Background
Founded in 2014, Evolution Vaping is a leading UK-based vaping distributor and retailer serving both B2C and B2B customers. The team were struggling to find a system flexible enough for their wholesale needs without incurring excessive costs. SparkLayer has bridged the gap between retail and wholesale operations.
The challenge
Evolution Vaping had two core priorities when looking to replatform, namely, extensive costs and feature limitations of their existing B2B eCommerce platform.
They had trialled multiple options on the market, but were frustrated with the lack of wholesale functionality, as well as the mounting platform fees.
As they serve both B2C and B2B customers, they need a way to keep their wholesale branch separate. The business wanted to hide certain items and prices from respective customer bases (and types), as well as improve product management and customer segmentation.
Evolution Vaping’s existing set-up required third-party developers to support the complicated onboarding and integration processes. This led to unnecessary downtime, as well as increased room for error and a lack of confidence and engagement from key team members.
Further to this, invoicing was becoming an increasing point of contention for both Evolution Vaping and their B2B customers. Wholesale buyers couldn’t easily view or download invoices, resulting in frequent support tickets and frustration.
The solution
Evolution Vaping implemented SparkLayer, allowing them to add a cost-effective B2B branch that integrated seamlessly with their existing Shopify set-up. Working with Intuitive Shipping, the team were able to move ahead with their B2B renovation quickly.
Intuitive Shipping is one of, if not the only, shipping solutions out there that allows such an exhaustive list of features and conditionals to configure shipping methods.
Evolution Vaping needed something that allowed them to offer rates based on a multitude of conditions while still automatically retrieving them from every carrier. Intuitive did that with ease, with a live feed of all requests too - it's a great tool to help assist customers running into issues.
Using SparkLayer’s Customer Groups tool, Evolution Vaping have been able to build bespoke experiences for their wholesale customers. Buyers now see B2B pricing specific to them, adding to the impressive customer experience. In line with their Linnworks integration, the business has created tiered pricing structures.
Evolution Vaping have seen success with establishing B2B discounts, too - including stock level-based promotions and recursive discounts. This has boosted wholesale engagement and allowed for improved inventory management.
Adding a search functionality, based on product names, allowed B2B buyers to more easily find and add items to their baskets. This has increased customer satisfaction levels and increased adoption.
SparkLayer’s Sales Agent functionality means that the Evolution Vaping team can build baskets for B2B customers, using specific permission levels and settings.
This has allowed the business to bring customers who prefer more traditional ordering methods (e.g. via email) on board to their new platform. Their buyers are getting fantastic customer service, without Evolution Vaping compromising on processes or time.
The results
Since launching with SparkLayer, Evolution Vaping has seen significant operational and financial improvements.
The main headline result focuses on savings - namely, over £150,000 annually, thanks to reduced platform fees and streamlined processes.
On top of this, there has been a reduction in support load, as customers are able to self-serve 24/7 for orders, account details, and invoicing alike. With a built-in, native invoicing tool, customers can view and download customised invoices directly from within SparkLayer’s dashboard.
The team have also seen significant improvements in terms of order management efficiency and customer satisfaction. Evolution Vaping have had great feedback since implementing SparkLayer, with buyers praising the faster, simpler ordering process.
“In terms of SparkLayer features, we use absolutely everything; we enabled pretty much every feature. All the new features were music to the team’s ears. The newest round of features changed everything because the team were like, “Oh my God, this is amazing.”
The search tool, especially, has been huge for us. The moment we introduced the search by product name, it transformed the sidebar. That was the biggest feature and a huge positive. We've got price lists, we've got multiple customer groups. We use a combination of them both to be able to offer tiered pricing to customers.
Customer satisfaction and feedback have been very positive. We used to get a lot of complaints about how slow the website was. They couldn't do X, Y and Z. Now everyone seems to enjoy it; everyone seems to be able to use it. The number one selling point for SparkLayer from Evolution Vaping's perspective was the variable platform fee. We estimate we’re saving £150,000 a year now." ~ Reece Vaughan, Full-Stack eCommerce Developer
Explore more
To learn more about Evolution Vaping, visit their website.
Discover Intuitive Shipping’s eCommerce services at intuitiveshipping.com.
To see how SparkLayer works with Shopify, you can explore via the links below: