Store location: West Country
Enquiry: Organic cooking ingredients
This West Country store must be in line for our award for expanding business with a user-friendly online shop. The key? A great line-up of products combined with a personal touch and promotional material that makes you come back for more…
First impressions
I find this shop’s website homepage quite inviting – they’ve managed to fit in a lot, including shop events, new products and special offers, without it feeling too overwhelming.
A pop-up shown upon landing on the website offers an online discount in return for signing up to their email marketing.
I can see that this store’s web shop offers a broad range of quality natural food, bodycare and supplement products. I feel happy that I’ll be able to find the organic cooking ingredients that I’m looking for.
Verdict 9/10
Website layout
I find the online shop categories easy to navigate and the option to filter products – for example by dietary requirements – very useful.
However, I sometimes don’t spot when products are in-store only – I would find it really helpful to be able to filter those out too as I’m looking for products for delivery.
Product pages are clearly laid out and mostly include all the information I would want. I think the exceptions are new products which still have some details to follow when I revisit the site.
Verdict 9/10
Personal attention
The website includes a blog, with informative articles, news of in-store events and links to products in their online shop.
The physical store has lots of lovely reviews from happy customers. Their social media accounts are also mainly focused on the physical shop and are kept regularly updated with news.
I receive a call when the shop is packing my order, as one product is unavailable – they arrange a substitution with me over the phone, which feels like a nice personal touch.
Verdict 10/10
Check out
Checkout is pretty smooth – I run into what seems to be a slight blip when trying to remove one product from my basket but the problem doesn’t reoccur for me.
Delivery and in-store collection options are shown clearly throughout, although the cost of delivery is only calculated towards the end of the process.
I like the fact that I’m offered the opportunity to review my order before confirming it – I find it useful to check that I’ve entered everything correctly.
My order is delivered on time and very securely packed. A couple of attractive leaflets are included, giving me the shop’s contact and social media details plus an offer which can be used on a future order.
Verdict 9/10
Overall impression
Overall I find this shopping experience pleasant and straightforward, with plenty of incentives to return. Which I no doubt will…
Verdict 9/10
Total marks 46/50
Read the previous Secret Shopper report here...
The Secret Shopper Award for excellence in online shopping by an independent health store will be announced in our Spring 2025 issue.