2020: A Year in Review

The festive period is upon us, the new year is in sight, and we’ve nearly made it through a year none of us will forget. BaseKit is incredibly proud that in spite of the twists and turns 2020 delivered, we’ve achieved many things to celebrate.
From our dedicated people to our new partnerships, there’s plenty of good news to toast. Here’s our round-up of the last twelve months: we hope it demonstrates the resiliency and determination of BaseKit and every single member of our team.

So, pour yourself a hot drink, sit back, and enjoy the highlights…

Business

A pandemic hasn’t stopped business here at BaseKit. Here’s an overview of what we’ve been up to since January:

A fresh new office

The new year brought with it a fresh start for BaseKit in the form of a new home. On the 13th February, we said goodbye to our old digs on the fifth floor of One Castle Park, Bristol. After several years it was time for fresh surroundings.

Luckily, we didn’t have to go far! Our new office was located on the ground floor of the same building. It gave us an inviting workspace and an exciting environment to work on BaseKit’s future plans.

COVID 19: remote working for all

Little did we know that only a month later, we’d be in a national lockdown. BaseKit decided to act early, putting the health of our employees and their loved ones first. On the 16th March, the entire BaseKit team decamped to their homes, ready to continue serving our partners and customers from a safe social distance.

Although BaseKit has had a home-working policy in place for a long time, everybody working from home at the same time was new for us. Like millions of people around the world, we had to adapt quickly.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our people, and the decisive action by the leadership team, we were able to continue to deliver with next to no disruption. We kept our partners up to date and emphasised our commitment as well as providing helpful content during a difficult time.

Product

Despite the unexpected direction that 2020 took us in, BaseKit stayed true to our mission: helping small businesses to thrive online. Here’s an overview of some of the things we’ve been working on in 2020. We’ve been busy, as you can see!

Here are a few of the ways we’ve made it easier for small businesses to take their stores online. We’ve:

  • Made slideshow and gallery improvements.
  • Introduced password-protected folders.
  • Enabled multiple tax rates, making it easier for sellers who trade across regional or international borders.
  • Made Facebook store integration possible.
  • Improved the ability to add products, set shipping rates, adjust settings, and amend other commerce UI.
  • Improved store onboarding.
  • Launched section animations, allowing users to highlight content and create engaging pages with animated sections.
  • Unveiled section scroll effects, meaning customers can now use parallax, zoom and fixed scrolling effects to create attractive, memorable website pages.

These are only the highlights! There are many more features we’ve been working on behind the scenes. If you’re a BaseKit partner, reach out to your account manager for a full list of new features and functionality.

Online Bookings

If you’re a BaseKit partner already, you’ll no doubt have heard us mention our new Online Bookings application this year. It’s something we’ve been working on behind the scenes… until now!

So, what is it?

Online bookings is a new application that allows businesses to take and manage bookings via their website. More than that, it’s designed so that payments can be taken at the point of booking, making life easier for busy small business owners.

Service businesses have had a tough year. We’re so excited that as well as helping eCommerce businesses to thrive, we can now look forward to supporting the people who offer services and experiences. As the good news of a vaccine slowly becomes a reality and we start to look forward to the experiences we’ve missed, BaseKit will be ready to support those people. Whether it’s a haircut or a restaurant meal, online bookings will make life a little easier for business owners, so they can focus on their customers.

Like all of our products, it will be mobile-first so that the customer experience is seamless, no matter what device they use. This new white-label online bookings product will connect with users’ existing calendar, meaning that new businesses and side hustles can fit around family commitments and the day job. Keep your eyes open in early summer 2021 for launch news!

People

We’re super proud of the work we’ve done this year. Though in all honesty, none of it would be possible without our amazing team. We’re thrilled that despite the challenges of 2020, we’ve onboarded four new BaseKiteers and are recruiting for two more.

New starters…

At the height of the UK lockdown, we welcomed Emma to our marketing team and Paul in operations. Though the onboarding process was a little different to usual, both have made a great impact and have settled into life at BaseKit – both winning awards at this years Christmas party!

Recently, Lily joined BaseKit as a Support Agent and Akeam became the latest member of the BaseKit family, joining us as our latest Front-End Developer. We’re delighted to have added to our team and look forward to sharing their profiles with you as we get to know them both.

…and ongoing recruitment

Looking beyond 2020, our recruitment doesn’t stop there! We’re recruiting for two new team members. Our plans for the next year and the future are ambitious and we’re excited to meet the next generation of BaseKit’s team. Keep an eye on our careers page and BaseKit Life Twitter account for more recruitment announcements coming throughout 2021!

