Company name: Evopure – https://www.evopure.co.uk/
Founders: Elliot Blackler and Tom Buckland
What is Evopure? A CBD oil startup which is a natural remedy for balancing moods, anxiety and improving overall wellbeing. The product is farm-to-table, coming directly from organic hemp farms and Evopure works with environmental groups to ensure each product arrives carbon free.
TechRound spoke to Elliot Blackler, the founder of new CBD oil start-up, Evopure, to better understand how he started the business, his passion for sustainability and transparency and his plans to grow the business.
When did you start Evopure? What was the lightbulb moment?
I remember talking to my family one day and recalling that my Dad, Grandma and Aunt were starting to use CBD products and were seeing a huge improvement in how they were treating things like sore joints, anxiety and arthritis.
I was always aware of CBD products and then I started discussing the potential opportunities with my business partner Tom. We noticed that there was no standout brand for CBD in the UK or someone presenting it as part of a lifestyle.
A bit more research and I discovered a lot of poor information was being distributed about CBD usage in the UK, including what dosages and percentages people should be taking. It is a bit of grey area with a lot of ‘snake oil’ salesman jumping on the bandwagon and there is currently no real go-to resource.
So when we starting to put Evopure together, we wanted to help educate consumers and deliver a product that was focused around sustainable eCommerce – being able to sell things online that are organic and sustainable to the environment.
How did you source the CBD and get the ingredients together?
I started ordering CBD samples but I couldn’t find a supplier that was transparent – and all my samples came from other distributors who didn’t produce it themselves. We wanted to work with the farmers directly – and we spoke to different suppliers from Croatia and other parts of Eastern Europe but couldn’t get a straight answer on lab results.
Then one day, someone reached out to my friend Tom and it was a hemp farmer from Spain and they were very forward with the lab test results and gave us feedback on anything we asked. We visited the site and were impressed and we really liked that it was organically grown.
How did it become an on-the-shelf product?
Our hemp farmers in Spain have a CO2 extraction unit – so they can extract all the natural compounds including vitamins, Omegas and cannabinoids in the most natural way possible.
They label it, package it and send it to us directly. We always order in small batches so we can check the quality, ensure freshness and avoid having lots of unused product sitting around.
We are very passionate about transparency and with every order we send the customer 3rd party lab results showing exactly what’s in each bottle. We want every customer to feel safe and understand the value of the product.
What are the challenges to the business and how do you overcome them?
There are lot of challenges, for instance, we cannot use paid platforms like Adwords, Google Shopping and Facebook Ads due to the product being outside advertising guidelines. So there are no quick sales to consumers and we have to work on more organic and time intensive marketing.
The industry landscape is changing, and you always have to keep up with the news. For instance, there are now some types of CBD that you cannot sell. The CBD has grown so quickly that legislation is often playing catch up, which means we have to constantly be aware of changes around the corner.
What are your plans for the next few years?
Short term, we are looking at becoming a subscription service, since a lot of our customers are repeat customers who use the product, love it, and then need to re-order. So it makes sense for us to be sending products to the same people on weekly or monthly basis.
Long term, we plan to introduce more products and oils and are open to introducing different flavours, tastes, capsules, gummies and other potential spin-offs depending on the demand of our customers. Importantly, Evopure is also looking to rebuild the way ecommerce is run for a new era. In light of our increasingly desperate climate, Evopure wants to set an example in the industry of how to build a truly sustainable brand.
For more information, visit: https://www.evopure.co.uk/ or email Elliot directly at: [email protected]
