From no online store to over NOK 1 million in the first year

Meet Kakle

The sewing shop in Kongsberg that is open by appointment

Gry Aamodt has run Kakle since 2009. In the shop in Kongsberg she sells sewing machines, overlock machines, coverstitch machines and embroidery machines, along with sewing patterns and sewing supplies. The shop is open by appointment, so anyone who wanted to buy had to call or send a message first and wait for a reply.

Gry also teaches sewing courses. That is where people go from owning a sewing machine to actually using it, and the courses mean a lot to her.

The challenge

The range existed only on the shelves

Kakle didn't lack customers or knowledge. They lacked a way to sell when the shop was closed and the customer lived in a completely different part of the country.

The sewing machines, patterns and supplies stood in the shop without a single product page. If you searched for a Janome, you never found Kakle.

The sewing courses were popular, but sign-up went by message and email. Gry kept track of the places herself, and every place had to be confirmed by hand.

The solution

An online store built the way customers shop

Kakle had nothing to build on. We set up the whole store in WooCommerce, with product pages, stock and an order flow that Gry runs herself.

A separate page for each type of machine

Someone shopping in a sewing shop usually knows which machine she wants before she starts looking. Overlock, coverstitch, embroidery and ordinary sewing machines therefore got a page each, and used machines and demo machines got their own entrances. Patterns and sewing supplies sit separately from the machines.

Mobile payments and Klarna at checkout

A sewing machine is a big purchase. With mobile payments and Klarna at checkout and shipping through a carrier, people recognize the payment, and paying in installments makes more people dare to complete the purchase online. The shop also got a form of its own for trade-ins.

Sewing courses with sign-up online

The courses sit in the online store on equal terms with the machines, from overlock courses and coverstitch courses to a sewing weekend in Bevergrenda and sewing courses for children and parents. People sign up and pay straight away, in the same checkout as the rest of the range, instead of messages back and forth about free places.

The result

Over NOK 1 million in the first year

In the first year after launch, the online store sold for over NOK 1 million.

It isn't ad spend behind it. Kakle already had the expertise and the range. What was missing was a shop people could buy from at any time, and a structure that helped them find the right machine without help.