“rTraction really cares about the benefit their work will give a small company like Las Chicas del Café. They’ve really shown that their motivation is to see us grow and be supported.”
— MARIA FIALLOS, CO-OWNER OF LAS CHICAS DEL CAFÉ
The family traditions of Las Chicas Del Café is ingrained into the quality and taste of their coffee beans. Each roast is a testament to the craftsmanship passed down from generations, their story being one that we are proud to be able to amplify and support for the last 15 years.
Las Chicas del Café is a direct trade micro-roastery run by sisters Maria Fiallos and Valeria Fiallos-Soliman out of St. Thomas. Their love for coffee is reflected in their methods, honouring the traditions of their grandfather and the coffee farmers of Las Sabanas, Nicaragua. Their coffee is produced and processed in small batches to ensure the highest quality; from the time coffee cherries are picked to when the freshly roasted beans are packaged, each step integral to flavour and ecological impact.
Las Chicas’ longtime partnership with rTraction began with a website in 2006, followed by an upgrade launched in 2015. As their demand for coffee changed, so did their digital needs.
They turned to rTraction again in 2018 to revamp their website, integrate Shopifiy, and accommodate media elements into the build. Their collection of roasts required a Shopify template that would compliment the website but could also see through future alterations.
The website content was organized to be user-friendly, requiring less clicks to navigate but enough to want to learn more about Las Chicas before going straight to the Collection. It was important their heritage and coffee stories were as easily found as the shopping and retailer pages; each section leading the visitor to develop an emotional understanding of their mission, then enticing them to add to cart. To accommodate their expanding online store, products needed to be easy to modify on the backend; uploading new roasts and making changes to delivery/pick-up options was made manageable and can easily be done by staff.
The website also required an integration that populated their aesthetic Instagram posts onto the landing page. Their photographs complimented the layout and the automation removed the worry of having to manually add photos. The intention was for socials to be readily accessible on their site, whether it be podcasts, cupping videos, and blog posts.
Fast forward to recently, Las Chicas Del Café made the decision to close their retail location for the safety of their employees and customers due to the physical distancing measures imposed by COVID. They turned to rTraction again to help develop an ongoing GoogleAds Strategy that would drive new customers to their site. Specifically targeting coffee lovers who may be looking for high quality fair trade coffee roasts, instead of purchasing blends from traditional brick and mortar stores that typically pay unfair wages for their coffee beans.
Using their excellent product photographs, we designed Display Ad templates that were editable and interchangeable with Las Chicas’ monthly themes. We also set up Responsive Display Ads that allow the product photos to shine; images without any font are matched with rotating headlines and descriptions, helping increase impressions and conversions. Incorporating Search Ads has proven beneficial to their strategy as well, choosing text that emphasizes roasting craftsmanship while using verbiage similar to the website and Las Chicas socials.
Despite retail sales being cancelled, we saw an increase in online sales for 2020 versus the previous year. Social media also provided a huge increase in direct sales for Las Chicas, with nearly $10,000 in sales directly attributed to social media, with Instagram being the main driver.
In comparison to 2019 and prioritizing digital sales via Shopify:
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Total Sales was up 62%
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Online Sessions increased by 170%
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Returning Customer Rate increased by 8%
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The conversion rate increased by 126%
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Total Orders were up 62% and the Average Order Value also saw an increase.
Additionally, setting up Ads analytics into a Data Studio report provides an understandable and reliable look into the performance of the strategy and the impact on website visits. The goal to increase revenue and reach over time has created opportunities for Las Chicas to provide free local shipping and discount codes as they continue to build brand awareness and loyalty.
While each sale is complemented by the conscious efforts both Maria and Valeria have implemented into their business, they have also created a community of coffee lovers who have come to understand their drive to produce environmentally sound and fair coffee. To join their coffee journey and learn more about their products, be sure to visit their website!