The fashion business might start very simply: a good product, an Instagram account, and messages from customers asking about the price, size, and color. The problem begins when this method succeeds; every new order means another conversation, more data to collect, and a size, color, and address to verify. As orders increase, the very approach that helped you start might become the thing that makes growth more difficult.

This is roughly what happened with (Al-Alia), the abaya brand founded by Amira Al-Faraj in 2018. It started by receiving orders manually via WhatsApp and Instagram, and each conversation took at least two minutes to collect product details, size, color, shipping, and delivery. As orders increased, this method became more difficult, so (Al-Alia) moved to an integrated online store that organizes the buying journey.

Today, you can explore Al-Alia Store and see the experience as the customer lives it.

But what is remarkable about (Al-Alia's) experience is not just the move to the online store, but what it did after that. From organizing orders to recovering hesitant customers, developing the store interface, and providing different payment and offer options; there is a set of decisions that any fashion store can learn from.

1. Do not make the conversation your order management system

WhatsApp and Instagram are important channels for communicating with customers, but there is a difference between using a conversation to answer a question and using it to manage the entire purchase process. In the early days of (Al-Alia), Amira was manually gathering product, size, color, shipping, and delivery details from each customer, and as orders grew, this became a burden for her and the team.

The transition to the store moved these details from conversations to an organized purchasing process, and the management of orders, invoices, shipping, and product data began to take place from one single place. The idea here is not to stop using social networks, but to give each channel the role it excels at.

If you sell through social networks, do not measure the success of the method only by the number of orders you can receive today, but also ask: What would happen if the number doubled? Keep the conversation to help the customer and answer their questions, and make selecting the product, size, and color, entering data, payment, and shipping part of a clear journey that the customer can complete on their own.

Apply it in your store: Learn how to manage orders from receipt to delivery to the customer.

2. In abayas, hesitation does not always mean the customer has changed their mind

Choosing a fashion piece is not an automated decision. A customer might like the abaya, select it, reach the cart, and then stop; maybe they need time, want to compare, or simply got busy before completing the order. (Al-Alia) treated this stage as an opportunity to win back the customer, using abandoned cart targeting to reconnect with customers who did not complete their purchase.

A customer who added a product to their cart has shown a much higher level of interest than just visiting the store. Therefore, before you always spend to reach a new customer, it is useful to look at customers who have already reached an advanced stage of the buying journey and did not complete it.

And do not always start with a reminder. Start by asking: Why does the customer stop here? Do they need clearer information about the size? Does the shipping cost appear too late? Do they need time to make a decision, or do they simply need a reminder?

Apply it in your store: Learn how to manage abandoned carts and recover orders in the Salla Help Center.

3. Do not make discounts the only offer you know

"Al-Alia" used offers and bundles among the tools that supported the store's growth, which is a point worth noting, especially in fashion; because an offer does not always have to mean reducing the price of the piece itself. You can combine complementary products, design an offer tied to an occasion, or increase the order value by adding another product that makes sense to the customer.

Before launching a new discount, ask: Can I make the offer more valuable instead of just making the product cheaper? Start with products that customers buy together, occasions when buying behavior changes, and products that complement each other. Sometimes the way products are bundled is as much a part of the offer's appeal as the price itself.

Apply it in your store: Learn how to create and manage special offers in your store.

4. Ease of payment is part of the abaya buying experience

"Al-Alia" enabled payment options like Tabby and Tamara within the store's buying journey. The importance of this step is not in adding as many payment methods as possible, but in reducing barriers for the customer when they reach the moment they decide to buy, and the flexibility in payment may increase in importance when the cart value rises or the customer buys more than one piece.

Therefore, review the payment stage from the customer's perspective, not from the store settings perspective. Do they clearly know the options available to them? Do they find a payment method that suits them? And do any costs or details they did not expect appear in the last step?

Apply it in your store: Learn how to activate and manage the right payment methods for your customers.

5. An abaya store interface is not a project you finish once and for all

One of the striking details in (Al-Alia's) experience is that they purchased three templates to continuously improve the store. The number itself is not what is important as much as the idea behind it: the store was not treated as an interface built once and then left as is.

This is particularly important in fashion; the product is visual, collections and seasons change, and what the customer needs to see today may differ after several months. Therefore, instead of just asking: (Is my store design beautiful?), add a more important question: Does it help the customer shop?

Monitor the clarity of categories, how products appear, the ease of access to important collections, and what the customer sees first on mobile, then improve the experience based on what you discover. Beauty is important for a fashion store, but good design does not just make the product look good; it makes accessing, choosing, and buying it easier.

Apply it in your store: Learn about options for customizing theme design and improving the shopping experience.

What brought these decisions together?

When looking at (Al-Alia's) entire experience, we do not find a single action that created growth. The problem started with manual operations, then the order journey became more organized, and after that, other needs emerged: recovering a hesitant customer, offering better deals, easing payment, and improving the store's look and experience.

And this is perhaps the most important idea to take from the experience

Store growth does not always come from attracting more visitors, but from improving what happens to the customer who has already reached you.

If you run an abaya store, look at your customer's journey today stage by stage: Where do they come from? What do they need in order to choose? Where might they hesitate? What happens if they do not complete their order? And what might make them come back again?

You may not need to change the whole store; you may only need to know where the next step worthy of improvement is.

See the experience for yourself: Browse Al-Alia Abayas Store, and observe how categories, products, and payment options appear during the shopping journey.

Source: ⁠Al-Alia Abayas Success Story – Salla