Trot On Equestrian Supplies — eCommerce Simplicity

As we hear on the news about the doom and gloom we face economically, it’s great to hear from new business owners who are moving forward with positivity.

Sarah at Trot On Equestrian Supplies reached out to us, via our price calculator, to request help in building an eCommerce website for her growing business. As she embarks on opening a new high street store, she also required an online shop — something we were more than happy to help with!

Quality, affordable equestrian items

Sarah and Trot On Equestrian Supplies have been providing equestrian items via Facebook. Whilst Facebook is a great way for many startup businesses to dip their toe and gain a following, it’s easy to outgrow the platform.

Sarah recognised that her growing, successful business required both a physical and online store to keep its rapid growth.

She has been able to procure a shop within the beautiful Exmoor village of Porlock and she also wanted to provide online shopping for those too far from Porlock.

As she looks to stock her shop, she has been able to secure a range of great suppliers. Sarah has also looked to work with local and small businesses to stock their products both online and in her shop. Thus providing great opportunities for other businesses to grow and succeed!

Powerful eCommerce

As you may imagine with such a broad topic of ‘equestrian supplies’, Sarah quickly recognised that her online store would be far from straightforward.

With around 20 different product categories and sub-categories, it was going to be a tricky task to build.

When Sarah spoke to me she expressed concern that the project might be overly complex, but no task is too great for me!

Whilst looking at other equestrian suppliers online, what became apparent was all of the leading brands had lovely websites, but ones that actually didn’t work all that well on mobile.

The most important priority, therefore, was to ensure the Trot On Equestrian Supplies website worked as seamlessly on mobiles and tablets as on a desktop/laptop computer.

Simple design means more sales

One of the growing trends in web design is minimalism. Some people do take it to extremes, but simplicity is an underrated quality of a website.

Simple doesn’t mean sparse or budget, but easy to use. When I looked at the other equestrian suppliers’ websites I did feel a mild mental panic. There were so many moving sliders, varying colours and fonts that were too small or poorly positioned to read.

Whilst I don’t want to get too technical, the neurological effort required to navigate a website should be considered at all times. I don’t want to be on a website that’s taking an unnecessary toll on my mental energy just to use. Look at Amazon’s website — it’s so ridiculously complex to operate!

Not only did Sarah’s website need to be easy to use on mobile, but it also needed to be easy to look at and navigate. After all, she needs people to stay on her website for longer to make more sales. The website needs to be easy to use and effortless to buy from.

The initial design we came up with is actually about 99% of what’s now live. With a priority on simple, clean white space it allows the text and product images to stand out and be the only thing your eye is drawn towards.

When you go through to a product category page, such as ‘Rider Wear’, I designed a simple section at the top to help you easily refine the products by sub-category or to simply search. This refine section works as well with a mouse on a PC as a finger on a touchscreen phone. It’s all just simple and effortless.

The feedback

The initial build for the complex eCommerce website Sarah requested took almost exactly one week to be completed. From there we supported Sarah in creating products and choosing content for the website.

Even from the initial design, Sarah was incredibly positive. Not only was she positive, but she was also thoroughly delightful to work with. With a bundle of positive energy, she quickly supplied her own content and asked helpful questions. Having worked with Sarah I can see why she’s made such a success already of Trot On Equestrian Supplies!

As you can see below, Sarah provided some very kind feedback about my work on her website.

In summary

Take some time today to check out the brand-new Trot On Equestrian Supplies website. It’s a simply wonderful eCommerce website.

Also, take some time today to follow Trot On Equestrian Supplies on Facebook and Instagram. It’s a business that’s definitely on the up!

If you need help with an eCommerce website, get in touch today or use our price calculator to find out how much it would cost.