Delivering a Perishable Product Fresh
A Sweeter Commerce Experience
Baked by Melissa, L.L.C.
Omnichannel Strategy
Migration to Magento 2
Digital Experience Strategy & Design
Adobe Commerce
Yotpo
Sage X3
RECOGNITION
BACKGROUND
Baked by Melissa is a New York City-based bakery known for its signature bite-size cupcakes. The founder Melissa went from baking in her tiny New York City apartment at age 24 and hand-delivering every order on the subway, to building a multi-million dollar mini cupcake empire with 14 retail locations and a booming ecommerce presence.
With a wide range of colorful flavors like peanut butter and jelly, chocolate chip pancakes, cookie dough, and chocolate eclair, Baked by Melissa turned to Corra to architect a site experience that would accommodate the different variations of cupcakes and macarons customers can order.
Together, Corra &
Baked by Melissa
achieved:
Challenge
MINI CUPCAKES, MAJOR COMPLEXITY
The brand tasked Corra with making the experience appear smooth and effortless for the consumer on the frontend, while concealing the complex logic behind the scenes.
Challenges unique to their business:
The perishable nature of the products required custom shipping rules
The ability to handpick exactly which flavors you would like in your pack and order them up to 365 days in advance
The need for advanced omnichannel capabilities
Introducing the new bakedbymelissa.com
Solution
A FORWARD-THINKING AGENCY FOR A FAST GROWING BRAND
Baked by Melissa chose Corra because of our strategic and forward-thinking approach as well as our vast experience with Magento 2 implementations. Because Corra has designed, built, and currently supports more successful Magento Commerce sites than any other agency partner, Baked by Melissa was confident we could handle the complex customizations required for their project.
CAPTURING THE BRAND EXPERIENCE
Corra designed an experience that truly reflects the personality of Baked by Melissa. Like many Corra clients, Melissa’s vision and distinct aesthetic are baked into the brand. It was crucial that Corra’s designers and strategists understood the vision and delivered on a truly on-brand experience.
New vibrant design and mega menu.
Solution
EMBEDDING UPSELLING OPPORTUNITIES
Corra also wanted to seamlessly embed opportunities to upsell throughout the customer journey, while still maintaining a natural flow. For example, when you visit a Baked by Melissa physical store to purchase cupcakes for a friend’s birthday, oftentimes, it only occurs to you that you need a fancy box with a tie-dye bow when you see one by the register. Corra wanted to emulate this experience by dropping in relevant recommendations like birthday cards, balloon banners, candles, and more on select pages throughout the site.
Baked by Melissa has a unique personality: hippie, smart, fun. Corra’s designers delivered on their promise, crafting an experience that is a true reflection of our brand. Now, even first time visitors can quickly get a sense of who we are and truly enjoy their journey.
Improved homepage design.
Solution
CREATING MOTION & MOVEMENT
Corra’s new design incorporates movement and videos, like allowing visitors to watch Melissa’s creations come to life in a video that shows the delicious process of icing many of their signature cupcakes (after which it’s difficult not to order one of every flavor).
Additionally, the unboxing content block on the homepage is meant to stir excitement and evoke the feeling of receiving a delicious package in the mail.
Unboxing animation.
Solution
Fast loading experience.
Solution
SITE SPEED MEETS VISUAL DESIGN
High quality images and videos can slow down a site if they are not optimized correctly. Corra incorporated beautiful imagery and movement into the design and, in spite of the challenge, Baked by Melissa’s site speed actually improved. A recent analysis revealed that 58% of mobile users have a “fast” experience, meaning their page will load in under 2.5 seconds. This is a 10% improvement compared to their previous site experience.
Corra’s team designed the entirety of the site, including unique CMS pages like Flavors that weave content into the customer journey, showcasing the ingredients of the cupcakes and macarons to help consumers decide which ones they might like best.
Baked by Melissa’s team can access our templated designs through Magento Page Builder to customize content blocks to create new pages in the future. Page Builder gives their marketers and ecommerce specialists the flexibility and freedom to implement new updates without needing to start from scratch, all while staying consistent and true to their brand experience.
Customized bundle, simple and configurable products.
Solution
PICK YOUR FLAVOR
Baked by Melissa has a variety of product types, including bundle products, configurable products, simple products, and virtual gift cards. To accommodate the brand’s unique requirements, the Corra team implemented extensive customizations.
For example, Baked by Melissa offers bundle products for customers to build their own assortment of cupcakes and macarons in either a 25, 50, or 100 pack. Because the macarons and some limited edition cupcakes are more expensive, a custom module allows configuring prices individually to ensure that the price difference is displayed clearly for shoppers to see. On the back end, Magento works with Sage X3 to list out the simple products, allowing personnel to easily see which items and add-ons they should pack.
Custom shipping logic.
Solution
DELIVERING ANYWHERE, AT THE RIGHT TIME
Baked by Melissa needed a completely custom shipping logic in order to provide customers with the following shipping options when placing an order:
In-store pickup at any of their 14 locations
Manhattan Delivery through courier service
Nationwide Delivery services to the entire U.S.
To solve this, Corra ensured that at the time of entering the checkout flow, an API call to the delivery services company retrieves all applicable shipping methods and delivery/pick up windows, based on the zip code associated with the shipping address.
The bulletproof logic even accounts for delivery exception days. For example, if FedEx is unable to deliver on a specific day, it may delay delivery and cause the delivery time to exceed two days (which cannot happen given that the products are perishable). In this context, the shipping logic automatically converts the shipping method to standard overnight, which takes one day only.
Corra integrated Magento with Sage X3, Baked by Melissa’s ERP system which served as a master record for all orders. We ensured Sage X3 had the necessary fulfillment logic to fulfill Manhattan Courier Delivery, In Store Pick Up and Nationwide Shipping, and route it to the proper store where applicable.
A Cherry on Top of the Five Year Cake
After many years of waiting for programmatic capabilities to catch up, Baked by Melissa now has a POS powered by Connect POS, allowing their site to communicate with the inventory of brick-and-mortar locations. The POS update has given them a fully omnichannel inventory offering pick-up and delivery optionality. The Baked by Melissa inventory is now a seamless set of information accessible virtually.
This is an exciting solution for Baked by Melissa to integrate into their already excellent offering. Baked by Melissa has been enrolled in the program for five years and many of the features customers love on the website have been implementations through TotalCare.
TotalCare is a managed service and strategic guidance program that runs on agile sprints. Sprints are devised weekly so that projects are always accommodating and adapting to new information. TotalCare isn’t only a managed services program though, it is a strategic partnership where enrolled brands receive access to Corra’s entire fleet of industry-leading services from design, to go-to-market strategies, to 24/7/365 break-fix support, TotalCare is a program helping to provide brands innovative and modern commerce solutions.
We shipped perishable goods so we needed specific shipping logic that ensured our products only stayed in transit for 1-2 days. We also allow the customer to select their arrival date (because our products are often used as gifts for special occasions) and order up to 365 days in advance.
BOPIS feature.
Solution
BUY ONLINE, PICK UP IN STORE
For in-store pickup, Corra enabled a series of variables that can be configured directly within the admin panel. This includes pick up hours, how much time is required to process the order and prepare it for pick up, product-specific shipping attributes, exceptions, etc. These customizations accomplish two main goals: they give Baked by Melissa’s team the flexibility to update their own rules and ensure a smooth customer experience even during hectic seasons.
Customer loyalty portal.
Solution
SWEET REWARDS
Corra developed a customer loyalty portal powered by Yotpo, a leading ecommerce marketing platform that integrates data-driven solutions for reviews, loyalty, referrals, SMS marketing, and more, empowering brands to create higher-converting experiences that spark and sustain customer relationships.
Corra’s team didn’t stop at implementing the platform. They also customized the integration to create a playful experience for customers. Upon logging in, Baked by Melissa’s loyalists can easily access their information, see how many points they have in their wallet and which delicious rewards they are eligible to claim.
Results
With Baked by Melissa’s new site experience on Magento 2, their bounce rate is down 36.3% YoY, transactions are up 109.4% YoY, and sessions have increased by 61.3% YoY.
The new experience is distinct to their brand and is a reflection of their vibrant and delicious bite-sized treats.
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