E-commerce websites
An online shop is only as good as its product data and its checkout. Vanilla Rain designs and builds e-commerce websites on WooCommerce, the shop system that runs inside WordPress, and plans each one from Newbury, West Berkshire. The work covers the storefront, the catalogue behind it, payments and delivery, and photography that shows the products properly.
Shops that also sell to trade customers often need account pricing, bulk ordering or payment on invoice rather than by card. Those needs are far easier to design in at the start than to bolt on later, so they are part of the first conversation.
The work
What goes into an online shop
Product data
Ranges are organised into sensible categories, attributes and variations. Large supplier files can be imported and refreshed in bulk, with pricing rules such as a markup applied automatically.
Trade and B2B ordering
Account customers can be given their own prices, minimum quantities and payment terms, kept separate from what retail shoppers see on the same site.
Checkout and payments
A short checkout using the payment providers your customers expect, set up and tested with real transactions before the shop opens to the public.
Delivery rules
Delivery zones, charges by weight or order value, collection options and limits on what ships where are configured to match how your business actually dispatches orders.
Product photography
Consistent product shots, close detail and in-use images give shoppers what they cannot get from handling the item. Photography can be planned around the shop’s layout from the outset.
Running it yourselves
Your staff add products, change prices and process orders through the WordPress dashboard, and are shown the tasks they will do every week before the shop goes live.
Relevant work
Shops and product imagery
Spode
For Spode, a WordPress store that ingests supplier data running to thousands of line items, adds a markup and handles ordering, delivery and B2B needs.
Ashur Lighting
Photography of Ashur Lighting’s products, used in its catalogue and on its online store, covering detail shots, products in use and styled set-ups.
Where the work happens
Newbury, West Berkshire and further afield
Retailers and wholesalers in Newbury, Thatcham or Theale can be visited on site to look at stock, systems and how orders are fulfilled today, and product photography can be arranged there when items are awkward to move. Shops for clients in Andover, Winchester and further across the UK can be planned and built entirely remotely.
Questions
Common questions
We have thousands of products from suppliers. Can the shop cope?
Yes, provided the supplier data is usable. The first step is looking at the files your suppliers actually send, because their format decides how imports, price rules and regular updates are set up, and what that work will cost.
Can trade customers order on the same site as the public?
Yes. Trade accounts see their own prices and terms once logged in, while retail visitors see standard pricing. Details such as credit accounts or minimum orders are agreed in the written scope, so the price is fixed from the outset.
Which payment providers can we use?
Whichever suits your business and your bank. Stripe, PayPal and the main card processors all work with WooCommerce, and if you already have a merchant account the shop can usually be connected to it.
Can you help us sell more once the shop is live?
Search work, Google Shopping and paid social can all be run for the shop and measured on what each order or enquiry costs, not on clicks. Because the photography and ad creative come from the same studio, the shop and its advertising look consistent.
Services
Related to online shop systems
Online catalogue systems
One central product database feeding your website, price lists and printed catalogues, so product information is updated once and stays accurate everywhere.
Product photography
Consistent product photography for online stores, catalogues and advertising, covering every angle, detail and in-use shot a buyer needs to decide.
WordPress development
Custom WordPress websites built for speed and security, with an admin your team can use and full ownership of the site and its files handed over.
Talk through the shop
Send a rough product count, a sample of your supplier data if you have it, and say whether trade customers will order online too. Or call Alistair on 07585 263824.
Design studio in Newbury, West Berkshire. Brand, design, visual production and digital marketing, handled by one studio from the first brief to the finished work.
Services
Studio
Contact
- ag@vanillarain.co.uk
- 07585 263824
- Newbury, West Berkshire
Vanilla Rain Ltd is registered in England and Wales, Company No. 14099028. Copyright © 2026 Vanilla Rain Ltd. Client work shown on this site remains the property of the clients concerned.