Partnerships

Relationships are key to BaseKit’s success and none more so than those we have with our partners. We’ve strengthened key affiliations this year and secured those relationships with exciting new business deals.

New relationships

The Coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the need for small businesses to have a reliable web presence, including a domain name, email addresses, and website or online store. As lockdowns took hold around the world, small businesses had no choice but to take their stores online, proving the need for service providers to support their small business customers with the right products to succeed.

We’re delighted that both Etisalat and Liquid Telecom share our vision and we’re happy to announce they both join us as BaseKit partners this year. Among others, we’re looking forward to forging productive relations with both Telecoms giants and we’re excited to support their small business customers with a white-label website builder and e-commerce platform.

You can read the full press releases and see what BaseKit CEO, Simon Best, and the respective partners had to say below:

BaseKit partners with Etisalat

BaseKit launches partnership with Liquid Telecom

Looking ahead to 2021

What a year it’s been! Though businesses, families and individuals have faced many challenges, the new year is within reach. As we look back on a year we never imagined twelve months ago, we’re proud to have reached this point.

So, let our final words of 2020 be words of gratitude: thank you for your hard work, for walking with us on the path, and for putting your faith in us. We are so excited to continue the journey with you in a happy, healthy new year. 

We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. View more
Cookies settings
Accept
Privacy & Cookie policy
Privacy & Cookies policy
Cookie name Active
Privacy Policy

  1. Introduction This privacy policy sets out how we use and protect any information that you provide to BaseKit. We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Any personal information you provide when using our products or services will only be used in accordance with this policy. Note that this policy does not cover how we use and protect information provided to us from website builder customers. If you are a Go Sitebuilder customer, please see the Go Sitebuilder Privacy Policy. If you are a customer of another company that offers BaseKit’s website builder, please see the company’s privacy policy available via their website. We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from January 2019.  

2. What information we collect We may collect the information you provide when you get in touch with us via the website, email, or phone.
  • You transfer your information to us via the website by filling in and submitting a form. We offer a number of different forms to help you find out more about the products and services we offer.
  • We have a number of different email addresses you can use to contact us. If you’re not sure which one to use then we recommend you send an email to support@basekit.com
  • We don’t provide a central phone number but BaseKit team members may provide their direct phone number for you to contact them.
 

3. How we use the information The information that we collect and store about you is primarily used to help us to stay in touch with you to provide our products and services. However, we may also use your information:
  • To improve our products and services
  • To send promotional email communications about special offers, news, product updates or other information which we think you may find interesting
  • To contact you for market research purposes
Note that we will only use your information as described in 3 and 4 above when you have explicitly opted in to receive such communications. You may opt out of these communications at any time by clicking the Unsubscribe link in any email or by sending a request to support@basekit.com  

4. Storing your personal data We store the data we collect using third party tools such as CRMs and databases. Any data we store is only accessible directly by a small number of authorised staff. The third parties that we use may store your data in locations outside of the EEA. We carefully review each supplier to ensure they handle data in line with this policy. We will store your data for as long as you remain a customer of BaseKit, or where you have actively been in contact with us about our products and services. We will keep data for up to 5 years if you’re not a customer or if we don’t hear from you.  

5. Security We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic, and managerial processes to secure and safeguard the data we collect and store. The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent to us electronically. The transmission of data is entirely at your own risk.  

6. How we use cookies A cookie is a small file which allows websites and apps to identify individual users and store information about each user’s preferences. A cookie does not give access to any more information than a user chooses to provide. We use cookies:
  • To identify where visitors to the website came from
  • To identify the content that is being viewed
The third party suppliers that we work with may also use cookies for similar purposes. We carefully review each supplier to ensure they handle data in line with this policy. You may choose to enable or disable cookies. Most web browsers automatically enable cookies, but you can usually modify a browser’s settings to disable cookies if you prefer. If you disable cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of our websites.  

7. Disclosing your information We may disclose your information to third party suppliers that we work with to provide our products and services. We carefully review each supplier to ensure they handle data in line with this policy. We may also disclose your information where we are required to do so by law.  

8. Controlling your personal information You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:
  • When providing any information to BaseKit via this website, you may opt in to receive promotional email communications.
  • If you receive a promotional email, you may opt out by clicking the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
  • At any time you can opt out of promotional email communications by sending a request to support@basekit.com
  • If you would like us to delete all the information we have collected about you, send a request to support@basekit.com
  • If you would like to otherwise restrict the use of the information we have collected about you, send a request to support@basekit.com
  • Should you wish to access the information we hold about you, please send a request to support@basekit.com
Save settings
Cookies settings