An ordering system to future-proof sales, blended with effective brand communication
PROJECT: ROLLICKIN GELATO
Rocketspark Website Design | Rocketspark E-commerce
Christchurch based gelato company Rollickin is an energetic, quirky and youthful brand with a cult-like social media following, so when they approached me to help revamp their existing website into a fully functional eCommerce website, I was really excited for the challenge.
The business, which had originally begun life as a mobile food truck set up by a 14year old school boy to fund his school trip, had grown into three very busy and popular retail stores. Whilst they had an existing one-page website, it was not an eCommerce site, so all of their sales were completely dependent on their physical retail channel. Developing a fully functional eCommerce site has not only allowed them to increase potential sales opportunities, it has also future proofed their business for longer term growth and unforeseen situations like COVID.
In addition, the functionality of the Rocketspark platform has allowed them to create an eCommerce website that showcases their products in a way that is much more aligned and suited to their brand and the face to face business.
"Developing a fully functional eCommerce site has not only allowed them to increase potential sales opportunities, it has also future proofed their business for longer term growth and unforeseen situations."
As a business that had up until this point only operated as a bricks and mortar store, taking their business online has introduced a whole new revenue stream for Rollickin.
They started taking local delivery orders via their website in January and have seen consistent growth in this, as well as Uber Eats and in-store click and collect. In addition, they have also seen an increase in the number of enquiries for event bookings and party kits which was already an additional revenue stream complimenting the retail channel.
They now have clear contact points for specific areas of the business which ensures that requests are dealt with promptly and aren’t being lost or passed around in the system. The biggest success would have been during COVID lockdowns where having the website allowed them to operate and sustain their business when their retail store was unable to open.
For a fun and funky brand like Rollickin, one of the biggest considerations for me when designing the site was trying to replicate into the online space, the same kind of energy and feeling that a customer experiences in the physical store. We wanted the site to be engaging and draw consumers in, to the point where they can almost touch and taste the gelato very much like they would in an actual store.
To achieve this I choose to adopt a “page-per-flavour” approach to their ecommerce products as opposed to using purely the traditional online shop look and feel. This approach gave me more flexibility in the overall design, allowing me curate how the products look on the site and showcase more of the brand attributes. I created a layout that allows the consumer to easily browse and scroll through the flavours and options available much in the same way that they would stand and peruse in front of the serving counter instore.
This coupled with large format quality images and videos really helped to make the content and products come alive on the site.
"We wanted the site to be engaging and draw consumers in to the point where they can almost touch and taste the gelato very much like they would in an actual store"
As with many eCommerce websites, one of the biggest areas that clients need guidance is around the logistics of operating an online store. Helping them to understand how all of the pieces connect together and how to use the technology to make the process as simple as possible, is critical for the success of the website going forward.
The biggest piece of advice that I gave Rollickin was for them to simply go live. The site had been ready for a number of weeks before the client felt confident enough to eventually hit the go button. Once they went live they realised they were still able to keep updating and adding to the site, testing and refining things as they go, and that things didn’t need to be 100% set in stone as they had been thinking.
Getting the website online when they did meant that they were already set up and in a much stronger position when the COVID restrictions took place and they didn’t have to worry about how they were going to adapt and the logistics of operating under an online model.
Design
+ Brand clarity
+ Brand strategy
+ Digital strategy
+ Marketing strategy
+ Digital systems & toolbox
Cultivate
+ Ecommerce
+ Landing pages
+ Digital marketing
+ Google adwords
+ Social media marketing
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