How Dohful Constructed an On-line Retailer to Promote Handcrafted Cookies Throughout India (2022)

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Life is healthier with freshly baked cookies and you may’t have only one. 

If the cookie monster was on our group, it’d be sitting proper right here nodding its head whereas taking a chew from our field of varied cookies from Dohful as we share their story. 

And what if we stated that all of it did begin with a soft-baked cookie? 

Introducing Dohful 

Dohful is a model that sells handcrafted and diverse cookies on-line, which might be baked contemporary on order. They’ve been delivering melt-in-the-mouth cookies throughout the nation by their web site on Shopify since October 2018, and have now develop into a family identify for being the cookie monster’s finest buddy. 

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A cookie is all it takes: The start of Dohful 

The founders of Dohful, Arushi Sachdeva and Chaman Raj, have been within the meals enterprise for over 9 years. 

They began experimenting with operating their very own enterprise whereas at IMT Ghaziabad, pursuing their MBA. Their first enterprise was that of a brick and mortar takeaway known as Sandwedges that was geared toward catering to college students and professionals with sandwiches that they might devour on the fly. 

It was in 2016, when the 2 of them went to Europe, that their journey within the cookie world started on the native BnB they stayed at.  

As soon as Ayushi and Chaman got here again to India, they began to hunt cookies with the identical texture and style at varied bakeries. With none matching what they skilled in Europe, Ayushi, with a love for baking, determined to take issues into her personal fingers. 

“India is a biscuit-eating nation, however we don’t essentially know the distinction between biscuits and cookies. That’s precisely why we by no means discovered the identical type of cookies we ate in Europe; the feel itself was lacking,” Arushi claimed.

Following their expertise with cookies in India, the 2 break up the duty of doing market analysis on a couple of facets – shopper demand, style preferences and the way simple or not it will be to promote on-line.  

Throughout their analysis, they discovered an rising demand for home-baked cookies, and likewise got here throughout varied manufacturers within the meals trade that had been efficiently operating on-line companies on Shopify. 

With actual tales at hand, Ayushi and Chaman determined it was time to bake and promote their very own cookies in India, and introduce the nation to a special recipe.  

Whereas Charan took over the a part of researching methods to promote cookies simply, exploring Shopify as a gross sales channel, Ayushi took on the position of perfecting the recipe for baking them. 

As they’d a restaurant operating, they confidently began to discover completely different permutations and mixtures for baking the right cookie. They needed to bake cookies that had been eggless, might keep texture and likewise be simple to ship throughout India with out spoilage. It took them 300+ trials and 70 days to get the primary recipe proper! 

Having discovered the right match of recipe for the cookies and an internet retailer in Shopify, they took their enterprise on-line with a gentle launch in September 2018 . 

Whereas Ayushi and Charan initially considered promoting cookies in Delhi solely, with Shopify they realized that they might ship throughout India, reaching new markets with ease. 

After engaged on their on-line storefront themselves with the assistance of neighborhood members on Shopify and platforms like Quora, they had been capable of share their cookies with everybody in India in October 2018. 

As of at this time, the Dohful cookies are solely obtainable solely on their web site. The founders are targeted on delivering the very best high quality of varied and handcrafted cookies by staying away from spreading themselves too skinny throughout different gross sales channels

Surviving the pandemic with Shopify 

Similar to different companies, Dohful too was hit by the pandemic owing to the change in authorities guidelines and rules, and shopper demand. Throughout this era, Dohful took a while off to be taught extra about their shoppers and their preferences and replace their choices. 

Utilizing insights from the market and aggressive evaluation, they made a variety of tweaks to their Shopify retailer. They up to date product photos, the way in which they introduced them and plugged the communication hole to have the ability to tackle shopper issues or wants in a greater approach. 

“We began treating our Shopify retailer like our store-front or like we might deal with our cafe.” 

Dohful additionally modified their packaging to make sure they had been assembly and exceeding the hygiene expectations of their shoppers. 

In addition they ran influencer collaborations, leveraged newsletters and tweaked their advert marketing campaign arrange on Fb to market their cookie containers after reopening their on-line retailer in Might 2020. 

Dohful skilled a 13x development in gross sales from June 2020 to July 2022 itself, and the numbers have been rising ever since. 

“Now we have needed to scale up our staffing post-pandemic. We went from hundreds of orders a day to virtually ten hundreds of orders per day virtually in a single day after July 8, 2020, and our solely gross sales channel was our on-line retailer!” 

Let’s dig just a little deeper into what precisely the model did to market their cookies and promote on-line. 

Baking their approach by success: Rising Dohful on Shopify 

Since its launch in 2018, Dohful has constructed an engaged buyer base by collaborations with social influencers, creating a variety of genuine content material on YouTube, sharing behind the scenes and their learnings on the weblog and operating promoting campaigns on social media to achieve their viewers. 

Throughout and post-pandemic, Dohful grew to become much more strategic about their advertising efforts. 

Let’s have a look at every of the methods that Dohful makes use of and the way they received it proper: 

1. Content material advertising 

Ayush and Charan realized they weren’t the one ones with a ardour for baking. A whole lot of their audience was actively trying to find recipes to bake cookies at dwelling – particularly through the pandemic. To capitalize on their intent, they arrange a weblog part on their Shopify retailer to share seasonal recipes, ideas and experiences. 

2. Influencer collaborations 

The opposite tactic that Dohful leveraged to drive extra visitors to their Shopify retailer, is influencer advertising and collaborations. From day one, they determined to work solely with influencers who got here with an expertise of collaborations with product manufacturers earlier than, and people who they personally appreciated consuming content material of. This resulted in creating collaborative content material that was really distinctive to the model and resonated with their audience. 

