Sarah Raven sews the seeds of expansion with BigCommerce

SOLUTION

SaaS solution through collaboration.

Ash coordinated the search for a new platform and found BigCommerce stood out for its combination of features and cost. The business knew it needed to select a SaaS solution but found one well-known platform was too small to scale with their ambitious expansion plans, another was considered way too expensive for what the business needed.

Additionally, a crucial aspect for Ash was BigCommerce’s professional approach, alongside its agency Space 48, which reassured the business its individual needs were being assessed through proactive suggestions and dedicated teamwork. 

“BigCommerce approached our requirement gathering with a real team holistic approach, they really did their homework to answer any complexity that we had. 

“Although the native, out of the box functionality was great, we knew we needed a number of complex customisations, and through a thorough and dedicated discovery process, all of our needs could be met. Another benefit was PCI compliance and hosting — as this was rolled up as part of our licence fee, this was another positive influence for our decision making. The collaborative partnership piece with BigCommerce and Space48 has worked extremely well. It’s been a lovely project and business to be part of and one that we’re extremely proud of.”

Complex products, powerful PIM.

The company has a very complex and extensive parent and child product list that numbers more than 9,500 SKUs. This derives from a vast choice of vegetable plants, garden plants, flowers, trees, and bushes being available in a multitude of varieties at different stages of development from seed to fully grown. The parent vs child relationship complexities were easily handled by BigCommerce as part of the discovery process, which was one of the main attractions for Sarah Raven. 

To add to the complexity, the gardening business has to factor in both seasonality and the growing process. A pack of seeds may well be available instantly, but a seedling might not be available for a few weeks or several months, depending on the time of year.

“One of the major advances we are enjoying with BigCommerce is the fact that we are able to run a complicated parent and child product relationship,” says Ash. “The main complexity a fashion retailer might have is, perhaps material, size, and colour. But, on each of our product pages, you have differing plant formats, ranking from seeds all the way to three or four litre potted plants. It's being able to manage those relationships and what is effectively a three-stock status of in-stock, out-of-stock, and pre-order.”

Simple checkout, seamless payments.

One of the huge advantages of working with BigCommerce, Ash Pallett reveals, is the one-page checkout, which is simple for customers to navigate, even though orders may be complex. Customers, who mostly tend to be middle-aged or older, are offered a simple page which communicates with the company’s ERP software, so orders can be split if, for example, some items need to be grown first while others are ready to ship right away.

“We have a demographic where people value the feeling that they’re having their hand held and being reassured they’re buying quality products, and so a one-page checkout is vital,” she says.

“It’s also important that it works seamlessly on mobile for us because, although some people may call our customers silver surfers, they frequently make orders on smartphones. Payment has been made a lot simpler by adding mobile wallets through Stripe. And in early 2024, we were up and running with Stripe, with a couple of clicks in the backend of BigCommerce, for card payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay wallets.”