Case Study - Gippsland Jersey
“If it weren’t for the generosity of both local and non-local communities alike, we wouldn’t have been able to establish our Milk Processing Facility and keep our company alive.”
Sallie Jones, Co-Founder of Gippsland Jersey
The Project Scope
Just 18 months ago, Steve Ronalds and Sallie Jones of Gippsland Jersey found themselves in a situation whereby if they didn’t find a solution fast, they would no longer be able to process their milk; and would be saying “goodbye” to their beloved business. Their milk processor decided to no longer support small milk producers, so they had only a few weeks to find a solution.
It was out of this adversity, much like the adversity from which their business was born, that they decided to innovate, and open their own milk processing facility on Sallie’s late father’s farm in Lakes Entrance. However, they had no credit rating, cash or budget to fund the $450,000 themselves.
Sallie and Steve decided to run a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo, inviting their customers to pre-purchase bottles of milk in order to raise $100,000 towards the new processing plant. This idea would see customers still receive a return on their investment, whilst helping Steve and Sallie to keep their business dream alive.
They ended up pre-selling milk to over 1000 customers and reaching their crowdfunding goal - but then were left with the question:
How to deliver milk to over a thousand customers without it becoming a logistical nightmare?
Their initial idea was creating a paper list of all the customer names and number of bottles ordered, asking customer service staff to keep track of milk collections manually, and reconciling these between all the collection points at the end of each month. However, it was clear that this solution would be extremely time-consuming and error-prone. Finding a simpler solution meant Gippsland Jersey had to innovate again, and that’s where GippsTech was brought in.
Website Development + Online Store
We developed a new WordPress website for Gippsland Jersey to help streamline their online ordering and fulfilment systems. We created an online store which their customers could use to purchase milk and other merchandise directly from their site, as well as a custom-built electronic voucher system to help them track collections of pre-purchased milk. The website was also designed to beautifully depict Gippsland Jersey and its brand, by using custom imagery showcasing their business.
We set up an innovative solution to enable collection of pre-purchased milk as simply as possible, to enable customer service staff at retail outlets to easily manage collections. We set up QR codes which were emailed to each customer who had pre-purchased milk through the crowdfunding campaign. We also implemented a store login so customer service staff at each store would have a unique login tied to the store which they could use to track milk collections through that store.
When a customer collected milk from a participating store, they could just show the QR code email to the checkout assistant, who would scan the email using their own phone, and be able to view the number of bottles of milk the customer had remaining to collect. They could then mark off the number of bottles collected, and this would be tracked automatically against the total collected from that store, to allow payments to be made to the store by Gippsland Jersey afterwards.
Innovative Tools
In addition to the new website build and the innovative new way of collecting pre-purchased milk, GippsTech also developed an online store so that Gippsland Jersey could sell additional merchandise. The WordPress website we created included an inbuilt eCommerce store where customers could safely and securely input their credit card information and make purchases directly through the Gippsland Jersey website. This proved to be another way that the business could increase their revenue, whilst also increasing brand awareness through stickers and T-shirts.
Gippsland Jersey were able to shine a light on one of the core reasons why they started their business; which was to assist farmers to get a fair price for milk, and raise awareness for mental health issues. The products available on their online store showcase the work that they do, and the reputation they have built not just in their community, but across the state; and their loyal customers and followers wear their merchandise with pride.
Our Solution
The work that we at GippsTech have done to assist Gippsland Jersey can be used to show you just what is possible with digital innovation and some creative thinking! It also showcases the benefits of using WordPress to build your website - if there are any future developments in your business that may lead to you needing custom functionality, WordPress is the ideal platform to both get a website developed on a small business budget, and ensure the website is extensible for whatever innovations your business ends up needing in future. With WordPress, you have the ability to innovate, pivot, and improve long term, as your business grows and evolves.
The website has also helped Gippsland Jersey to innovate and adapt during the current COVID-19 crisis. Sallie and Steve have just launched online shipping and deliveries of butter through their online store, which lets them keep supporting their customers by selling online to a wider audience.They’ve just posted off their first order of 10kg butter to a bakery in Canberra! Lakes Entrance post office is set to be busy with regular cold pack posts being shipped out.
We look forward to continuing to work with and support Sallie and Steve from Gippsland Jersey, as they continue to evolve, innovate, and become stand-out producers of milk and value-added products both at state level, and nationally.