Bespoke E-commerce Case Study
From 300+ Paper Orders to a Christmas They Can Count On
Christmas should be one of the busiest and most successful times of year for Arthur’s Family Butchers. But with more than 300 turkey orders being recorded on paper, simply working out exactly what had been ordered had become a challenge in itself.
Probeck replaced the paper-based process and the existing Wix website with a bespoke e-commerce platform designed around the way the butcher actually operates, from everyday online sales to Christmas ordering, collection management, stock control and reporting.
- 300+
- Christmas orders brought into one system
- One click
- To see exactly how many of each product have been ordered
- One system
- For online and in-store orders
- Less Christmas stress
- Reliable figures for ordering and preparation
The Problem
When Every Count Gives You a Different Answer
Arthur’s Family Butchers traditionally took its Christmas turkey orders on paper.
With more than 300 orders to manage, the team needed to know exactly how many turkeys and other products had been ordered so they could purchase sufficient stock and prepare everything for collection.
The problem was deceptively simple: every time the paper orders were counted, they seemed to get a different answer.
At one of the busiest times of the year, the business needed to be able to trust its order figures rather than repeatedly checking piles of paperwork.
The Challenge
Not Just Another Online Shop
The requirement was not simply to put products online.
Arthur’s needed a platform flexible enough to support ordinary day-to-day e-commerce while also handling special seasonal ordering processes such as Christmas and Easter.
Different products can have different rules around when they are available, where they appear and when they can be collected. A Christmas turkey should not simply be available for collection on any date offered by the shop. It needs to be restricted to the specific Christmas collection dates set by Arthur’s.
Some products have a known final price. Others are sold by weight and cannot have their exact final value calculated until they are prepared and weighed in store.
The system therefore needed to accommodate the way a traditional butcher operates rather than forcing the business into the limitations of a standard online shop.
The Solution
E-commerce Built Around How the Butcher Actually Works
Probeck replaced the existing Wix website with a custom-built e-commerce website and ordering platform.
The administration system allows Sam to create and manage products and decide whether each one should be available through the normal online shop, through a specific seasonal order form, or through both.
Seasonal forms can therefore be created for events such as Christmas and Easter without needing a separate ordering system. Each product can also carry its own collection and payment requirements.
The result combines a customer-facing bespoke website with the administration tools of a business application.
The Platform in Use
One System for Customers and the Team Behind the Counter
Customers can place seasonal orders through a purpose-built form, while Arthur’s manages the wider operation through a connected administration portal.
How It Works
Collection Dates Calculated From the Whole Basket
Each product has its own collection availability.
When a customer adds several products to their basket, the system considers every item in the shopping cart and calculates which collection dates are valid for the complete order.
If the basket contains a Christmas turkey that is only available on specific dates in December, the customer can only select an appropriate date for the complete basket before proceeding to payment.
Payments
Full Payments and Deposits
Online payments are handled through Stripe, with the amount taken determined by the way the product is sold.
This allows Arthur’s to sell products online that would be difficult to accommodate within a conventional fixed-price e-commerce process.
Online and in-store
Every Order Reaches the Same System
The platform is not purely an online customer system.
Arthur’s can also enter customer orders directly through the administration area. The team uses an iPad in store, so an order placed face to face enters the same central system as an order placed through the website.
All orders contribute to the same reporting. Stock requirements therefore reflect the complete ordering position, regardless of how the customer ordered.
Order preparation
From Online Order to a Packed Order in Store
For each customer order, the system creates a simple printable checklist that the team can use while preparing and packing products for collection.
Customers automatically receive their receipt by email and are sent a reminder on the day their collection is due.
The customer-facing website therefore connects directly with the practical work taking place inside the shop.
Stock and inventory
Knowing What’s Available Before It Gets Sold
The platform also acts as an inventory management system.
Stock quantities can be maintained against products. When an item reaches zero, customers can no longer order it, but they can leave their name and email address to request a notification.
When Sam adds stock back to that product, the system automatically sends the relevant back-in-stock notifications.
This is a focused example of business process automation: a stock update triggers the relevant customer emails without the team working through a separate list.
Current stock
Maintain available quantities against each product.
Out-of-stock control
Stop new orders when the quantity reaches zero.
Back-in-stock alerts
Notify interested customers when stock returns.
Low-stock report
Highlight products that have reached their configured low-stock level.
Reporting
The Report That Solved the Original Problem
The administration area reports the total quantity ordered for each product.
Instead of repeatedly counting hundreds of paper Christmas orders, the team can see at the click of a button exactly how many of each item customers have ordered. Those reliable figures support stock purchasing and order preparation.
The system also provides a financial overview showing total takings, which can be filtered to specific types of orders, including Christmas orders.
The important point is not the number of reports. It is that Arthur’s can now answer the original question with confidence.
The Result
A Less Stressful Christmas
The biggest result is not a particular feature of the website. It is that Christmas ordering is no longer something Arthur’s needs to manage through hundreds of pieces of paper.
Online and in-store orders now feed into the same system, stock levels are kept centrally and the team can see exactly what has been ordered when planning its Christmas stock.
Most importantly, they can trust the numbers.
For Sam and the team, that has removed a significant source of stress from one of their busiest periods of the year.
The same platform continues to support ordinary online sales and in-store ordering throughout the rest of the year, so it remains useful well beyond Christmas.
When off-the-shelf doesn’t fit
Does Your Business Work Differently to a Standard Online Shop?
Arthur’s did not just need a shopping basket and checkout. Its website needed to understand seasonal ordering, collection dates, weighed products, deposits, stock and the way orders are prepared in store.
If an off-the-shelf e-commerce platform is forcing your business to work around the software, Probeck can look at building the software around your business instead.