How We Helped This Business Move Forward During The Covid Pandemic

Eco Power Direct

Overview

Eco Power Direct Limited are a Nottingham based e-commerce business specialising in the wholesale and retail of eco-friendly power solutions. Their offerings include high-standard EVE batteries and inverters, which are widely regarded for their quality and competitive pricing. The idea was initially to launch as a physical seller in the Nottingham area, but business had been all but decimated on the back of the covid pandemic and with uncertainty still lingering, they decided to fully embrace the world of digital and launch as an online business.

The challenge 

The guys at Eco were well aware in advance of starting the business that they would be entering a competitive and saturated market. Not only did they have to compete with organisations in the UK, but also overseas and directly with the manufacturers which added further challenges to overcome if they were to be successful. The business was brand new when Cool Code became involved and with the change of direction from a physical to an online business, Eco needed assistance getting the fundamentals in place to start trading including branding, a logo, a website, a shop and SEO services.

They identified that a lot of their competitors had websites that were complex and not particularly user-friendly and they themselves had often become frustrated with suppliers when trying to order their own stock. In addition, they felt like pricing should always be transparent and immediately available to potential clients rather than them having to go through the process of submitting and enquiry and waiting for a response. Based on this, they decided they wanted to build their brand based on transparency and simplicity for their clients and that started with their branding, their logo and of course – their website. 

The solution 

The first step was to sit down with Eco to discuss the factors that would feed into their brand identity – their mission, their client base, their values, the character they would like to business to encapsulate and the personality they wanted their business to have. From this exercise, we determined that Eco were incredibly passionate about sustainability and their core values were focused around offering environmentally friendly products at competitive prices, ultimately making them accessible to as many people as possible. They wanted these aspects to be at the front and centre of their brand. </>

From this, we engaged with our design partners and provided Eco with a number of options relating to their logo, palette and typography as the starting point. 

Keeping in line with their ambition to keep things simple, they decided on a contemporary but simplistic logo that signified what the business offered. They decided on a colour scheme that brought together blues and greens to encompass the colours of nature and chose a succinct font to be used across their branding. From these guidelines, we were then able to move on to the next step. 

Next, we determined what sort of products were being offered, the type of information that needed to be included, how pricing was determined and ultimately how it all needed to be presented. They initially had all of their product information, suppliers and proposed pricing in an excel spreadsheet so this gave us a good starting point.

Because this was a brand-new business, there weren’t any existing processes that needed to be incorporated - we had a blank slate and were able to use this information as the basis for their new website and the processes behind it.

After reviewing the spreadsheet and getting an idea on the foundations we then needed to determine what features Eco wanted included in the website and we agreed on the following - 

Based on the above requirements coupled with the budget and limited website experience at Eco we proposed the following:
Additionally, we agreed that Cool Code would set their Email system & users up for them as well as SSL hosting to ensure the data of people using their website was secure. 

The result 

Since the launch of the website back in 2022, Eco Power Direct have gone from strength to strength attracting increased individual and trade business year on year. They have expanded their portfolio to include additional products such as peripherals, battery and inverter related software and even wind turbines. They receive regular, positive feedback from clients who note the efficiency and responsiveness of the ordering process and the quality of the service they receive through the live chat feature. 

The website has also had a positive impact on the employees who are notified immediately of any orders being placed through a notification type system, allowing them to quickly process the orders and notify clients of any relevant delivery information. They also have the benefit of having one easy to use back-end platform that allows them to update information, add new products and remove products they no longer wish to advertise without the need for any sort of technical expertise. 

The future

Cool Code Company continue to work with Eco Power Direct to refine their website and are currently planning a new project to directly link the ordering system to their drop shopping providers which will allow orders to go direct to the supplier on purchase where relevant, rather than the Eco staff having to manually send the orders on. In addition, there is some work being undertaken that will allow trade clients to access their own portal, access real time inventory levels, request bulk pricing and open credit accounts.

Testimonial 

Dexter Greene, Head of Operations at Eco Power Direct had this to say about his experience of working with Cool Code Company -

‘I’m part of the original team at Eco Power Direct and was involved in discussions prior to the business starting. After seeing the effects of Covid I was personally expecting the idea to be put on hold at the very least but was glad when the decision was taken to launch as an online shop as opposed to a physical premises.  

However, I did have concerns due to the fact my background was not in the digital world and branding, websites and online working was just not something I’d ever had to think about. I needn’t have worried!  

Tony and the team were on hand to guide us through every step of the process. They listened, made suggestions based on their knowledge and previous experiences and went above and beyond in helping us weigh up the pros and cons of each potential decision we would make (which I'm sure was challenging for them at times because we did do a lot of back and forthing and changing our minds). 

The website is fantastic and really represents who we are as a company. It’s simple for our clients to navigate and also simple for me to use behind the scenes for adding and removing products, writing blogs and engaging directly with our customers through the live chat feature. 

I cannot recommend Cool Code Company enough, Tony has a knack for being able to communicate with people like me who lack technical expertise and makes things straight forward. I am looking forward to continuing to work together with the guys in future as we expand our product range and introduce new services to our clients'

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