“Regulate what’s trending and who’s gaining reputation. Attain out to influencers in that area of interest if you happen to like consuming their content material too.” 

3. Video advertising 

Dohful understood their shopper’s must know what goes on behind the scenes. They noticed an rising curiosity of their buyer base desirous to see the ‘baking’ of their favourite cookies. So the model took to video advertising to provide their viewers an thought of what their cookies are like in a extra lifelike approach. 

Immediately, they’ve an lively YouTube channel with over 3K followers. In addition they typically publish their influencer collaborations on the channel, serving to them not simply drive extra curiosity and new clients, but additionally repeat consumers. 

“Longer content material codecs are capable of seize the temper of the product higher. 60 secs feels too rushed. Now we have seen extra success by our movies on YouTube vs these on Instagram.” 

Other than YouTube, in addition they actively put up brief clips as Reels and movies on Instagram to maintain their ever-increasing followers engaged. They use these clips as teasers to steer shoppers to their YouTube channel for the entire expertise. 

4. Social media advertisements

Having expertise within the trade, Dohful was conscious of the rising competitors and noise on social platforms. They knew the battle of getting their model seen after which staying on high of a shopper’s thoughts.

To actively sort out the identical, they’ve been operating commercials on social media to achieve their viewers. Their campaigns leverage carousels, movies and different codecs to advertise the most effective of what their cookies supply – a yummy expertise. 

Right here’s a glimpse of a few of their advert campaigns: 

5. Integrating social and commerce 

Dohful has been very lively on social media, sharing content material round their cookies, baking fashion and recipes. Whereas advertisements might at all times include hyperlinks to particular touchdown pages, their natural visitors wanted extra path. 

They’ve been utilizing Linkpop by Shopify to combine social efforts with commerce. With the assistance of 1 hyperlink, they’re capable of promote a number of product pages, sale pages and content material, all on the similar time, main shoppers to their retailer and nudging them in the direction of making a purchase order. This tactic has helped them scale back the friction in getting social media followers to finish a purchase order. 

“We had been shocked to see how creating one hyperlink might assist us flip natural visitors into precise orders. Linkpop makes it very easy for us to trace what our viewers is all in favour of and the orders we generate by our natural efforts.”  

 

6. Social proof 

Whereas the style of the cookies communicate for themselves, Dohful knew it was essential to get precise buyer experiences throughout to achieve extra shoppers. They began to concentrate on accumulating buyer critiques, rankings and testimonials to show as social proof on their Shopify retailer. 

With the assistance of Decide.me, they’ve been capable of accumulate over 3500 critiques since 2020. 

Managing the expansion of Dohful with Shopify

As soon as the model began to run their advertising and promoting campaigns, their on-line retailer noticed an inflow of visitors. This made it much more essential for the founders to remain on high of their numbers – particularly shopper demand. 

Dohful makes use of the Shopify cell app to handle their on-line retailer on-the-go. They use the app to remain on high of their real-time and up to date retailer exercise to achieve insights into guests, observe gross sales and analyze enterprise efficiency. 

“I’d say we verify the Shopify cell app about 15 occasions a day at the very least, to remain up-to-date with the gross sales made by our campaigns, and be capable of simply observe and share order updates with clients.” 

When the model is in search of extra insights on their retailer efficiency, advertising and promoting campaigns, ROI, viewers and clients, they leverage the Shopify analytics and reviews dashboard on the desktop. This has helped them make data-driven choices round merchandise and promotional campaigns, optimizing them for optimum affect. 

“The lease we pay (platform charges on Shopify) seems like nothing. Within the 4 years we’ve been with Shopify, we’ve by no means had any issues with our retailer being inaccessible.

We continually maintain a tab on the updates shared with retailers and at all times attempt to take advantage of the brand new options.”

The best way ahead for Dohful 

Dohful is targeted on retaining its efforts streamlined by making their cookies obtainable solely on their on-line retailer. 

However on the similar time, they’re now exploring bodily kiosks as nicely to get their model seen by those that have taken to offline procuring because the pandemic settles. 

We’re excited to see the place the Dohful cookies attain subsequent and are positive their journey goes to be filled with as pleased experiences as they ship to clients throughout India. 

Prepared to begin your individual meals enterprise like Dohful? Register for Shopify’s 14-day free trial to get began.

Individuals additionally requested

What proportion of Shopify shops are profitable?

Shopify allows thousands and thousands of companies in 175 nations around the globe to promote on-line. These companies have collectively remodeled $200 billion USD in gross sales utilizing Shopify and the quantity continues to develop. You’ll be able to be taught extra about Shopify right here.

Are you able to develop into profitable with Shopify?

Sure, you’ll be able to develop into profitable with Shopify. Many main companies in India together with Mcaffeine, Cosmix, Heads Up For Tails and others are constructed on the ecommerce platform. Owing to its ease of arrange, plug and play apps and straightforward scalability, Shopify has enabled many manufacturers to discover new markets and develop. 

Is it worthwhile to promote on Shopify?

The pandemic accelerated the expansion of ecommerce as shoppers began to make their day-to-day purchases on-line. So it doesn’t matter what you promote or which trade you might be in, you’ll be able to arrange a worthwhile DTC enterprise on Shopify. Many large and small companies have taken to Shopify already to make it simpler for shoppers to achieve them. 

How do I efficiently promote on Shopify? 

After you have arrange an internet retailer on Shopify, you will want to create a advertising plan for your small business. This consists of leveraging completely different gross sales channels, social media platforms, operating promoting campaigns, and extra. You’ll be able to be taught extra about advertising your Shopify retailer efficiently right here