Castle Fine Art
Overview
Running 35+ galleries nationwide, Castle Fine Art are widely regarded as the UK’s most innovative retail gallery group. With their brand refreshed in-house and about to launch, they approached us, with the ambitious goal of moving the majority of their sales online. With celebrity artists like Billy Connolly, Bob Dylan and Johnny Depp, we focused on maintaining their minimalist gallery aesthetic while creating an e-commerce platform that could handle high-profile global launches.
The result? A technically robust yet elegant website that led to a 53% increase in on-site conversion YoY, contributed to a 165% increase in turnover over 2 years, and won a DBA Effectiveness award for impact.
We immersed ourselves in Castle Fine Art’s world, speaking with key team members and visiting galleries. Our most powerful discovery? Customers deeply appreciated the personalised, passionate service of the Art Consultants. We then set out to bring this to life online. Features like real-time chat and a favourites collection tool allowed customers to curate their own collections and interact directly with members of the Castle Fine Art team.
Created through an iterative and highly collaborative design process, the website is crafted to feel like an extension of their 39 physical art galleries. To evoke the atmosphere of an exhibition rather than a traditional e-commerce site, we created a clean, predominantly white design, mirroring the minimalist spaces found in galleries.
Analytics revealed that the artists themselves were a major draw for visitors. In response, we elevated their presence across the site, with prominent signposting, enhanced search visibility, and SEO-optimised landing pages. These pages featured not only their art, with easy filtering and browsing options, but also rich, behind-the-scenes content like studio tours, creating a more immersive experience for the audience.
To meet the demands of a global audience, we implemented technical adjustments capable of handling worldwide traffic during high-volume events. A custom CMS was designed to provide the team with full control over content updates, including a CSV importer for seamless batch updates to product variables like pricing. The modular design ensured flexibility, allowing them to tailor the site to their needs while maintaining a cohesive, gallery-inspired aesthetic.
Since launch, QR codes have been introduced to support every product being tracked so real-time updates to the website can be made; if a one-off piece of original art is sold in a gallery, it can be taken off the website within a few minutes.
“Building the Castle website with Thursday was more like working with an extension of our own team than an external agency. They understood exactly what we were looking to achieve and helped us deliver on our longer term vision.”
- 53% higher conversion rates
- A 30% increase in average order value
- Contributed to a 165% increase in turnover over 2 years
Overview
Running 35+ galleries nationwide, Castle Fine Art are widely regarded as the UK’s most innovative retail gallery group. With their brand refreshed in-house and about to launch, they approached us, with the ambitious goal of moving the majority of their sales online. With celebrity artists like Billy Connolly, Bob Dylan and Johnny Depp, we focused on maintaining their minimalist gallery aesthetic while creating an e-commerce platform that could handle high-profile global launches.
The result? A technically robust yet elegant website that led to a 53% increase in on-site conversion YoY, contributed to a 165% increase in turnover over 2 years, and won a DBA Effectiveness award for impact.
We immersed ourselves in Castle Fine Art’s world, speaking with key team members and visiting galleries. Our most powerful discovery? Customers deeply appreciated the personalised, passionate service of the Art Consultants. We then set out to bring this to life online. Features like real-time chat and a favourites collection tool allowed customers to curate their own collections and interact directly with members of the Castle Fine Art team.
Created through an iterative and highly collaborative design process, the website is crafted to feel like an extension of their 39 physical art galleries. To evoke the atmosphere of an exhibition rather than a traditional e-commerce site, we created a clean, predominantly white design, mirroring the minimalist spaces found in galleries.
Analytics revealed that the artists themselves were a major draw for visitors. In response, we elevated their presence across the site, with prominent signposting, enhanced search visibility, and SEO-optimised landing pages. These pages featured not only their art, with easy filtering and browsing options, but also rich, behind-the-scenes content like studio tours, creating a more immersive experience for the audience.
To meet the demands of a global audience, we implemented technical adjustments capable of handling worldwide traffic during high-volume events. A custom CMS was designed to provide the team with full control over content updates, including a CSV importer for seamless batch updates to product variables like pricing. The modular design ensured flexibility, allowing them to tailor the site to their needs while maintaining a cohesive, gallery-inspired aesthetic.
Since launch, QR codes have been introduced to support every product being tracked so real-time updates to the website can be made; if a one-off piece of original art is sold in a gallery, it can be taken off the website within a few minutes.
“Building the Castle website with Thursday was more like working with an extension of our own team than an external agency. They understood exactly what we were looking to achieve and helped us deliver on our longer term vision.”
- 53% higher conversion rates
- A 30% increase in average order value
- Contributed to a 165% increase in turnover over 2 years
