Haand was started in 2012 by two high school friends who had a common love for pottery. Chris Pence and Mark Warren are passionate pottery artists who produce contemporary tableware and products for homes, restaurants, and hotels.
Haand has made its presence in the B2B space with a thriving business in the hotels and restaurants category. Top Chefs require perfect plates for their perfect dishes and Haand has contributed to creating a unique and memorable experience for diners. Haand tableware can be found across the country from Seattle to Charleston. Haand is now looking to replicate its B2B success in the retail space by accelerating its reach.
NCGrowth’s biggest goal has been to enhance the reach and discoverability of Haand products within the already flourishing market size of tableware. The focus areas of the project have been:

• Enhance Discoverability on Search Engines: We began the project with understanding how Haand ranks on search engines such as Google since it is one of the biggest sources of referrals for Haand. We saw potential and gaps with the frameworks of the existing website that can help Haand enhance its retail performance manifold.
• UI/UX Implementation: Traffic is shifting to the mobile and the number of transactions continues to increase. With that in mind, we compared Haand’s mobile website to its desktop website and then to the industry, and we identified areas to improve and thus increase the probability for each of its users to complete transactions.
• Marketing Strategy: We are working on a digital marketing strategy that would allow Haand to enhance its organic presence on the web, Facebook and Instagram. We will also propose advertising campaign ideas that can help accelerate the retail business.

Competitive Benchmarking: We have taken a deep dive to understand the initiatives the industry has been taking to seize the market. We will be conducting a market research program to understand the target audience values. It will help us inform Haand about required product innovation, means of communication and pricing.
Shashwat Mittal, Khalid Syed and Ishaan Malhotra are NCGrowth Analysts and MBA candidates at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

[caption id="attachment_5505" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Haand[/caption]

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