The idea of online store development was born around mid 2018, while I was still working in one of the corporations in Wrocław. I thought it would be fun to start doing something interesting and preferably on the Internet. 🙂 It was at the time when the American brand Casper.com, which sold mattresses and bedding items online, was very successful. I liked the idea of selling mattresses with the possibility of testing them for 100 days in the comfort of my home, and in the event that the product did not meet the customer’s expectations, the company offered a free return.
Of course, it’s hard to create such a large and recognizable brand without substantial capital, so my assumption was as follows. Check and test this business model as quickly as possible on one selected product. This is how the idea was born to create a quick MVP of the product, which assumed that in a maximum of 1 month a product would be created that could be handed over to customers for testing. No shop, fancy boxes, nice brochures etc.
Product development
Someone once wrote, if you are not ashamed, then you probably released the first version of your product too late. It was the same with the first Napnell product. The first MVP was created very quickly in about 1 month. I found about 10 foam inserts on the Allegro, commissioned a logo design, printing of labels and a cover, and the photo session was carried out by a photographer specialising in children’s photography. 🙂
The first version of the memory pillow was immediately listed on the Allegro market and, to my surprise, it sold out very quickly. 🙂
There was nothing else to do but to increase the amount of the assortment and complementary products, assuming that they are to be the best quality products, made of Polish and European components, and sewn by Polish manufacturers. Soon, new products were created. new model of memory pillow, a regular pillow, duvets and bed sheets. All of them were made of the best quality materials available on the market at that time. I will not describe the entire process of searching for components, manufacturers or suppliers. Let me just add that it was a very exciting process. 🙂 Along with the increase in sales, there was money for investments in new products, a professional photo session and marketing materials. A few selected products in the final version:
Marketing materials and a thank you card for the purchase:
Online store development graphic design
The graphic design was based on a ready-made template with a few individual modifications. The assumption of the project was a minimalistic look with a modern product card design (Rich Card). The store itself would not look good without a professional photo session.
Home Page and Rich Card graphic design
Development online store – tools and systems used
The next step was to completely automate the sale. The number of orders was constantly growing and it was necessary to think about outsourcing our logistics services. Due to the fact that the products are small, the choice fell on InPost parcel lockers (more than half of the orders were made to parcel lockers). I also used an external warehouse and a logistics company that dealt with product storage and shipping. I carried out settlements and invoicing with the help of the w-company warehouse and accounting program, which was extended with a warehouse module.
The Baselinker system was used to connect all systems into one efficient workflow. From now on, the entire sales process runs automatically. Orders were sent to the baselinker, packaging and shipping were carried out by an external company, then the program automatically created a non-fiscal receipt or invoice and sent information about the order status to the customer. After the order was processed, the stock level in the w-company program was automatically updated. However, thanks to the alerts set in the warehouse module, I knew when the ordering of goods had been required.
Tools and systems
Online store development – connection workflow
Sales channels
Po wdrożeniu sklepu internetowego przyszedł czas na marketing. Poza dotychczasowym kanałem sprzedaży allegro zostały dołożone kolejne źródła pozyskiwania klienta, takie jak Ceneo, Google Ads czy Facebook Ads. Oczywiście reklama w tych kanałach wymagała założenia odpowiednich kont reklamowych oraz wygenerowania Feedu produktowego ze wszystkimi produktami. W przypadku Ceneo XML został przerobiony tak, aby zmaksymalizować ilości słów kluczowych w nazwach produktów pod frazy, które były najczęściej wyszukiwane w Ceneo.
Marketing eCommerce
For the promotion of the store, I focused on 3 main forms of marketing: SEO, Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
SEO
The first key thing that was done on the store was SEO optimization. Selection of key phrases, optimization of product names and categories. Preparation of extensive descriptions for the home page, category pages or product pages. Thanks to this, the store began to acquire its first customers organically! Then, regular blogs began to appear for industry-specific phrases that were most often entered in the Google search engine. As a result, about 90% of traffic on the store is, as of now, organic.
Paid Search campaigns
Paid Google Ads and Facebook Ads campaigns have also been prepared. Google Ads in the form of Shopping campaigns (PLA). On the other hand, Facebook Ads in the form of product catalogs. These are the most popular and best converting eCommerce campaigns.
Promotional campaigns and competitions were the most popular. In our case, the Google Ads campaigns did not achieve the required ROI. That’s why I focused on Facebook Ads, SEO and the Ceneo price comparison engine.
Promotional campaigns and contests
Below are some selected marketing campaigns of the Facebook Marketplace. The competitions had the greatest ranges. The best of them scored 215 comments and nearly 80 shares, which translated into greater brand and store recognition.
Sources of traffic in the online store
Traffic on the online store in the period: 1.11.2019 – 22.01. 2021
Focusing on SEO has resulted in a steady increase in organic traffic. Even though I don’t run paid Facebook Ads or Google Ads campaigns anymore, the store is organically visited by an average of 2,000 users per month.
Summary
The Napnell brand was created to provide users with the best quality bedding items sewn in Poland. I am glad that I went through the process, from product development to the implementation of the online store. Thanks to this, I understood how the eCommerce market works and what problems online vendors face on a daily basis. You can find the link to the store here.
The assumption of the project was to create an ecosystem that can function practically without my interference, and it worked! The combination of all eCommerce systems into one ecosystem and logistics outsourcing allowed us to focus on marketing, customer service and product development. Although I chose a different direction of development, now I help increase online sales and implement online stores. I am glad that I went through this process from A to Z on my own skin. I hope that the article was valuable for you and thanks to it you will be able to implement some of the solutions in your online store.
See also categories: Social Media in eCommerce | PPC Campaigns | Shopify technologies | eCommerce SEO | E-mail marketing | eCommerce project management | eCommerce marketing | eCommerce management | eCommerce development | eCommerce b2b | eCommerce automation | eCommerce analytics | Content marketing | Case Study eCommerce | News | Other