Type of Project
New Website, eCommerce store
Start Date
January 2021
Client
Jessica, of Jessi Bee’s Artisan Soap
Initial Needs
Jessica was looking for an online storefront to sell her beautiful soaps and other natural body care products. She started a Shopify site at first, but soon decided it wasn’t a good fit. She and her husband Ed wanted someone local. I went into it knowing I would have a lot to learn because I had never set up a WordPress site for eCommerce, but they were excited to work with me.
After some research I settled on WooCommerce. I had played with it in the past, but never sorted through all the features to understand how they connected. Jessica and Ed use Square for their payment processor which WooCommerce has an integration for.
Figuring out how to charge for shipping was another challenge. There’s a risk when selling online that an order will be costly to fill because of logistical issues. So the first thing we did was turn off shipping outside of the USA. After that we did some math and came up with a reasonable equation that would charge per ounce, but max out at a certain dollar amount. After a few months with that Jessica realized that she could do better by offering free shipping when a customer purchases a certain amount of products. It was a process. We tried an idea, learned from it, then implemented a better option.
I tell all my clients what I told Jessica: If something isn’t working, it’s ok to change it!
Design Details
Honestly, I feel like the product photography is the most outstanding part of this website. And I had nothing to do with it. 🙂 I only oohed and aahed at every new batch of photos I uploaded. But I guess that’s how it should be for an online store! The soaps are colorful and rich. You can almost smell them.
One detail I love is the footer background image. A photo of the entry for “honeybee” out of an antique dictionary. The site uses a typewriter style font for headings and a serif for the body text, keeping that printed feel.
Jessica makes three main categories of bar soaps: Fragrance, Essential oil, and unscented. I added a little visual tag that lists the soaps category on the shop page.
Future Plans
Adding Smell-i-vision.
Just kidding. Although, I’m sure it would be great for sales.
Brick and Mortar adjustments.
In April 2022 Jessica and Ed opened up a storefront called Beaumont Trading Post. (Which I built the website for as well. Post about that coming soon!) They sell the soaps there also, along with a unique selection of vintage and reclaimed items. So tracking inventory has become a challenge over the last few months. We are working on plans to move online purchasing to orders upon request to help minimize the inventory problems.
In April 2022 Jessica and Ed opened up a storefront called Beaumont Trading Post. (Which I built the website for as well. Post about that coming soon!) They sell the soaps there also, along with a unique selection of vintage and reclaimed items. So tracking inventory has become a challenge over the last few months. We are working on plans to move online purchasing to orders upon request to help minimize the inventory problems.
PS: I’m always on the fence with this question, but I think Lavender Gray Suit Dragon Berries is my favorite scent.