Building Loyalty at Scale: Home Essentials’ Journey from Quick Browses to Deeper Customer Relationships

About

Home Essentials is a fast-growing DTC brand delivering practical, stylish, and affordable homeware, kitchen products, and lifestyle solutions to modern households. Built on a reputation for variety and value, the brand has become a trusted choice for families seeking everyday solutions that fit seamlessly into their lives.

But in a category where choice is vast and competition is fierce, customer attention is fleeting. Shoppers often browse quickly, compare prices, and exit just as fast. For Home Essentials, it became increasingly clear that their digital channels, especially the website, weren’t holding customer attention long enough to spark loyalty or repeat purchases.

At the same time, consumer behavior had shifted. Customers were spending more time on their phones, demanding richer, smoother, and more engaging mobile-first shopping experiences. For a brand built on frequent, discovery-led purchases, this was both a challenge and an opportunity.

Home Essentials realized that to maintain growth, they needed to transform their mobile presence into more than just a sales channel. It had to become the hub for customer engagement, discovery, and repeat purchases.

The Challenge

Despite a strong brand presence and product range, Home Essentials faced some critical roadblocks that limited their growth:

1. Web Engagement Was Minimal
   The average customer spent just 39 seconds per session on the website. That left little room for exploration, discovery, or upselling. With such limited engagement, customers weren’t forming strong enough connections with the brand to drive repeat purchases.
   
   
2. Conversions Lagged
   While traffic was healthy, conversion rates on web capped at 1.95%. Without a stronger shopping experience, Home Essentials struggled to translate browsing into meaningful sales at scale.
   
   
3. Low Retention
   Day 30 retention for web customers was only 0.3%, a sign that customers weren’t returning after their first interaction. For a lifestyle brand with frequent-use products, this represented lost lifetime value and missed opportunities to build loyalty.
   
   
4. Untapped Mobile Opportunity
   The brand had yet to harness mobile as a serious growth lever. With more shoppers preferring apps for repeat purchases, Home Essentials lacked the infrastructure to create stickiness and personalisation at scale.
   
   

The brand needed a smarter mobile solution that could deliver longer engagement, higher conversions, and lasting retention.

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The Solution

Partnering with Appbrew, Home Essentials transformed its mobile app into a high-engagement, conversion-driving engine. Instead of just replicating the website, the app was built with features and journeys designed for retention and higher order value.

1. Interactive Video Commerce

Appbrew enabled Home Essentials to bring products to life through video commerce. The dedicated Watch & Shop section allowed customers to view product demonstrations, tutorials, and lifestyle content while shopping seamlessly within the same experience. This interactive approach built confidence, made discovery engaging, and shortened the path to purchase.

2. Curated Shopping Journeys with Category Showcases

The app introduced a clean, category-first navigation that simplified discovery. Dedicated rows for cookware, kids’ essentials, storage, and other home categories provided users with structured pathways, while dynamic banners highlighted trending and seasonal collections. This helped users move effortlessly from browsing to buying while keeping them engaged longer.

3. Deals, Urgency & Repeat Visits

Appbrew’s merchandising flexibility allowed Home Essentials to promote flash deals, daily offers, and curated collections prominently within the app. By combining urgency-driven promotions with easy navigation, the app encouraged users to check back frequently, directly driving repeat engagement and retention.

4. Engagement-Driven Design

Every element of the app was designed to maximise interaction. From homepage banners to dynamic category carousels and personalised recommendations, the experience kept users exploring more deeply. The result was a shopping environment that not only increased transactions but also strengthened brand connection.

The Results

The impact of Appbrew’s solution was immediate and measurable:

• 36% Increase in Order Value
  AOV uplift of 36% in app vs web proved that more engaging experiences directly drive bigger baskets.
  
  
• Stronger Conversion Rates
  App conversion rate climbed to 2.6%, outpacing web’s 1.95%. Frictionless flows and engaging layouts translated directly into more completed purchases.
  
  
• Engagement That Drives Loyalty
  With nearly 15x more time spent in-app versus web, customers discovered more products, built stronger brand connections, and were more likely to return.
  
  
• Retention Breakthrough
  Day 30 retention reached 4.2% on app, compared to just 0.3% on web. This shift proved the app wasn’t only driving new customer sign-ups, but also fostering long-term loyalty.

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Why Home Essentials Chose Appbrew

Home Essentials didn’t just want another app— they wanted a partner who could transform mobile into a growth engine. Appbrew delivered exactly that:

• A seamless, intuitive app experience 
• Engagement-led design that turned sessions into sales.
• Retention-driven features like push campaigns and personalised flows.
• Analytics and insights that empowered the brand to optimise with precision.
• A success team committed to aligning the app with real business outcomes.
  
  

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Home Essentials’ story highlights the power of a well-built app to transform a brand’s growth trajectory.

With Appbrew, the brand achieved higher order values, stronger conversions, longer engagement, and industry-leading retention, all within the first 30 days.

Appbrew didn’t just build an app for Home Essentials. It turned mobile into the brand’s core channel for engagement, loyalty, and revenue growth.

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