YouCopia

is transforming kitchen experiences

Shopify

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Founded in 2009, YouCopia sells home organization products that bring order to chaotic households. Customers appreciate their products so much, YouCopia is also known as a feeling: the feeling of triumph over small stuff.

When YouCopia came to Command C, the company sold its online products solely through Amazon. Amazon can be a strong sales channel, however, it doesn’t give retailers the opportunity to tell their unique story. And YouCopia was perfectly positioned to do so when they reached out to us.

Challenge 1: Craft a site that feels highly customized and branded, but stays within budget.

Solution: Leverage a theme to maximize efficiency, while customizing to create a unique experience.

Leveraging a pre-existing theme can be a great way to help gain efficiency in the development process – much of the design and code work has already been done. The drawback to using a theme is that it can feel cookie-cutter, and there will be other sites out there using the exact same layouts. This is where we come in. Command C works with clients to inventory their needs and help them select a theme that meets as many of those needs as possible. From there, we strategically craft a plan to implement any necessary further customizations. This solution helps strike a balance between cost and customization.

 

Photo showing two pages of YouCopia mobile site

Challenge 2: Showcase ease and beauty of YouCopia products on mobile devices.

Solution: Ensure theme leverages large-scale imagery and intuitive navigation.

Our first solution here was to select and customize a simple, but elegant theme that leveraged large images to showcase the beauty of YouCopia’s products. Product photography is arguably the most important aspect of an ecommerce site and YouCopia came to us with stellar photos. We needed a theme that almost faded into the background and let the photos do the storytelling. Check.

Navigation on mobile devices is everything, and our theme needed some customization in this department. Starting with theme’s native navigation, Command C stripped it all the way back to its plain HTML. From there, we adjusted the HTML as needed and then built new effects on top of it. This allowed us to create two-level nested menus with animation effects that work well on a small screen. The result is a mobile experience that feels a bit more like an app than a website.

Challenge 3: Allow YouCopia to add on-brand pages via CMS.

Solution: Build customized admin tools leveraging Shopify’s sections, enabling client to create dynamic landing pages.

As part of the site customization, Command C created new administrative tools that the theme did not provide out of the box. Most notably, we gave YouCopia the ability to leverage a component-driven design system on page templates. The client can easily add page templates and pre-designed blocks to those templates to allow for powerful CMS capabilities, without risking their strong brand identity.

Now, anytime YouCopia wants to create a dedicated landing page, their internal team can easily do so from within Shopify. These kinds of pages are excellent marketing tools. For instance, if they promoted their products on a national TV show, they could create a landing page to offer a first-time discount to program viewers. These pages allow YouCopia to share their company story, as it unfolds.

 

Photo of the YouCopia Help Center

Challenge 4: Provide YouCopia’s high-level of customer service via online help center without compromising brand.

Solution: Strategic consult on help center, Zendesk integration, and skinning to match the rest of site for seamless UX.

Customer service is paramount to YouCopia. (Their customers even have their own name!) A standard list of FAQ links wasn’t going to give online customers YouCopia’s high-level of customer service. Instead, Command C developed the navigation through custom-coding Zendesk with big, visual buttons that match the brand. Now customers can quickly find answers to their specific order questions, as well as broader questions about the company, with a dynamic Help Center–and it doesn’t feel like a separate site. We’re always seeking out ways to empower our clients with tools that help them do business better and easier.

Challenge 5: Automate fulfillment.

Solution: Build custom app that automates data transfer between Shopify site and 3PL.

Every retailer knows the headache of order fulfillment–that is, until they develop order automation. Command C built a custom app that integrates with YouCopia’s 3PL to push orders from Shopify into the 3PL so they can be fulfilled. Once the 3PL has processed the order, they push the data for the shipment back into Shopify. Then Shopify notifies the customer that the item has shipped. We worked with both YouCopia and the 3PL to establish the protocols and rules for the order automation.

At every step of this project, the YouCopia team were active participants in the process. Through regular communication and solid collaboration, Command C was able to deliver this project on time and on budget. Here’s what YouCopia had to say about our collaboration in their own words.

Through YouCopia’s products, their customers experience the sweet relief of being organized. Now their online shopping experience is equally stress-free.

  • Technical Discovery
    Discovery
  • Ecommerce Platform Migrations & Builds
    Development
  • Ecommerce Conversion Rate Optimization
    Ongoing Support & Optimization