CASE STUDY: Transforming JOANN.COM, Website for a Fortune 500 Retailer

Transforming JOANN.COM

Introduction

This case study highlights the successful transformation of JOANN Stores, a $30M omni-channel retailer specializing in sewing, crafts, home décor, and hobbies. The study addresses the key challenges faced by the company, including a weak brand driven by heavy discounting, poor user experience, an older target audience, a struggle to attract younger users, and a large fragmented assortment. It further outlines the objectives of enhancing the shopping experience, extending the brand to a broader target audience, and improving site performance. The strategies implemented by JOANN Stores to achieve these objectives are discussed, along with the results obtained.

 

Key Challenges

JOANN Stores encountered several challenges prior to the transformation: 

  • Low Conversion tied to Weak Brand Identity:

The company's brand suffered from heavy discounting, which undermined its value proposition and led to a weak brand perception among customers.

  • Low Conversion tied to Poor User Experience:

Frequent site outages and failed checkouts hampered the user experience, resulting in customer frustration and lost sales opportunities.

  • Low Acquisition of New Customers tied to Older Target Audience:

With an average age of 65, JOANN Stores struggled to attract younger users, limiting its potential for growth and market expansion.  More concerning was that the core target audience was aging out.

  • Low Conversion tied to Large Fragmented Assortment:

The company faced challenges in effectively organizing and presenting its extensive range of over 80,000 products, leading to a difficult shopping experience and difficulty in discovering relevant items.

  • Low Conversion tied to Outdated Inspirational Projects and Products:

The company's inspirational projects and product offerings were perceived as stuck in the 70s, failing to resonate with contemporary customer preferences.

Objectives

JOANN Stores aimed to achieve the following objectives:

  1. Increase Conversion through addresssEnhanced Shopping Experience:

The company sought to address customer needs and improve the overall shopping experience for its customers, focusing on ease of use, intuitive navigation, and engaging content.

  1. Reduced Churn through Improve Site Performance:

To address the issues of site outages and failed checkouts, the company aimed to enhance site performance, stability, and reliability.

  1. Increase Acquisition through Broader Target Audience:

JOANN Stores aimed to expand its brand reach beyond its older target audience and attract younger users, diversifying its customer base.

Strategies

  1. Clean, Easy-to-Navigate User Interface with a clear brand identity: 

Repositioned the website as the leading destination that empowers creativity through an extensive selection of crafts, fabrics, and creative supplies. To support this, JOANN Stores developed a clean and user-friendly interface, improving site navigation and simplifying the shopping journey. This included intuitive menus, clear product categorization, and streamlined search functionality to showcase an 80,000 sku offering and a more strategic approach to discounting to elevate the brand. 

  1. Aligned Brand Assets at Every Touchpoint:

The company ensured consistent brand messaging and assets across all touchpoints, including the website, social media, and marketing materials. User-journey mapping to drive key messaging and conversion opportunities.  This helped reinforce the brand identity, create a cohesive customer experience, and drive acquisition and retention. 

  1. Expand Key Shops 

JOANN Stores expanded and emphasized key shops within its product assortment. This involved curating and showcasing popular and trending items, making it easier for customers to find and purchase desired products.

  1. Compelling Product as Hero Imagery:

To engage customers visually, the company utilized high-quality product imagery as hero visuals, highlighting the appeal and versatility of its offerings.  This facilitated easier shopping but also added leverage with key vendors who sought enhanced branding at their partner retailer’s sites

  1. Integrated Social Media:

JOANN Stores integrated social media into its marketing efforts, leveraging platforms to engage with customers, share inspiring content, showcase reviews and user generated content, and ultimately attract a broader target audience.

  1. Stabilize Site/Infrastructure + Customer-Insight Driven Feature Roadmap 

The company prioritized stabilizing the website infrastructure to improve site performance and minimize downtime. This involved re-platforming, relocating hosting, and integrating back-end systems. Defined and implemented a customer-focused roadmap based upon feedback from Call Center chat logs, online customer experience surveys, and in-store sales associated feedback. 

Results

  1. Increased conversion from 2% to 6%
  2. Decreased customer churn from 20% to 5%
  3. Increased customer acquisition 3x through integrated marketing and social media programs
  4. Grew revenue from $30M to $50M; doubled EBITDA