. They also insisted on displaying available sizes and offering discounted prices directly on the collection page, saving users the hassle of navigating into each product to uncover these details.
Lastly, given the extensive range of Dora Maar's offerings, an advanced search function was vital. Users should be able to swiftly find specific items or designers through an intelligent search bar and results filter, augmenting the user experience.
Lauren Wilson
Dora Maar founder Lauren Wilson
The new search and filter features significantly improved our site speed and overall customer experience. The swift execution and seamless integration perfectly matched our brand’s aesthetic. We’re thrilled with how it has elevated our online presence.
Challenge
Despite its unique brand proposition and devoted following, Dora Maar faced a significant roadblock. The site's previous filter app was causing more harm than good. The application was designed to sync the entire product database – active and archived – in its operation.
This meant that every time a user interacted with the site, the app had to comb through an extensive database, including items that were no longer available for sale. Consequently, this process was significantly slowing down the site, leading to frustrating load times and a less-than-ideal user experience.
In an era where online luxury shoppers expect speed, convenience, and a seamless digital experience, this slow site speed was a critical challenge for Dora Maar. They needed a solution that could handle their extensive active product database without compromising on website performance or customer experience.
Implementation
To address the specific requirements and challenges of Dora Maar, a dedicated onboarding team was deployed to execute the necessary changes and upgrades. The first step was to establish all the necessary filters. These filters, critical to improving user experience, were set up to segregate the extensive product range, including clothing, bags, shoes, and accessories, and sort them by Price, Newest, Popular etc.
Interactive elements such as a hover effect and sorting features were then integrated into the platform. The hover effect provided additional context and imagery without necessitating a click, while sorting features offered users the flexibility to arrange the product catalog according to their preferences, such as by price or popularity. These features greatly enhanced the user experience, making navigation and selection more effortless and engaging.
Labels played a crucial role in Dora Maar's commitment to transparency. The team established a system where 'pre-owned' items were identified via meta-fields, and designer labels were assigned through tags. Furthermore, to offer immediate access to relevant product details, the team displayed in-stock sizes and discounted prices directly on the collection page.
To ensure a seamless user experience, it was vital that the implemented features aligned with Dora Maar's existing theme. The team worked meticulously to match the site's aesthetics, maintaining the elegance and sophistication inherent in the brand's identity. One of the more advanced features added was the provision of sticky filters. These filters remained accessible as users scrolled through the product listings, providing a more fluid, intuitive browsing experience. Further enhancing this experience was the grouping of tags for sizes and the decision to display sold-out items at the bottom of every collection, ensuring the availability of in-stock items was immediately apparent.
Crucially, in addressing the significant challenge of site speed, the team decided to sync only active products, omitting the archived ones. This strategic shift alleviated the burden on the site's infrastructure, resulting in a significant boost in speed and, subsequently, user experience. This comprehensive implementation strategy, focusing on both user experience and site performance, has given Dora Maar a competitive edge, reinforcing its position as a forward-thinking leader in the luxury fashion space.
Results
The successful implementation of the comprehensive suite of solutions yielded outstanding results, transforming Dora Maar's user experience and site performance.
Firstly, the site speed experienced a significant uplift. With the syncing process now limited to active products only, the website was able to return results in less than 15 milliseconds, offering users near-instantaneous access to their search queries. This speed enhancement contributed to the seamless, luxury shopping experience that Dora Maar aimed to provide.
Additionally, the efficiency of the onboarding team was remarkable. All changes — from the establishment of filters and labels to the implementation of interactive features and theme matching — were executed in an impressive timeframe of just 10 days. This quick turnaround ensured that Dora Maar's clientele experienced minimal disruption and could reap the benefits of these enhancements without delay.
The upgrades weren't merely technical; they brought about a noticeable uplift in user experience (UX). The intuitive navigation, comprehensive filters, and effective labels made for a more engaging and effortless shopping journey. The UX enhancements facilitated by these changes weren't merely anecdotal — the data bore it out.
One of the most significant markers of success was a marked increase in conversion rates. Within a short period, Dora Maar observed a 23% increase in conversion rates via Sparq users. This improvement underlined the effectiveness of the changes and the value added to both Dora Maar and its customers.
Conclusion
Your e-commerce store can achieve the same transformative success as Dora Maar with Sparq's product filters and search solution. Enhance your website's user experience and optimization, and see a remarkable uplift in speed and conversions. Sparq's solution is designed to be customized to your specific needs, providing an array of robust features to improve your site's usability and efficiency.
Beyond just providing a state-of-the-art solution, Sparq offers comprehensive support in the form of free onboarding and customization by our dedicated Onboarding Team. We understand that each business is unique, and we are committed to tailoring our solution to align with your specific requirements, theme, and aesthetic.
Don't wait to give your e-commerce store the upgrade it deserves. Book a demo with us today and discover how Sparq can customize filters and search features to elevate your online store's performance. Take the first step towards a more engaging, user-friendly, and successful online retail experience.
Book a demo with us today - https://www.sparq.ai/book-a-demo
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