Apex Pashmina is a premium clothing export company based in Nepal, specializing in the manufacture and distribution of luxurious pashmina garments. Their primary markets are in Europe and North America, where they export finely crafted scarves, shawls, and apparel made from authentic Himalayan cashmere.

Purpose of This Case Study

This case study highlights how we helped ApexPashmina.com streamline their online presence, improve global reach, and support international trade using a modern, scalable Laravel-powered solution.

Target Audience

1. Clothing & textile exporters
2. International eCommerce brands
3. Businesses seeking custom Laravel solutions for global trade

Discovery Phase

Identifying the Need

The client approached us with a basic, outdated website that didn’t reflect the premium nature of their products. They lacked:

1. A responsive website
2. E-commerce capability
3. SEO and performance optimization
4. Multilingual and multi-currency support for international buyers

Understanding the Market

Our team conducted a detailed analysis of:

1. International fashion and textile B2B trends
2. Competitor exporters from India, China, and Turkey
3. Shipping regulations and trade requirements from Nepal to the EU/US

User Personas

We built personas for:

1. Boutique owners in Europe
2. Fashion retailers in North America
3. Wholesalers looking for sustainable sourcing

Goals and KPIs

1. Build a modern, responsive website with Laravel
2. Enable catalog browsing with request-for-quote (RFQ) instead of direct checkout
3. Support multilingual (English/French) and multi-currency display
4. Rank top 5 in Nepal’s textile exporter category on Google

Planning and Strategy

MVP Definition

As it was a B2B product, we avoided a traditional shopping cart and instead:

1. Focused on product discovery
2. Enabled sample ordering & bulk RFQ flow

Technology Stack

1. Frontend: Bootstrap 5 with custom UI
2. Backend: Laravel 10
3. Database: MySQL
4. Hosting: AWS (EC2 + S3 for images)

Milestones

1. Wireframes: 1 week
2. Development: 3 weeks
3. SEO/Optimization: 1 week
4. QA and Deployment: 1 week

Wireframing & Prototyping

Figma was used to share the initial look and feel. Each product page was designed to feel premium and “tactile” — like browsing a fashion catalog.

Design Process

UI/UX Considerations

1. Elegance in typography and spacing
2. Large, high-resolution images to showcase textures
3. Request quote CTA on all product pages
4. Performance-optimized for users in EU and US

Tools Used

1. Figma for design
2. TinyPNG and WebP conversion for fast-loading images
3. Google Fonts + custom typography pairing

Iterative Design

Multiple feedback rounds with the Nepal team helped us fine-tune how best to present traditional products to a global audience.

Development Process

Backend Development (Laravel)

1. Multi-language support using Laravel Localization
2. Country-based currency display
3. Admin panel for product, category, testimonial, and order management

Frontend Development

1. Bootstrap 5-based responsive layout
2. Lazy-loaded product galleries
3. Custom quote form per product

API Integrations

1. Email quote notification via SendGrid
2. Export order handling (for internal record)
3. WhatsApp for B2B customer chat

Deployment Flow

1. Git-managed staging and production branches
2. Cron jobs for cache and image optimization

Challenges and Solutions

Legacy Content Transfer

Their older system used static HTML. We built a crawler to extract old product data and converted it to structured JSON for import into Laravel.

Image Optimization

High-res pashmina images slowed down mobile loading. We built an image queue that auto-converted and cached images as WebP for performance.

Multilingual SEO

We implemented Laravel route localization and custom hreflang tags to ensure proper indexing in English and French for European markets.

Testing and Quality Assurance

Manual & Automated Testing

1. Responsive checks on 15+ screen sizes
2. SEO audits with Screaming Frog
3. PageSpeed Insight score >90 across all pages

Bug Tracking

All issues tracked in GitHub with priority flags for user-facing bugs

UAT

We hosted a UAT version on subdomain and tested with 3 Apex Pashmina staff and 2 international buyers before production launch.

Deployment and Launch

Hosting Setup

1. AWS EC2 for app hosting
2. S3 for product images
3. Cloudflare for global CDN and DNS

Launch Plan

1. Announced via client’s B2B mailing list
2. Soft launch with 50+ international clients to gather early feedback
3. Press release on Nepal-based export forums

Post-Launch Insights

Buyer Engagement

The quote request system led to 38% more inquiries in the first 60 days post-launch.

Organic Traffic

SEO improvements led to a 70% increase in organic traffic, especially from France, Germany, and the US.

Mobile Usage

Almost 65% of users accessed the site via mobile — confirming our design decisions.

Key Takeaways

Lessons Learned

1. B2B platforms need communication-first, not checkout-first UX
2. Even traditional exporters benefit greatly from SEO optimization and performance tuning

What We’d Do Differently

1. Add a proper product variant system from the beginning (size, color, etc.)
2. Include a built-in live chat instead of redirecting to WhatsApp

Advice for Others

If you’re an exporter with traditional products, investing in a fast, responsive, and well-optimized digital presence is the key to reaching international markets.

Conclusion

The Apex Pashmina project is a perfect example of how traditional craftsmanship and modern technology can come together to build global success. With Laravel at the core, we delivered a platform that doesn’t just look good — it performs, scales, and sells.

Today, ApexPashmina.com continues to grow in visibility, inquiries, and orders from around the world.

If you want to create such a website for yourself do contact CodeHunger !!