Sake Company: complete Shopify e-commerce restyling

The Client

Sake Company is the leading reference point in Italy for quality Japanese sake. Founded in 2015 in Milan by Lorenzo Ferraboschi, an international Sake Educator certified by the Sake Sommelier Association, the company was established with a clear and ambitious mission: to bring the best of Japanese sake into the homes and hearts of Italians.

The brand operates as a true cultural bridge between Italy and Japan, combining a passion for Japanese fermented beverages with a modern entrepreneurial approach. Sake Company does not limit itself to sales: it offers a complete ecosystem that includes a curated catalog of sake and Japanese spirits, an educational blog rich in content about sake culture, the Sake Company Club, a monthly subscription to receive exclusive bottles not available on the Italian market, and an expanding network of Sake Company Points, certified physical sales points across the national territory.

Online store: sakecompany.com

The Challenge

Sake Company had a functional Shopify e-commerce but with significant structural criticalities, identified through an in-depth audit conducted by Hoculus. The store required a complete restyling intervention to align the shopping experience with the brand's quality and the expectations of an increasingly demanding audience in the premium food & beverage sector.

Identified Criticalities

• Unoptimized theme: the theme in use did not fully leverage the potential of Shopify's Online Store 2.0, limiting customization possibilities and flexibility in content management.
• Poorly structured navigation: the navigation menu and footer did not reflect the complexity of the brand's offering, making it difficult to access different areas of the store (sake, spirits, club, points of sale, business area, blog).
• Inadequate product pages: product descriptions were not effectively structured. Key information for choosing sake, such as production region, Sake Meter Value, Seimai Buai (rice polishing ratio), alcohol content, and serving temperature, was embedded in generic texts and not easily consultable.
• Inconsistent visual identity: the icons and graphic elements of the store did not follow a uniform visual language, with mixed styles that weakened the brand's perception of professionalism.
• Missing or incomplete pages: absence of essential pages such as "About Us" and "Contact Us," as well as a dedicated Business Area page for the Ho.Re.Ca. channel.
• Fragmented compliance and tracking: the management of privacy policies (Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms and Conditions) and the tracking system were not compliant with required standards, with issues in Iubenda integration.
• Trust elements with low visibility: security badges (shipping, payments, assistance) were not strategically positioned, reducing their impact on user trust.
• Missing collections: strategic collections such as Best Sellers, New Arrivals, and Offers, crucial for guiding product discovery and stimulating conversion, were absent.

Objectives

1. Perform a complete restyling of the store based on audit recommendations, selecting and configuring a suitable new Shopify theme.
2. Restructure product pages with structured data based on metafields, to offer clear and immediate technical information on each sake.
3. Redesign the navigation (header and footer menu) to reflect the brand's entire offering and improve content discovery.
4. Create a custom icon system consistent with the brand's visual identity.
5. Develop the missing pages (About Us, Contact Us, Business Area, Sake Company Point with geolocation).
6. Implement a complete GDPR compliance system with Iubenda (Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms and Conditions) and correct tracking.
7. Create strategic collections (Best Sellers, New Arrivals, Offers) to improve catalog navigability.
8. Optimize trust elements and the homepage structure to maximize conversion.

The Hoculus Solution

The project was approached as a structural restyling of the entire e-commerce, starting from the initial audit and proceeding with progressive interventions that redesigned every aspect of the store: from the theme to data structure, from navigation to legal compliance.

1. Audit and Theme Selection

The work began with an in-depth analysis of the e-commerce's current state, conducting a comprehensive audit that identified critical areas and improvement opportunities.

Based on the criticalities identified, a thorough search for available Shopify themes was conducted, evaluating each candidate based on:

• Compatibility with the specific needs of a premium food & beverage e-commerce.
• Native support for Online Store 2.0 functionalities (dynamic sections, metafields, app blocks).
• Flexibility in layout and content customization.
• Loading performance and mobile optimization.

The search led to the selection of the most suitable theme for the brand's specificities, balancing aesthetics, functionality, and future evolution possibilities.

2. Complete Theme Setup

The most substantial intervention of the project involved the full configuration of the new theme, including the graphic structure of all store pages. This included:

• Homepage: complete redesign with a dedicated hero section, featured product sections, sake-food pairing section with custom icons, Instagram feed integration, area dedicated to most popular products, informative section on sake, presentation of the Sake Company Club and Sake Company Points, blog section, and newsletter.
• Collection pages: configuration of the layout for all product collection pages with optimized templates.
• Product page: complete restructuring of the layout to highlight specific technical information for each sake.
• Informative pages: setup of all static pages (Discover Sake, Types of Sake, How to Pair It, Glossary, and others).
• Blog: creation of dedicated blog templates for each section of the Sake Company Blog, ensuring visual consistency in editorial content.
• Modification of default theme content: review and adjustment of all texts in the global theme settings to ensure linguistic and brand consistency.

3. Structured Data in Product Pages

For a Japanese sake catalog, the quality and structure of product information are crucial for the shopping experience. Each sake has specific technical characteristics that consumers, from novices to connoisseurs, must be able to consult clearly and immediately.

The product descriptions were divided into dedicated metafields, with the creation and population of the following fields for the entire catalog:

• Short description: summary of the sake's main characteristics.
• Region: Japanese prefecture of origin (with dropdown selection).
• Sake Meter Value (SMV): indicator of sweetness/dryness, with graphic representation via symbol and numerical value with explanatory caption.
• Seimai Buai: rice polishing percentage, with graphic representation via symbol and numerical value with caption.
• Alcohol content: numerical value and complete descriptive text.
• Serving temperature: textual indication of recommended temperature.
• Long description: detailed product insight.

This data structuring work transformed product pages from simple descriptive pages into true technical data sheets for sake, aligning the online experience with the expertise that distinguishes Sake Company.

