Client:
Iron Heart
Cloud Construct service:
Ecommerce store development.
Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud migration.
Bespoke software development.
Ongoing support and maintenance.
The Iron Heart brand was established in Japan by Shinichi Haraki in 2002 as a premium heavy denim clothing manufacturer.
Only a limited number of garments can be made in their workshops in Japan due to specialist production methods. Iron Heart clothing is therefore very exclusive and desirable and the brand has developed a loyal customer community.
Iron Heart garments are sold predominantly through their ecommerce stores. There are now four ecommerce stores: Iron Heart International, Iron Heart America, Iron Heart Europe and Iron Heart Germany. They also operate four bricks and mortar stores worldwide, and the brand is also stocked in a select number of carefully chosen retailers across the world.
Cloud Construct (formerly PBS Creative) has been working with Iron Heart since 2016.
“Our online store was crashing as we got more popular. We were a victim of our own success.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
The Iron Heart ecommerce store must be available 24/7. Globally.
It’s not unusual for a shopping cart to reach into the thousands at the checkout. A pair of shorts starts at £187, jeans range from £250 to £414 and jackets are worth up to £1,451.
If the ecommerce store runs slowly or crashes, considerable sums could be lost in business.
“The business and brand were growing. We’d identified huge potential in the American and European markets. But our website just wasn’t up to the task.
We needed expert help to develop our ecommerce store and support our ambitious plans.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
The website was hosted on a single web server. It had limited storage capacity, bandwidth and CPU. When the website was busy and reaching its limits, page load speed would suffer. Eventually it would crash.
Iron Heart’s customer community forum was hosted on the same server. It was the main channel of communication with their most diehard customers. However, it added more pressure on server resources.
“There was a challenge on both sides. Two important parts of the business needed server space to function effectively. If the website crashed because it couldn’t cope with the traffic, the forum would also crash. Not only would we lose out on sales, but we would lose our main way to communicate with customers.”
This was a particular issue at sales time.
“We’d dedicate time to building excitement, but the influx of traffic could lead to site overwhelm. Customers would be left disappointed and frustrated. We would lose out on revenue.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
In 2016, there was only one website. IronHeart.co.uk
“It just wasn’t fit for purpose. US customers had difficult making payments as the UK payment gateway wasn’t compatible with their credit and debit card cards. It was leading to a high percentage of card transaction failures and abandoned carts.
Brexit also had an impact on business. The costs of dealing with Europe increased due to duty and tax, and prices had to be presented in a different way to the UK.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
Another challenge was the further a customer is from the server, the slower the website speed. Slow loading speed impacts negatively on sales conversions.
While the majority of sales are done through the ecommerce store, Iron Heart has a global network of independent retailers which also sells their products.
Retailer orders were taken via email and manually recorded on a spreadsheet. The system was inefficient and prone to human error, especially as more retailers stocked Iron Heart products.
“Cloud Construct is always working behind the scenes on servers and technical aspects so we can focus on the visuals and the design.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
Cloud Construct architected a hosting environment in the AWS cloud that would stand up to Iron Heart’s global traffic demands.
The new architecture uses AWS EC2 provisioning to allocate servers depending on demand. AWS Elastic Load Balancing is used to maintain site speed, stability and security. It distributes inbound traffic and resources evenly across the servers, and prevents against bot attacks or other attacks.
“We can now scale resources to cover peak sales times and our future business growth. We only use and pay for what we need. It’s much more cost effective.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
The Iron Heart website is hosted at AWS’ Western Europe Hub in Ireland to benefit from the relative proximity to the USA, UK and Europe. Server provisions are allocated across three Availability Zones (AZ), i.e. data centres, so if anything happened to one AZ, the website will still be available.
Cloud Construct also employs Amazon CloudFront, a global content delivery network (CDN) service to cache images and videos more locally to customers. This improves latency and access speed for downloading the high resolution images that are critical in driving sales.
Cloud Construct meticulously planned the migration for a typically quieter time (i.e. early morning in USA) so disruptions (and lost sales) could be kept to a minimum. The Iron Heart community was kept informed via the Forum and an integrated holding page explained the process to website visitors.
