Growing Green: BIOS Nutrients’ Journey to Digital and Organic Success
Driven by their passion for sustainability, BIOS Nutrients, took a step to enhance their digital presence with support from the Canada Digital Adoption Program. With e-commerce and fiscal support from CDAP, owner Aaron was able to double his sales by improving his customer retention strategy and cybersecurity measures, setting the business up for long-term e-commerce growth.
BIOS Nutrients, based in Guelph, Ontario, was founded by Aaron Deacon with the mission of reversing the damage caused by synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. After learning about the environmental harm inflicted by these chemicals over more than a century, Aaron studied soil biology and discovered that living organisms in soil are essential to plant growth and protection. Inspired by these findings, BIOS Nutrients began developing organic fertilizers and pesticides that work with nature to eliminate the need for synthetic chemicals.
Aaron recognized that to scale BIOS Nutrients and reach more eco-conscious customers, he needed to strengthen his business’s e-commerce presence. He sought support from the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) and accessed the $2,400 microgrant and E-Commerce Advisor support to increase cybersecurity measures and strengthen the company’s digital presence.
“We had a good plan of what we wanted to implement coming into the program, and (the E-Commerce Advisor) helped us navigate what the best choices were for the program and how to implement them best.”
With the help of their dedicated E-commerce Advisor, BIOS Nutrients enhanced their website’s cybersecurity to ensure that customer transactions were safe.
“Security was one of my biggest concerns as I scaled,” Aaron explained.
The newly implemented cybersecurity measures gives Aaron peace of mind that his customers can shop securely on his e-commerce store, which also increases brand trust and improves customer experience.
The $2,400 CDAP microgrant helped pay for these cybersecurity measures and allowed Aaron to install a new customer management system that connects to his e-commerce store which will enable him to track customer data and tailor his e-commerce strategy moving forward. It also provided Aaron with the funds for software to support his e-commerce store with customer emails like weekly newsletters, abandon cart emails, thank you emails and more. Lastly, the grant supported targeted advertising campaigns. This all led to an impressive 50% increase in sales.
” We launched advertisements that grew our sales by 50% and we were able to implement (e-commerce tools) to effectively track and nurture these new customers to create a life-time customer.”
With the help of the CDAP program, BIOS Nutrients is well-positioned for growth over the next five years. Aaron plans to continue advertising online, expanding his product lines, and providing value to his customers through their now-enhanced e-commerce presence. His long-term goal is to continue increasing revenue through online sales.
“I expect our business to grow significantly over the next 5 years by continuing to advertise online and offering massive value to existing customers. We plan to continue developing our product lines and our goals would be to hit a 7-figure year through e-commerce sales alone.”
Connect with BIOS Nutrients and explore their products on their e-commerce site and follow them on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates and product releases.
If you’re looking for e-commerce resources to support your business check out the DMS Resource Hub.
Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay and Canada Post.
As part of the Canada Digital Adoption Program, the Government of Canada has partnered with Digital Main Street to deliver the Grow Your Business Online grant to small businesses in Ontario. The program offers eligible business owners a micro-grant of up to $2,400 to help with the costs related to implementing an e-commerce strategy and hands-on support from a network of E-commerce Advisors.
