Rapid-Launch of
eCommerce using WooCommerce

The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly struck a lot of businesses hard, ranging from restaurants who were forced to close or limit their sales to takeout to grocery stores that couldn’t supply their shelves to service their customers. For Polidori Sausage, both of these challenges were an extreme reality which necessitated a new sales channel to better support the needs of their loyal following of sausage-lovers both in their region and Colorado-transplants throughout the U.S.

Having already experimented with eCommerce by selling on Amazon, the company validated an appetite for online sales. This combined with an existing WordPress website for the brand made the opportunity to introduce direct-to-consumer (D2C) eCommerce utilling WooCommerce an obvious solution to grow a much-needed new avenue of sales to compensate for losses during the pandemic and also establish future-growth.

When Polidori first approached Inverse Paradox to explore this opportunity, the first step was to do a diagnostic on the established website to determine if Inverse Paradox could dependably inherit the website as well as assess if the theme and existing configuration was viable to extend for WooCommerce. The second step? Inverse Paradox got a shipment and sampled the product! Both the website and sausage were exceptional.

From there, Inverse Paradox quickly got underway. WooCommerce was installed and configured including Square and PayPal payment gateways. The catalog was loaded. The theme was adjusted to include a shopping cart, my account functions and other ancillary navigational and interface elements. Most importantly, complex rules for local delivery versus national shipping were configured including establishing integration with ShipStation to streamline management of fulfillment activities. The entire process took less than 60-days including necessary validation, quality assurance and training activities to assure it was a successful deployment. 

Almost immediately upon launch, the website began generating sales due to its established traffic and the exceptional marketing strategies across e-mail and social media networks. Without a doubt, Polidori has a loyal customer base who were eager to jump on the opportunity to get their sausage delivered to their door.

Throughout the span of the following year, Polidori identified further opportunities as it expanded its eCommerce offering. Having WordPress and WooCommerce allowed them to quickly pivot and extend while maintaining a reasonable investment along the way. In addition to increasing products available for online sales and refining shipping & delivery capabilities, Polidori further optimized marketing automation strategies and created bundles based on sales trends to further influence purchasing decisions.

One of the misconceptions to establishing D2C eCommerce is that a whole new website needs to be produced or investment will be unreasonable. An established, well-constructed WordPress website certainly makes the process easier but Inverse Paradox works with clients to determine a path to confidently establish eCommerce while not overreaching into features or functionality which may not be quantifiably beneficial to the client. By taking a more holistic and iterative approach, eCommerce can grow with the business so the company can sustainably manage the sales volume, maintain brand integrity and make ROI-driven decisions on further investment into the website.

Today, Polidori has seen nearly $100k in sales which is a milestone for this relatively new sales channel. As the online presence grows, Inverse Paradox will continue to support and extend their capabilities. When Polidori is ready for the next stage of their online business, Inverse Paradox will be prepared for the next generation of Polidori website where the benefits of this transformation and iterative approach informs a comprehensive strategy assuring reaching larger target goals.

To learn more about extending your existing brand’s WordPress website to include eCommerce capabilities with WooCommerce, contact us.