4. Navigation Menu and Footer

Navigation was completely rethought with the study and creation of a new menu for the header and a new menu for the footer, designed to reflect Sake Company's entire offering architecture:

• Direct access to main categories (Sake, Spirits).
• Links to educational sections (Discover Sake, Types of Sake, How to Pair It, Glossary).
• Visibility for brand initiatives (Sake Company Club, Sake Company Point).
• Dedicated section for the Business Area for the professional channel.
• Links to service pages (Contacts, Shipping, FAQ).

5. Visual Identity: Custom Icons

To ensure visual consistency across the entire store, work was done on researching, selecting, and modifying the icons used in various sections of the site.

The new icons were designed following precise criteria:

• Single graphic element: each icon represents a clear and unique concept.
• Polychromatic: uniform palette to ensure visual harmony with the theme's design.

The icons were particularly applied to the homepage section dedicated to sake-food pairings (sushi, fish, meat, cheeses, fried foods, spicy foods, chocolate, desserts), with an intervention to optimize white space to improve the visual impact of the section.

6. Creation of Strategic Collections

To improve catalog navigability and guide users in product discovery, three new collections were created:

• Best Sellers: the most sold and appreciated sakes by customers.
• New Arrivals: the latest items added to the catalog.
• Offers: selection of products on promotion.

These collections, combined with existing collections by prefecture (such as "Sakes from Miyagi") and by pairing, completed the store's commercial architecture.

7. Missing Pages and Content

Several fundamental pages for user experience and brand positioning were created from scratch:

Sake Company Point Page

Creation of the page dedicated to the network of certified physical points of sale, with the inclusion of information for each point of sale:

• Venue name.
• Full address.
• Opening hours.
• Phone number.
• Geolocation coordinates (longitude/latitude) for integration with Google Maps.

Business Area Page

Creation of the page dedicated to the Ho.Re.Ca. channel (Hotel, Restaurants, Catering), with a specific template to present Sake Company's business offering to industry professionals and allow for catalog requests and commercial information.

About Us and Contact Us Pages

Development of the missing institutional pages, to tell Sake Company's story and mission and provide all contact channels organized by area (commercial, support, billing).

Template Renaming and Alignment

Technical intervention to rename page templates via code, to ensure that model names were aligned with the old store's structure and facilitate future management. This also included recovering missing pages and correctly assigning templates to each page.

8. GDPR Compliance and Tracking

Iubenda Policies

Creation of three dedicated pages for mandatory legal policies:

• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Terms and Conditions

Each page was configured with the code provided by Iubenda, with automatic localization based on the visitor's language. The pages were included in the footer menu to ensure accessibility and regulatory compliance.

Tracking Fix

Intervention to correct tracking on both brand domains: sakecompany.com (e-commerce) and the Sake Sommelier Association website, to ensure proper collection of navigation data and integration with analytics tools.

9. Optimization of Trust Elements and UI

A series of targeted interventions to strengthen the store's perception of security and professionalism:

• Repositioning of security badges: trust badges (secure shipping, secure payments, guaranteed assistance) were moved from the footer to a more strategic and visible position, to maximize their impact on user trust during navigation.
• Currency management: store configuration to exclusively display the Euro (€) currency, eliminating irrelevant options for the Italian market.

10. Review and Quality Assurance

The entire project was accompanied by a structured review and quality assurance process:

• Markup review: checking and correcting all theme markup elements, with interventions on both code and content, based on iterative feedback and detailed comments.
• CSS bug fixes: resolution of style and rendering issues identified during cross-browser and cross-device testing.
• Summary and final validation: documentation of key restyling activities with verification of the completeness of all interventions planned by the audit.

Results

The restyling project transformed Sake Company's e-commerce into a platform that fully reflects the brand's expertise and passion for Japanese sake:

• Consistent brand experience: the new theme, custom icons, and uniform visual structure immediately communicate Sake Company's quality and authority, in line with the brand's premium positioning.

• Professional product pages: the structuring of data into dedicated metafields, including Sake Meter Value, Seimai Buai, region, alcohol content, and serving temperature, transformed each product page into a comprehensive technical data sheet, offering users all the necessary information for an informed choice.

• Intuitive and complete navigation: the new navigation menu allows direct access to every area of the store, from the catalog to educational sections, from the Sake Company Club to physical points of sale, significantly improving content discovery.

• Operational strategic collections: the new Best Sellers, New Arrivals, and Offers collections guide users in discovering the catalog with differentiated paths based on interest.

• Active business channel: the Business Area page dedicated to the Ho.Re.Ca. channel opens a new touchpoint with industry professionals, expanding the brand's commercial opportunities.

• Enhanced retail network: the Sake Company Point page with geolocation makes the network of physical points of sale immediately accessible, strengthening the brand's omnichannel strategy.

• Complete GDPR compliance: localized Iubenda policies, correct tracking, and compliant consent management ensure full adherence to privacy regulations.

• Strengthened trust: the strategic repositioning of security badges and attention to every detail of the interface contribute to a shopping experience that conveys reliability and professionalism.

Technologies and Tools

Conclusions

With the "Sake Company Restyling" project, Hoculus guided Sake Company through a complete transformation of its e-commerce, moving from a store with structural criticalities to a modern, consistent, and conversion-oriented platform.

The work encompassed every dimension of e-commerce: from theme selection to product data restructuring, from creating a custom icon system to GDPR compliance, from navigation redesign to the development of strategic pages for the business channel and retail network.

The result is a store that speaks the language of sake: expertise, attention to detail, and respect for tradition, translated into a digital experience that enhances every bottle and guides the customer, whether a curious novice or an experienced sommelier, on an authentic journey into the culture of the world's most beloved Japanese fermented beverage.