Orla Kiely
Ecommerce transformation for ‘The Queen of Prints’
The Brief
Orla Kiely’s prints give the brand an immediately recognisable identity. Online, that recognition needs to translate into product discovery, confidence and sales across a collection spanning bags, accessories and homeware.
The team initially approached Farrows to help establish a direct eCommerce business, bringing products from different suppliers into a store they could manage independently. The website needed to express the brand’s character while making a broad range straightforward to shop.
Our work has since developed into a wider eCommerce partnership, spanning customer experience, merchandising, product presentation, development and retention.
It looks great! So refreshing! And very on brand! Thank you so much!
Our Approach
Connecting the appeal of the brand to the products
A familiar print can bring someone to the website, but it doesn’t answer every question about a product. Customers still need to understand its size, materials, features and how it might fit into their wardrobe or home.
Our brand commerce approach connects those two needs. The colour, pattern and personality that attract people to Orla Kiely should also help them explore and understand the collection.
We designed a custom Shopify Plus store around the brand’s visual identity, bringing campaign imagery, lookbooks and product information into the shopping experience. Swatch selection and filtering give customers practical ways to explore the options, alongside the imagery that makes them appealing.
Our ongoing product-page optimisation work considers how inspiration and useful detail sit together: showing a product in context, making its features clear and bringing purchasing information forward. Each has a role in helping customers move from liking a design to choosing a product.
Helping customers discover more of the collection
Customers arrive with different intentions. Some are looking for a specific bag; others recognise a print and want to see where else it appears. Navigation and merchandising need to accommodate both.
Our initial research informed the site structure and shopping journeys. Since launch, we’ve continued to refine how customers find products and discover relevant additions as they browse.
Product recommendations, upsells and cross-sells form part of that work. We moved beyond manually assigned product pairings towards more dynamic recommendations, combining customer behaviour with the team’s knowledge of the range.
The recommendation and its placement need to work together. A matching purse on a bag’s product page can help someone explore a coordinated purchase. A relevant, lower-priced addition in the basket needs to be easy to assess without distracting from checkout.
This work contributed to a reported uplift of approximately 12% in average order value.
I have had an excellent experience partnering with Farrows on our website development. They have helped us optimise and enhance our customer journey, deliver major new business features such as our API connection hub, and provide ongoing support with updates, bug fixes, and continuous improvements. Their communication is excellent, and they are always available to offer advice and support. They bring a wealth of experience, insight, and proactive thinking, acting as a true extension of our ecommerce team. Their collaborative approach, technical expertise, and commitment to delivering high-quality solutions have made them a valued partner. It is a genuine pleasure to work with them, and I would highly recommend Farrows to any business looking for a knowledgeable and reliable digital agency.
Supporting more involved purchase decisions
Our work has also extended to made-to-measure curtains and blinds, where customers need more guidance than they would when choosing a standard product.
The requirements connect the customer journey with the operation behind it: samples, measurements, pricing, product configuration and the information needed for fulfilment. Decisions about how to present the product have to account for how an accurate order will be produced and delivered.
It’s a useful example of why we consider design and development together. A clear interface depends on getting the product data, choices and processes right underneath it.
Keeping the business manageable behind the scenes
The original store brought together products supplied and dispatched by different partners. Customers needed a coherent shopping experience, while the internal team needed a reliable way to manage the orders.
We mapped the connections between the storefront, stock, finance and fulfilment, then developed integrations to support order processing and return dispatch information to the website.
That work established the operational foundations for the direct eCommerce business. As requirements have changed, our development support has continued to connect the customer-facing experience with the processes needed to deliver it.
The Results
Orla Kiely gained a direct eCommerce business that brought its collection together in a recognisable, easy-to-shop brand experience, with connected processes supporting a small internal team.
Subsequent improvements have focused on helping customers understand products, discover relevant options and buy with confidence. Product recommendations and upselling contributed to a reported increase of approximately 12% in average order value.
The work brings brand commerce into practical decisions across the store: how a print introduces someone to the collection, how a product page answers their questions and how a recommendation helps them find something worth adding to their order.
The Stats
2025 YoY
- Increase in gross sales
- +8.9%
- Increase in unique customers
- +9.1%
- Increase in sessions
- +5.5%
It has a genuine lovely appeal and strength. Well done both to both your team and creatives. Thank you everyone who has worked so hard to make this happen.
