Planet organic: An ecommerce transformation in just 90 days
We specialise in faster time to value. That’s why when Planet Organic, in the middle of a strategic discovery process, came to us with a concern about being able to support their customers in lockdown 2.0, our team rose to the challenge. This meant transforming their ecommerce experience and liberating their operational team to meet the coming demand, in 90 days. By focusing on customer needs, we delivered a solution with the tools to handle increasing customer demand and give better insight so that Planet Organic’s ecommerce trading could flourish. Planet Organic now has the infrastructure to thrive in an ever-evolving ecommerce landscape.
The challenge
The initial engagement with Planet Organic was a strategic discovery to improve the customer experience by adding a fresh range of customer benefits such as loyalty, contactless checkout, and food-to-go. But, as John Lennon famously said, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. With the prospect of lockdown 2.0 on the horizon, the challenge was forced to pivot to a tactical ecommerce project.
In lockdown 1.0, the Planet Organic team had to temporarily stop taking orders online as they struggled to cope with the increased demand. To avoid a repeat in future lockdowns, a new, robust ecommerce infrastructure was required that could handle growing customer demand and allow their ecommerce business to blossom in lieu of in-store trading.
The plan
To have everything in place for Planet Organic to hit the ground running on the first day of lockdown 2.0 we had 12 weeks from kick-off to going live.
Weeks 1-4: Our expert team across user experience and development focused on technical discovery and creating a proof-of-concept.
Weeks 5-12: Working in two-week sprints, a team of designers, developers and solution architects worked in parallel with operational and marketing activities to build the new website on Shopify and the new custom order management system.
To support migration and inform customers of the upcoming changes, we partnered with Gradient Edge and Planet Organic engaged with various marketing agencies to provide specialist services such as SEO.
Value delivered
The new Planet Organic ecommerce website launched smoothly in the first week of lockdown 2.0 (5th November 2020).
By working alongside the Planet Organic team throughout the process, they were fully up-to-speed about how to use the site from day one. That month, they processed their highest ever volume of orders.
At the end of the 12-week project, Planet Organic had:
• A new ecommerce solution on Shopify Plus with enterprise promotion handling
• An updated suite of marketing and insight tools to help drive growth and retention
• A custom order management system to improve operational efficiency
• Integrations for stock and product data with ERP
Did we mention we did it all in just 90 days?
What the client said...
“The retail sector had a wake-up call when COVID-19 hit and we realised how important having a highly effective ecommerce offering alongside the retail stores had become. It was also an opportunity to seriously advance our online presence by replacing our platform, which was no longer fit for purpose. We needed an immediate fix, coupled with a long-term plan and a partner to guide us and stay with us on the journey. All our decisions were vindicated when we had our best-ever Black Friday sales that we were then able to fulfil on-time. Profound and Gradient Edge were key to the whole process – they helped us not just transform digitally, but also transform our thinking, and this has had a direct, positive effect on our strategy and resulting revenue.”
Alex Hodge
Customer Director
Award-winning digital transformation
Profound in collaboration with Gradient Edge received the gold award for the best digital transformation for the Planet Organic story at the DXA Awards.
The team helped Planet Organic transform its business with significant improvements in e-commerce, order fulfilment, online customer engagement, and business insight. The award was judged based on the success of the program against initial strategic goals and budget, program design and implementation, stakeholder engagement, overall impact, innovation, and creativity.
Planet Organic used Profound's entire suite of services, including customer research, design, development, consultancy, and ongoing conversion-rate optimisation, to transform their business from a retail store with an online shop window to a truly omnichannel business.
About the client
Planet Organic is the UK’s largest fully certified organic supermarket. Since 1995, they have offered customers the best and widest range of organic food and products. They promote health in local communities through organic, natural, and sustainable products, and by acting sustainably and ethically. They were the first shop to be certified by the UK Soil Association and continue to work closely with them to certify their products are fresh. As well as several London-based stores, Planet Organic’s e-commerce site serves customers across the UK.
We help digital teams design great experiences, make smart technology choices, and deliver successful digital transformations.