Since the migration, Cloud Construct periodically analyses Google Analytics and AWS data and stress tests the website with bots to understand traffic patterns. They also conduct code profiling to identify inefficiencies in the system, which could be damaging long term. This ensures the hosting provisions are the best they can be, using the right AWS tools.
Every time code is changed, Cloud Construct employs Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics’ canaries to mimic customer behaviour. If they discover any issues, they are fixed before Iron Heart’s customers interact with the site.
Cloud Construct split the original Iron Heart website into three regional ecommerce stores – USA, Europe and International. Each website now has its own ecommerce website, identity and configuration. The separation allows for the localisation of shipping and payment providers, as well as providing a regionally tailored customer experience.
“The separation of sites has made selling internationally so much easier.
While it still sells the same stock as the UK, Iron Heart America is now registered in the USA and has an American merchant account. Card transaction failures and abandoned carts have significantly reduced.
We can even offer an invitation to the HQ in Gosport via a chatbox on the International website. This helps us to engage with new customers and build brand loyalty.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
The Iron Heart store is hosted on Prestashop, an ecommerce platform which provides the scalability, flexibility and features required to run a large, successful online store. It has multi-store capabilities but to maximise sales and customer experience, improvements had to be made.
Cloud Construct developed customisations for the platform which helps Iron Heart customers find their right-fit products. The customisations range from “Notify Me When in Stock” email alerts and material type filters to the ability to compare sizes across products.
“Thanks to a customised cart reservation code, customers can no longer put the same in their cart at the same time. If the customer does not purchase the product in the following 5 minutes, it becomes available for others to buy.
We don’t have to worry about double orders – or customer disappointment – any more.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
Cloud Construct built a bespoke “Retailer Portal”, a B2B website/platform based on feedback from the Iron Heart team’s requirements and processes.
The portal offers a centralised supply chain system, which makes the ordering process more efficient and less prone to human error.
“It’s not just easier for retailers but for us too. Once we’ve taken retailer orders, we can export and easily send manifests to Japan. Our wholesale orders have gone up massively as a result. The process has been streamlined effectively.
It’s also had a positive impact on our ecommerce sales. Customers often discover and buy Iron Heart at a retailer first but then buy directly from the ecommerce site when they cannot find the product they are looking for directly from their local retailer.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
Cloud Construct and Iron Heart are now moving into phase 2 of the retailer portal to further improve its functionality and efficiency.
“A forum member suggested we should incorporate cryptocurrencies and NFTs into the business. We explored the idea further and, as the Iron Heart brand is centred on limited product range and exclusivity, decided NFT technology is a good fit. It also offers PR and marketing opportunities.
Cloud Construct is helping us to bring this to life.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
NFTs are proof of purchase of a digital asset (e.g. digital artwork, image, file). They sit on a blockchain and often come with exclusive benefits. (See our Essential Guide to the Blockchain and NFTs).
Cloud Construct is now working with Iron Heart to launch a limited range of NFTs which will give the owner exclusive early access to a number of products. Other benefits will be added in the future.
Iron Heart doubled in size and revenue between 2019 to 2021. The pandemic shifted buyer behaviour towards ecommerce and, with the help of Cloud Construct, the brand was ready to capitalise on the increased demand.
The ecommerce stores are benefitting from the AWS cloud and innovations. They are more stable and secure, can handle greater volumes of traffic and are ready to scale as Iron Heart grows.
The retailer portal has transformed the business approach and relationship between Iron Heart and its retailers, which has boosted sales. More people are now exposed to the brand via the bricks and mortar stores, which also increases traffic to the ecommerce store.
Iron Heart is embracing blockchain technology through NFTs, opening the path to more exciting projects in the future.
“The Cloud Construct team is always in the background looking at ways to make the Iron Heart website better. They’re going to conferences and learning about current trends and future technologies. They want our website to be as good as it can be.
It’s a collaborative process. If we’re happy, they’re happy and we’re both going from strength to strength.”
Adam James, Iron Heart International
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