Sweet treats: a website tailor-made for women and children

Charleston, South Carolina is regularly named among the top US destinations, most recently winning accolades from Travel + Leisure magazine, the New York Times, and TripAdvisor... and Cupcake, a mouth-watering specialty bakery located on downtown Charleston's premier shopping boulevard, is increasingly on the list of sights to see. Cupcake, which also has locations in Mount Pleasant, SC and downtown Columbia, SC, has itself been featured by the likes of Budget Travel, USA Today, the Ellen Show, MTV, Southern Living, Time Out New York, and a slew of local publications.

For the redesign of the Cupcake website, founder and owner Kristin Kuhlke was clear on what she wanted: a website highlighting the bakery's scrumptious wares and a nostalgic feel. She also ordered up a page focusing on her firm's "Yesterday's Cupcake" program, which gives back to the Charleston community through food donations to non-profits.

We satisfied the first requirement with large photos of cupcakes on each page, plus a "flavors" page with thumbnails of each cupcake flavor. For extra delight, visitors can click on any thumbnail to view a large, mouth-watering version accompanied by a description of the key ingredients used... a feature popular with women customers. (Kristin updates the bakery's online list of flavors each season, with new recipes making appearances each spring, summer, autumn, and winter.)

The result? Soon after we launched the redesigned website, Kristin reported receiving fantastic feedback from customer and others, including calls from people looking through the website to decide what to order. She has since used the website to feature seasonal specials and announce upcoming store openings, and her new online store has resulted in sales of Cupcake-themed apparel and other items, including her famous Cupcake gift tokens, which make wonderful client gifts—we can't deny we've been repeat customers!