An online store has been high on the agenda for a while now, especially since Cher joined the business in early 2021. After a bit of careful planning, 2021 and 2022 involved consolidating the Elmari brand and building our new foundation for the future, including relocating our original Elmari Mooloolaba store and opening our new addition to the family, Elmari Coolum, to establish our presence north of the Maroochy River.
In response to the ever increasing and overwhelming requests from our lovely customers further afield, 2023 was marked as our time to invest in Elmari online…a continuation of the special Elmari experience to those who are unable to visit our stores and have fun with us in-person!
With 20 years in bricks-and-mortar, and a growing social media presence, we were up for the challenge.
It has been quite the journey between integrating our systems (especially when one thinks the solution to any IT issues is simply, “turn it off and then just back on again”) and getting our warehouse ready for this new “store”. We also had to accept shifting the deadline out by a month to get it done right rather than just on time.
The absolute most fun part of the journey has been the photoshoot for the website! This spanned over 2 days and across 7 locations, to truly capture the essence of what we’re about and the wonderful communities that we’re part of and serve. These were 2 really big days with make-up starting as early as 5:15am, lots of coffee, multiple outfit changes, bubbles…have me mentioned lots of coffee and bubbles yet? This could not have been possible without our beautiful models. These everyday women from our community jumped out of their comfort zones and brought so much pizazz and flare to the shoot…and endless laughter! So much so, that on day 2 of the shoot, our wonderful photographer had to ask us to be a tiny bit less “natural” so we can get the right angles in our shots 😊 New friends were made during the shoot and we hope to show you more of these gorgeous women going forward in other exciting locations.
A big part of the Go-Live has been selecting our collection…we’re known for our extensive range of beautiful designs, so getting the full range online is by far the biggest challenge…as such, we have gone live with our absolute best sellers and will continue to add to the range weekly…WATCH THIS SPACE!
In addition to adding to our online range, we will also continue to build on the functionality and usability of the website, so please bear with us as we continue to develop and build this latest addition to the Elmari family!
2 comments
Always love popping into your Mooloolaba & Cotton Tree boutiques when I’m down that way from Townsville. This new online store will mean I can shop with you between visits. Yay !!
Congratulations, Elmari Boutique!!! Absolutely just love your website and I’m super excited to be able to preview your gorgeous range at any time, shop to my heart’s content and have it all delivered at a click. Keep going from strength to strength!