Request for Quotation – Website with online shop

Ref
Expression of Interest closing date 01/10/2021
Overview

Background
The Willow Wand Limited produce a beautiful decorative mini willow tree. The award-winning Willow Wand ® is hand crafted in the UK from 9 living willow stems which are expertly selected by our master weavers and woven by hand with great accuracy and skill into a visually stunning, symmetrical ‘Wand’.
We supply via wholesale to garden centres across the UK, direct to the consumer through marketing on channels such as Facebook, consumer shows and via our web shop.

Requirement
The existing website (www.willowwand.co.uk) needs rebuilding with customer journey in mind. The website must be inclusive to all our stakeholders and as such we will need sections as below:

  • Home page
  • About
  • Planting and aftercare
  • FAQs – searchable and easy to navigate
  • Where to purchase (Online shop and our stockists)
  • Stockists – listing (ideally with a map)
  • Blog
  • Wholesale – section for new garden centres/ retailers to express interest
  • Events
  • Contact us
  • Media

In addition, we would like to connect Mailchimp so people can sign up for our newsletter, social media links and automation for order fulfilment that then populates Mailchimp.

We are open to suggestions regarding other potential pages, including how to split the main pages further e.g. if it is thought that the ‘About’ section would be better in subpages, such as ‘Our Mission’ or ‘Meet the Team’. We also have some great comments and images from customers that we would like to incorporate somehow.

In terms of branding – the colours used will incorporate those on the existing site and the imagery will be similar although we have a larger catalogue of images than are on the existing site. The company has a strong ethos of care, quality and sustainability and this should be reflected through the site.

The following website features are essential:

  • User-friendly Shopify website with block editor, as we will need to add blogs/news/updates and edit the site on a regular basis;
  • An optimised website which is aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-use on both desktop and mobile;
  • Capable of hosting video/movement and an area for long-form copy (perhaps a blog/news page).
  • Good internal links e.g. if we posted an important news story in our blog section, that should be visible on the homepage;
  • Social media handles and easy-to-add social media links.
  • Both ‘click-to-contact’ capabilities and a contact form on the ‘contact’ page and also a form on the wholesale page
  • eCommerce (Shopify)

We are also interested in:

  • Website hosting and maintenance
  • Enhanced initial SEO (not a monthly subscription)

Deliverable Timescale
We expect the project to commence no later than Monday 11 October, and to be completed by Wednesday 10 November 2021.

Evaluation Criteria
Quotations will be assessed and scored on the following criteria:
Cost (40%)
Understanding of the brief/clarity of quotation (30%)
Delivery timescales (20%)
Demonstrable skills and understanding of the industry sector (10%)

Scoring Methodology

Click here to view full RFQ

Proposal Format
Proposals should clearly demonstrate how they meet the requirement set out above.

Deadline and Submission
Proposals for consideration are required by 5pm on Friday 1 October 2021 and should be submitted by email to simon@willowwand.co.uk

Date Published – 22 September 2021

1) This work is part funded by the European Reional Development fund.

2) ERDF Indicative Budget

This work will be part funded though the European Regional Development Fund.  The project falls within the *£2,500 – £24,999 bracket and therefore, under current Public Procurement Regulations, there is no formal tender procedure, but a detailed written quotation is required.

(*NB this figure is the ERDF regulations figure. IT IS NOT THE BUDGET FOR THIS PROJECT)

3) Conditions of Tender

Please be aware that due to the relatively low indicative budget for this work (i.e. less than the current OJEU limits) there is no regulatory obligation for us to provide feedback if you are unsuccessful.
We reserve the right to discontinue this tender process at any time and not award a contract.
You will not be entitled to claim from us any costs or expenses which you may incur in preparing and/or submitting your Tender at any stage of this exercises.  This applies whether or not your organisation is successful.