“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colours, there are only so many flavours – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart”
-Wolfgang Puck
Instant Chef is a Paris-based online store that provides customers with top-quality culinary ingredients. The products sold here vary from truffles, oils and vinegars to jams and pastry ingredients, and many others.
In their own words, “Tous les produits des chefs à votre portée” (All the products a chef would use, at your disposal). Instant Chef’s goal is to help their customers become chefs instantly.
The more technology evolves, the more access to information people have, allowing them to learn, experiment, and enjoy new hobbies. Moreover, they can do so in completely different ways, and at their own pace. Regarding the culinary industry, a sudden rise in cooking and social dining online services have also changed the leisure scenery.
In the past, when amateur chefs wanted to experiment or learn new dishes, they needed an entire bookshelf in their kitchen. Those who fancied a pleasant but safe culinary adventure relied on restaurants. Later on, the internet came, and with it came a revolution in the gastronomy industry. Today, thousands of websites empower cooking enthusiasts every day.
Having access to recipes from all around the world with a touch of their fingers encourages amateur chefs to become exquisite hosts. Home cooked meals have become restaurant-like menus worthy of Michelin star. Drinks became exotic cocktails, and the dining room became a private high-class séparé.
Disclaimer: The information and screenshots presented below reflect the website and/or application at the moment of its publication. Wiredelta does not have a maintenance agreement in place with this client, therefore all changes and updates that occurred after this date have been made by the client.
Problem
Instant Chef was initially conceived mostly for chefs to order basic quality ingredients for their high-end dishes. However, the rise of cooking apps like Yummly and BigOven, and social dining platforms like Feastly and Eatwith, organically diversified Instant Chef’s niche.
This mainstreaming process of these trends has widened several niches. In addition to the growing mobile penetration across Europe, the company concluded that to increase their sales, they needed to upgrade their web-shop. Their previous website had formatting errors, spacing issues, and lacked a distinctive style that would differentiate itself. Besides that, and perhaps more importantly, the website had also an unresponsive design, which given the context, limited their exposure.
Instant Chef wanted to widen their scope and be able to approach different segments. Given that most users were actually more active on mobile devices, the company realized that it needed to migrate to responsive technology. Therefore, they hired Wiredelta® to improve their E-Commerce website and increase online orders.
Solution
For this opportunity, Wiredelta came up with a responsive design built in PHP and using Magento as a Framework. The design includes an updated sub-theme featuring a shopping cart, so customers can easily order ingredients from their mobile phones and enjoy a quick and convenient check out process.
The website also features tips and recipes for food as well as drinks, to spark the imagination. Additionally, rotating reviews from Trustpilot are linked to the homepage to increase confidence. The content was easily managed by our diverse staff at Wiredelta, allowing for the website to be created in French. Bon appétit!
Conclusion
By teaming up with Wiredelta, Instant Chef managed to stay in the game and increase their sales by diversifying niches. At least, that’s the way it seems from our perspective as we don’t have those numbers. But taking into account the new standards for websites that are inevitably coming upon us, it was very good timing.
If you want to start from scratch (pun intended) or your website is hungry for a change, visit us at Wiredelta.com. We have the right recipes so your own online store to inspire the young aspiring chefs of the world. You can also visit our website and find out all there is to know about how to improve your website, the latest online trends, how to build an app, and much more.
