An e-commerce Island Web Design website for Bees Little Shop
About the company
Bees Little Shop is the quintessential example of a home run, cottage industry type of business.
Born from necessity, the product was designed, manufactured and perfected by the owner, Sylvia, to solve a particluar challenge with her Everhot cooker range and it proved so popular, she has created a business out of it that started in 2017 and is still going strong.
Bees Little Shop makes magnetic Everhot lid covers using a range of quality materials. Customers can choose the design of the fabric and every set of covers is hand made to order. Matching pot grabs and roller towels can also be ordered.
About the project
One of the joys of designing websites is the unexpected projects that drop into your lap from time to time. Websites for products or services you have never heard of and then learning about them as part of the design process.
Bees Little Shop is the perfect example of this.
I asked everyone in the office, and even in my circle of friends (which is small, admittedly), and while we were all aware of such things as Agas (we even have one at home; a gas powered range with cooking plates and ovens that is permanently on and hot), none of us had ever heard of the electric equivalent, with Everhot being the leading brand.
Everhot lid covers are nothing new to protect the delicate stainless steel surface of the lids, and various companies make them. But all are secured to the lid using a strap of some sort. Sylvia, from Bees Little Shop, had the bright idea to use rare earth magnets to keep the covers in stock and she sews pockets for the magnets in each corner. So the covers aways stay in place when you lift the lids to start cooking.
Sylvia started selling on Etsy in 2017 and has sold thousands of set of lid covers, building up a loyal customer base, helped by her great service, the quality of her covers and attention to detail.
Sylvia contacted Island Web Design after several weeks of problems with Etsy, after they decided to shut her online shop without giving any reason or recourse. Support proved to be difficult to get and soon she was getting to the point where it was damaging sales and her reputation.
While the issue was eventually resolved (after many, many weeks) Sylvia decided she no longer wanted to be 'held to ransom' like that and chose to have her own online shop.
It is always a bit daunting to start down this journey especially if IT and computers are not your first love. Platforms like Etsy are ideal for people who want to have an online shop without needing to learn all that comes with doing so.
But I had an insight into the costs that Etsy charges once a shop reaches the level of sales Bees Little Shop was doing, and it is absolutely eye-watering!
And yes, I get the benefits that are brought by being part of this platform and I would never suggest you should close a successful Etsy shop and start a brand new e-commerce website overnight. But you do need to start setting up your own branding, your own online identity and get traction with the search engines for your domain and your product.
If, like Bees Little Shop, you have a loyal customer base, you need to start moving them across to your own online shop and take advantage of all a great E-commerce platform has to offer such as loyalty dicounts, anniversary notifications, marketing opportunities (the shop connects seamlessly to MailCimp), seasonal sales, better rates etc.
So, at Island web Design, we learnt all there is know about magnetic Everhot lid covers and, together with Sylvia and her husband, we refreshed the logo, colours and fonts, created a website, set up an online shop, added a small range of products and carried out the training necessary for the the client to populate the shop with the rest of their products.
We also set up the payment processor for them, created their MailChimp account and intergrated that into the shop.
And while Sylvia decided to go for our 'Set & Forget' package, which means she would not be relying on us for our all-inclusive services for updates, edits and support, we remained on call for several months, free of charge, to help with the transition, provide support and answer any and all questions.
If you are looking for an Isle of Wight web designer to provide you with an E-commerce solution for your products or services, give me a call or send me a message. I can promise a no-pressure, no-hard-sales conversation. EAnd even if computers aren't your 'thing' you will find that with Island Web Design in your corner, it will be a breeze!
Koo Janzen
Island Web Design
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