eCommerce Website Design
Selling Tea Online with NakedTeasGalore.com
Disclaimer: The thoughts expressed in this case study are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the client and their business.
The Challenge
Naked Teas Galore is an organic tea company in Langley BC. Their products sell in retail stores across Canada. But they wanted a custom eCommerce web design so customers could shop, and buy the teas online.
They wanted a site that could accept payments, and manage orders. But in a way that conformed with their daily business routine. NTG had tried eCommerce once before. But they were already outgrowing it. They were hoping they could get a website design that would grow with their business for a few years to come.
The Goals
Before creating a solution, the business owners and I took time to define some clear goals for the site. Here’s what they needed me to do:
- Design and develop a secure eCommerce store to accept customer orders and payments.
- Create a product catalog with descriptions and images for every product.
- Produce promo articles and videos to help promote the products.
- Create a custom Facebook business page to help build a community around the brand.
And of course, the site would be mobile-responsive, and scalable as business grows.
Choosing The Best eCommerce Platfom
As you know, building a great online store requires special eCommerce software features. And there are many eCommerce software platforms out there. Each one lets you show and sell products. But as you get into the details, you discover there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. So finding the one that works best for you takes in-depth consideration.
I guided NTG through the pros and cons of three potential eCommerce solutions. We looked at each one in light of NTG’s goals, budget, and day-to-day sales operations. In the end we chose Shopify.
- Shopify is a hosted eCommerce platform. That meant less maintenance for NTG.
- It uses 128-bit SSL data encryption. That met our goal for secure transactions, right out of the box.
- It allowed custom theme development. Necessary for me to design the custom branded online store.
- Shopify also satisfied our goals for shipping, coupons, and payment options.
The final eCommerce Website Design.
Creating The Product Catalog
A critical part of eCommerce website design is making your products look amazing! I created a 140+ page online catalog to showcase all NTG’s tea products. Each search optimized page has it’s own images, descriptions, list of ingredients, and preparation tips.
I also created many SKUs and entering the selling prices for every single tea product. Following the site launch I taught the team at NTG to create products and edit pricing on their own.
88 of the pages of content I created for NakedTeasGalore.com
Promotional Content
After the website launch, I created content for NTGs Content Marketing campaign.
I hired an independent tea writer to author original articles, and I assumed the role of Editor. We produced a dozen search optimized articles. Each article explains the origin and use of various types of tea. Including how to prepare the related NTG blends.
I also created four promo videos that appear on the site, and on social media sites. Because of my production experience, I was able to do these for NTG. That kept the cost down, and made the process very efficient.
This original and useful content works as a powerful marketing tool. We chose evergreen topics. So the content will help search engines, and customers discover NTG for years to come.
One of Four Informative Promotional Videos I Created for NTG
The Result
I created this eCommerce website on schedule and in budget. It’s a secure online store pre-populated with a branded product catalog. The site works across desktop and mobile devices. And it’s easy for the owners to update and maintain on a daily basis.
From our first phone call to final launch the store took three months to create.
On launch day, the store was 100% ready to take orders.
