Modern eCommerce Websites Launched for Seattle-Based Home Furnishings Company

We Believe a Company Selling Beautiful, Modern Furniture Deserves a Pair of Beautiful, Modern Websites

Pacific Northwest-based Kasala has been in the business of selling home furnishings for over three decades. With several locations around the Seattle area, they’ve built a loyal following of customers over the years that come to them in search of furniture pieces that are at once modern and distinctive.

In 2017, the Kasala team decided it was time to add an online store to the mix. While they knew that staying competitive in their industry meant upgrading their digital presence, they wanted to ensure this project was done in a way that allowed them to continue to honor their dedicated brick-and-mortar teams and customer base.

As big supporters of local Seattle businesses, we were stoked to hop on board. We were brought on to design and develop online stores for both Kasala’s signature brand and their Outlet.

We decided to build the online store portions of Kasala’s websites on BigCommerce to leverage its best-in-class eCommerce functionality while constructing the rest of the sites on our own proprietary content management system, FusionCMS. This allowed us to create two fully custom websites for the Kasala team—one for their main brand and one for the Outlet—that puts their products front and center while also making it easy for visitors to learn more about how to check out the goods in person.

Website Design Inspiration and Accomplishments

With products as beautiful as Kasala’s, we didn’t have to look very far for design inspiration. Their home decor is all about clean, modern lines with bursts of color and pops of interest. We pulled this style into their homepage composition, opting for a grid-type layout that lets Kasala’s gorgeous, his-resolution imagery do the talking while bold gray call-to-action buttons encourage users to explore further.

We stuck to a neutral color palette throughout both websites save for the occasional orange flourish (and some blue on the Outlet store). Keeping the main design colors simple makes it easier to keep the sites feeling fresh as seasonal changes role in—the images set the tone.

Kasala’s eCommerce pages likewise shine with sophisticated simplicity. Top-level categories are broken down by room, with each overview page featuring a masthead area that gives quick insight into how Kasala approaches each space. An image grid sits below, leading users off to store sub-category pages.

The sub-category pages feature a lot of clean, white space, side filters, and subtle drop-shadow hover effects—these give separation between thumbnails as users meander across the page. When products are given a markdown price in the BigCommerce backend, orange “Sale” circles dynamically appear on that product, making it easy for customers to find deals (the shade of orange differs slightly between the main brand and Outlet).

The product detail pages are similarly bright and spacious; the above-the-fold area gives focus to the product imagery and options, with a large, bold “Add to Cart” button sitting prominent on the left-hand side of the screen. To encourage the customer to visit Kasala’s furnishings in person, a “Find a Store” link sits below the “Add to Cart” button, partnered with options to “Add to Wishlist” or print that page.

Relatedly, we custom designed “Our Locations” areas for both sites, making it easier for web visitors to find Kasala in person. We created straightforward overview pages that lead users to all locations related to the brand the user is currently exploring (main or Outlet). Drilling down into specific detail pages allows users to learn more about how to get to that particular store, the store’s history, and current members of the store’s leadership team.

In addition to store and locations pages, we designed and developed blog spaces for both brands to help the Kasala team keep their customers up to date on current trends and promotions. For the main brand, we also created a “Collections” page (to highlight some of the Kasala team’s favorite current pieces) and an “About” page (letting users learn more about the history of Kasala, the owner’s backstory, the company’s efforts in the community, and their team’s dedication to providing their customers were peerless customer service).

Website Development Successes

We implemented a number of fun and UX-friendly features on the store pages to make them both accessible and appealing. These include sub-category filters that allow users to explore not only by color and size, but by brand as well (which makes it easier for Kasala’s customers to find complementary pieces to fit every space).

We also used BigCommerce’s native technology to offer a “Quick View” option for each product and a “List Mode” view (to replace the default grid) that gives users access to at-a-glance information of each product with a single click.

A critical development piece on the product detail pages was print styles. These affect how the page looks when users select “Print” from below the “Add to Cart” button. The Kasala team's goal for the adjusted print styles was to make it easier for in-store staff to print attractive sales pieces to then provide to any customers on the fence about a given item. These printed handouts can encourage future purchases by acting as a reminder piece to interested customers—they do for the physical stores what “Abandoned Cart” reminder emails do for online stores.

We also worked with the Kasala team and some of our development partners to customize both the BigCommerce checkout pages and the communication emails sent by BigCommerce throughout the customer journey. Each are now on-brand and feature Kasala’s logo, primary colors, and unique font selections. This is true for both the main brand and the Outlet.

Finally, we made both websites mobile responsive—as is our standard M.O. Elements around the website collapse attractively on mobile, with the main menu appearing as an easy-to-access, low-profile hamburger menu in the top right corner. Like Fusion, BigCommerce is built to be inherently mobile responsive, making it easy for our team to carry this mandate across all pages.

Working with the Kasala team was a joy; their vision, passion, and customer dedication were—and continue to be—inspiring. Kasala gives our team yet another reason to be proud of our city. Check out the brand new Kasala website now or head over to the Kasala Outlet for some great deals.

Looking to Take Your Store Digital? Let Our Team of Professionals Build You a Top-Rate eCommerce Website!

efelle creative has been in the business of designing and developing eCommerce websites for over a decade. Not to toot our own horn (much), but we’ve won over a hundred awards for our work. Of course, award-winning design is just the tip of the iceberg for our team—we’re also obsessed with SEO, CRO, and all things digital marketing. Reach out today—call us at 206.384.4909 or hit up our online contact form and let’s strike up a conversation about how we can revolutionize your eCommerce business and accelerate your revenue!