Case study – smartlab.hr

If you follow our posts, then you know why we are not advocates of page builders and a large number of plugins. If we do use a page builder in the development of our websites or online stores, it can/should only be WordPress’s native – Gutenberg, which isn’t a page builder in that sense.

Anyway, through native WordPress and Gutenberg, we enabled the client to edit almost all front-end elements on their website without having to possess any programming knowledge. We also provided a video tutorial with the project to help all of our clients master the basics of content editing and become successful editors of their websites and online stores.

Homepage content editor (slider)

“Featured Products” segment

Segment with logos

News segment

Highlighted links

Footer

Notes on prices

The previous images were intended to show that online store owners can be given a fair amount of autonomy when it comes to independently managing and editing the content of their websites, without the need for them to acquire programming knowledge.

By utilizing the full potential of WordPress (and its Gutenberg editor), the editing interface is functionally advanced without hindering website performance, as is the case with some other page builders. This avoids errors in website operation, poor speed, and therefore poor optimization for search engines.

In the following, we would like to show what else is interesting about this project – unlike the previous sections where we focused on the possibilities of editing the content of the web store, in the following, we will write about specific functionalities.

The smartlab.hr webshop is integrated with the Sendinblue email marketing service, in such a way that it is:

• Created newsletter form, connected to Sendinblue, with configured settings for collecting and storing subscriber contact information and automated sending of discount coupon codes (as a motivation for subscription).
• The native checkout form of the WooCommerce web store is connected to the Sendinblue service, so the contact information of all users who give their consent is automatically stored in the email marketing program, from which promotional activities are carried out.

You can read more about the possibilities of Sendinblue tools and their integration with web stores here.

Google Map with 3 locations

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the client has established 3 physical stores in 3 years of existence, which is why it was necessary to provide a simple but effective solution for displaying the locations on the map.

By using the Google Maps API, we were able to create a single map with markers for all three physical locations of the client’s stores. This allowed for a more streamlined and cost-effective solution, without the need for three separate maps. While this may not be a groundbreaking technological achievement, we made sure to find and implement a solution that fully met the client’s needs.

In order to avoid a plain look of the Google Map, it was created using the Snazzy maps service.

Dynamic pricing depending on the selected payment method

Most online stores have different prices for cash and card payments – simply because card processors charge high commissions that must be compensated in some way. Until now, we have mostly seen clearly marked double prices on online stores, which is a trend that card processors are banning, so in the case of the smartlab.hr store, we had to come up with a slightly different solution.

The following was done in agreement with the client:

• Expanded native WooCommerce features, with additional price fields added to products – discounted and regular prices in case of credit card payments.
• To avoid displaying dual prices on the front end (which is a trend that card companies are against), we implemented a note for the client regarding the possibility of discounts for cash payments (as seen in the previous sections) – these discounts are applied at the checkout of the online store.
• The native WooCommerce options for displaying prices at checkout have also been upgraded, so that the price is displayed depending on the selected payment method.

Wholesale section of the web shop

For the client, a fairly customized wholesale section was implemented, which includes the following features:

• a special user role for wholesale customers was created – wholesale customers can register for an account on a separate registration form where they are automatically assigned the wholesale role,
• Aafter registration, wholesale customers are automatically redirected to the wholesale section of the web shop,
• conditional display of wholesale prices – if the user is logged in as a wholesale customer, they are shown special prices with discounts,
• conditional display of products – the assortment for wholesale customers is set in a special category that only logged-in wholesale customers can see. Also, wholesale customers do not see regular product categories in the shop, which means that all search engines, widgets, and everything else are adapted to show wholesale customers only products from the wholesale category,
• payment methods are also customized for wholesale customers compared to regular customers,
• we enabled the client to automate the import of wholesale products through an Excel spreadsheet without the need for manual data entry.

Automated product import for retail and wholesale

Our client collaborates with several suppliers, and places their products on the market. They receive product information in the form of Excel spreadsheets, which are more or less uniform or similar in structure. Given that integration with each individual supplier would require creating different modules (as each supplier has their own way of keeping track of products and ways of making them available to others – whether it’s .xml spreadsheets, APIs or MySQL databases), the client believed that a satisfactory option would be to enable them to automate the import of products through Excel spreadsheets.

We have implemented the possibility of periodic (automated) or manual import of products from tables that the client receives from suppliers. This has enabled very fast and efficient input of even several hundred products in just a few minutes, reducing the client’s time and financial costs to a minimum.

Integration with nabava.net

Through the script provided by nabava.net to WooCommerce website owners, we have integrated the smartlab.hr online store with this service. This way, the client has the opportunity to effectively compete in price comparison searches, which brings them additional visibility and profit.

Every week, we create a new newsletter targeted towards smartlab.hr customers

Every week we plan a new newsletter campaign for smartlab.hr, where the client’s task is to inform us about the products and services that will be on special offer the following week, and our task is to come up with a short story and design an attractive graphic that will be the centerpiece of the newsletter.

Some examples of such newsletters can be viewed below.

Every week a new Facebook campaign

Newsletters and Facebook campaigns represent a comprehensive strategy – both types of campaigns are centered around weekly promotions. Therefore, for smartlab.hr, we run a new Facebook campaign every week, with regular and remarketing/retargeting ads.

You can view some examples of Facebook ads below.

Generating graphics for various promotional materials

So far, we have designed various types of graphics and prepared them for printing for the SmartLab Shop company – from signs needed in physical stores, table stickers, business cards, and more.

Some examples of graphics for signs can be seen below.

For SmartLab, we have created logos for several brands that fall under their umbrella, as well as a brand book to ensure consistency across all their branding materials

Before starting our collaboration, the client had already created a corporate identity (logo) in collaboration with a graphic design agency.

In the meantime, his business has grown and the need for new logos has emerged – tailored to the services/brands that exist within the company.

The client decided to entrust this job to us because based on his previous experience with our team, he believed that we could deliver the desired result.

That’s exactly what happened, and you can view the SmartLab standards book we delivered here, as well as the logos we developed below.

Conclusion

We indulged ourselves and bragged a bit about the smartlab.hr web shop project, but one article is not enough to describe all the challenges that this project has brought with it over the past few years.

Let’s not forget – this is a project that has grown and developed together with the client’s business, and our task was to use web technologies to respond to many challenges that the client encountered on their business journey.

In that sense, the conclusion and message of this article are as follows:

• If you are just starting with e-commerce, it is not necessary to invest hundreds of thousands of kuna from the start to achieve success. On the contrary, we have come up with certain solutions that don’t cost much at the beginning and can be upgraded over time.
• Even if you don’t have a lot of money to start with, if you have a team that is willing to support you, you already have a lot and could achieve great success.
• We have good programmers, but also people who think from a marketing perspective. We don’t do anything mechanically, but rather like to look at things from the perspective of the user and offer solutions tailored to individual needs.
• We don’t just specialize in web development and design, but also in various web tools, as well as high-quality graphic design (we actively work with programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma, and more). The way we can support you on your business journey may not be unique (we don’t claim that there are no agencies like ours), but it’s also not common – mostly because of our knowledge and extensive experience in various segments of digital marketing. Simply put, we were curious, we tried various things over time, gave up on some tools, kept others, and now effectively use them for promoting our clients’ businesses.