A Hybrid WooCommerce Redesign for Hempen Organic, the UK's First Certified Organic Hemp Co-operative
Year: 2022
https://www.hempen.co.uk/
Hempen Organic is the UK’s first certified organic hemp farm, operating as a not-for-profit worker co-operative based in Oxfordshire. Selling CBD oils, hemp foods, cosmetics, and clothing alongside running community events and a co-operative membership programme, their digital requirements span retail, subscriptions, donations, and community engagement.
Cude Design delivered a full WooCommerce redesign that brought all of these functions together into a single, well-structured platform.
High Risk Payments, Subscriptions and Donations
CBD is classified as a high-risk product category by mainstream payment processors, so standard payment gateways are unavailable. Cude Design integrated a specialist high-risk payment gateway to handle product sales securely and in compliance with UK regulations.
Subscription payments were added for members and recurring customers, and a donation function was built to support Hempen’s community crowdfunding activity after the company was removed from mainstream crowdfunding platforms due to its product category.
What We Said
A Complex WooCommerce Build for a Purpose-Driven, Regulated Business
Hybrid Theme Build
The project used a hybrid approach combining a custom theme with bespoke elements developed to meet Hempen’s specific requirements. This gave the build the flexibility to reflect Hempen’s distinctive brand and community identity while keeping the architecture manageable and the site straightforward for the Hempen team to maintain and update.
High Risk Payment Gateway Integration
Selling CBD products online requires a specialist payment gateway that can handle high-risk merchant accounts within UK regulatory requirements. Cude Design identified, integrated, and tested the appropriate payment solution, ensuring customers could complete purchases securely without the friction that poorly configured high-risk payment setups typically introduce at checkout.
Sitemap Remapping and Migration
The redesign began with a full sitemap audit to map the existing content structure and plan the transition to the new build. Hempen’s product range, blog content, event pages, and community information all needed to be accounted for in the new architecture. The migration was planned carefully to avoid broken links, preserve search engine rankings, and ensure a smooth handover for the team.
