Over 500 billion paper, styrofoam, and other single-use cups are used globally each year. As the popularity of on-the-go coffee continues to rise, so does this number. Shockingly, this equates to about 50 million trees chopped down just for the sake of coffee convenience.
A group of friends in Torquay, Australia were baffled by this wasteful behavior. And so, after two years of careful research and planning, in 2012, JOCO Cups was born.
We chatted with the JOCO Cups team about what inspired them, their gorgeous site design and photography, and how they’re using WooCommerce to promote conscientious on-the-go coffee. Read on for more.
Reusable cups that respect the environment — and your taste buds
The JOCO Cups team was inspired to create their reusable cups thanks to a former workplace tearoom. As the story goes, the JOCO directors were baffled by the amount of disposable cups overflowing out of a trash can in the break area. In fact, there were even reusable cups on hand that were being passed up in favor of the wasteful paper ones.
The team of friends who witnessed this behavior put their heads together to come up with a solution. They wanted something that was both friendly to the environment, but also captured the art form that coffee-drinking and pouring has become. As they said to us:
Coffee, from start to finish, is a refined art form and drinking it is a legit fashion statement, but tossing disposable coffee cups is a common daily habit. The good mates came together to raise a little brainchild: a reusable glass coffee cup that heightened our beloved coffee drinking experience and reduced the impact of disposable paper, plastic, and styrofoam cups. The cup had to look and feel good, and be barista friendly.
After two years of research and design, the first JOCO glass cup was officially launched in Australia in 2012. The availability of the cups has expanded since, with online delivery to the USA commencing in late 2013, and stockists now selling JOCO all around the world.
Amazing product imagery that appeals to your sense of style
One of the first things you’ll likely notice when you visit the JOCO website is the photographs. The cups are front and center, expertly photographed, and present in all the site’s images.
We asked the JOCO team about their gorgeous site, and they confessed that it was very much intentional:
We are very aware of the fact that appealing imagery can greatly influence the selection and purchase of a product online. The time invested in creating our visual campaigns certainly contributes to driving higher engagement and sales for JOCO. We always ensure that our imagery captures our products in a variety of settings to achieve broad appeal in the marketplace.
Great photography and tasty graphics are also a passion of ours so it makes sense that our interests are reflected strongly online with JOCO.
These “tasty graphics” can be seen all over the site, not only in the store but also in the lookbook and all across the brand’s inspired blog as well.
The photos do a fantastic job, we think, of showing JOCO Cups in a variety of settings — not only in cafes (as the new LUX glass is displayed above) but also in the hands of coffee drinkers on the move, campers, office workers, and so on. So many people love coffee — those people would love JOCO, too!
JOCO’s success illustrates how important it is to show your products in the hands of customers — it makes it easier for them to visualize the product in their lives.
How WooCommerce is helping JOCO succeed
Speaking of love, the JOCO crew showered us in it:
We have found WooCommerce to be very adaptable. It has integrated effectively with all of our 3rd party systems as a result it has allowed for seamless operation. Our day to day runs smoothly thanks to WooCommerce.
The JOCO shop is powered by WooCommerce at its core. The team also uses our Table Rate Shipping extension to simplify the otherwise complex process of calculating worldwide shipping costs for its cups, and Conversio to power up email receipts and shipping notices.
The team said they were happy with WooCommerce’s adaptability — thanks to WordPress at its core — plus its thriving community of developers debugging issues and creating new extensions.
They’re equally pleased with the consistency of updates and version releases. As they put it:
WooCommerce is the perfect fit for JOCO. A guarantee to our online success.
We couldn’t be happier they think so.
The team’s advice for up-and-coming store owners
We asked the crew of JOCO Cups what advice they would give, based on their own experiences starting a business and working with WooCommerce, to new shop owners. Here’s a bit of what they said:
Have your brand messaging — the visual look, feel and language — set from the start. Spend the extra time creating an appealing brand and website.
Invest in developing a brand that consumers want to be associated with and belong to, as a tribe or community. From here you can apply the structural fundamentals of setting up a good and functional online store to yield a successful result.
The team also advised doing your research to find solid, reliable third party platforms to assist with factors like shipping, logistics, and financials prior to launch to avoid headaches. If you make mistakes, learn quickly from them, and move forward to stay on track.
Finally, we adored this cheerful bit of advice:
Most importantly, have fun along the way. It’s a great journey!
Become part of the JOCO revolution
If on-the-go coffee is part of your day, drop by the JOCO Cups shop and pick up one of these stylish yet sustainable glass cups. Your taste buds will thank you.
Seeking more inspiration? We’ve got a showcase full of it. Drop by the WooCommerce Showcase to see more sites just like JOCO’s, hand-crafted and full of love.
