A refillery is a relatively new business concept, where customers can bring their reusable containers to refill with essential oils, cleaning supplies, personal care items, or dry goods instead of buying new packaged items. The goal is to live more sustainably and reduce single-use plastics.
As the owner of a new small business, Hudson-based One Drop Refillery, Jennifer Fravel needed to clearly communicate what a refillery is, answer common questions, educate customers about sustainable and healthier living, and make it easy for people to explore products, classes, and ways to shop while continuing to build her new brand.
But before opening her two storefronts – on Sommers Street in North Hudson and on Second Street in downtown Hudson – Fravel needed a website. With the help of a team of business information technology and digital marketing technology capstone students from UW-Stout Polytechnic, she was prepared to launch One Drop.
“The capstone students took my vision and turned it into a website that was both functional and reflective of the One Drop brand. Most importantly for me, I wanted the website to feel welcoming and approachable — not overwhelming — for someone who may be completely new to the refill concept,” Fravel said.
Since opening its doors six months ago, One Drop Refillery customers have refilled 1,270 bottles and counting. Every refill is one less bottle bound for the landfill, and a small step toward a more intentional way of living.
Its website has had more than 2,000 visits from more than 1,200 people, said BIT capstone student Kolton Dupey, director of technology and marketing at Bernicke Wealth Management in Eau Claire.
“More than 80% of visits come from Wisconsin and Minnesota, so the site is reaching the local shoppers it was built for,” Dupey said. “Over the last 30 days, 14% of visitors were returning, higher than nearly 80% of comparable home goods sites. Now that Jenny has real customer data, she can actually see how people are shopping with her and keep refining the site.”
Capstone team members also included Brock Dudley, project manager; Kaylee Sweisford, design and user experience lead; and Molly LaVick, documentation and quality assurance. Dupey served as the team’s technical lead.
Capturing One Drop’s current vision and future plans
The capstone team members looked at Fravel’s business from the perspective of someone who wasn’t familiar with a refillery. They asked questions, researched the industry and audience, and helped identify what information a potential customer would need to understand what One Drop offers.
“That outside perspective was incredibly valuable because, as the owner, I can sometimes assume people understand the concept as well as I do. The students helped me step back and look at my business through the eyes of the customer,” Fravel said.
The students researched Hudson’s demographics, household income, and the products that sustainability-minded shoppers buy, and used that to build three buyer personas: a busy parent focused on safe products for their family, a wellness shopper who cares about ingredients, and a minimalist who wants zero waste without the hassle.
When the capstone team began their research, One Drop hadn’t opened yet, so there was no sales data or customer list to work from. “We had to build everything around who we expected would shop there. A lot of new businesses skip the step of asking who would actually buy from them, but it shapes everything from the wording on the homepage to how the products are organized. The personas gave us room to be creative with the design,” Dupey said.
Within the website, they built a personality-based product finder, which helps visitors find products that fit their lifestyles based on three quick questions. The website also needed to work well on a phone, as more than 70% of visits to One Drop’s site come from mobile devices, and it needed to function alongside the business’s point-of-sale system.
“We chose Wix because it’s easy to use, could handle both Jenny’s current vision and her future plans, and would let her update the site herself without needing a developer for every change. Once Jenny approved our initial mockup, I took over client communication, design, and the build, and refined the site through rounds of her feedback and user testing,” Dupey said.
As One Drop Refillery continues to grow, Fravel sees opportunities around marketing, social media, customer research, branding, sustainability education and developing new ways to reach the community. She hopes collaborative opportunities continue, as they create a meaningful connection between students, local businesses and the community.
“I think there are so many opportunities for a business like mine to benefit from both the creativity, fresh perspective and expertise that Stout students can bring to a project like this,” she said. “As a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats. Having a team of students bring their time, creativity, research and fresh perspective to something as important as a website was a tremendous gift. It was also rewarding to watch the students take a real-world business challenge and turn it into an experience where they could apply what they’ve learned.”
Capstone project leads Dupey to launch new business
Dupey had built a few websites on his own before, but One Drop was the first time he’d worked with a real business owner on something that mattered to her.
“You’re dealing with real feedback, real deadlines and a business counting on the site to work. A website has to be creative enough to catch someone’s eye, but it also has to make them want to do something. A good-looking site that doesn’t lead anywhere isn’t doing its job. Visitors should be able to tell within a few seconds what the business does and what their next step is, whether that’s visiting the store, becoming a member or finding a product,” he said.
When the capstone was completed, Fravel asked Dupey to keep helping with the website, which led him to officially start his own business, Dupey Consulting. Since then, he’s worked on projects for a flooring company and a wedding and decor rental business, and built a software as a service (SaaS) app and a customer relationship management (CRM) system for freelancers.
“I come from a family of small business owners, so I enjoy helping local businesses grow. I’m thankful Jenny gave me the opportunity, and to my teammates for helping get the project off the ground,” he said.
Dupey plans to graduate in 2027. After graduation, he plans to stay in his role at Bernicke Wealth Management and keep growing Dupey Consulting. “I chose BIT because it fit my schedule, came from an accredited university, and lined up with the work I already do every day,” he said. “One thing I’ve noticed is that almost everyone in the program is working full-time while going to school, which says a lot about the people in it and makes the class discussions more grounded in real experience.”
Working with clients in business and industry is part of the applied learning experience at UW-Stout Polytechnic, preparing students from Day One to enter the workforce. The university’s First Destination report shows that 100% of recent BIT and DMT graduates are employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation, and have average starting salaries of $65,000 and $51,000, respectively.
UW-Stout Polytechnic’s School of Management offers 20 undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates that build students’ leadership skills in business, hospitality and technology innovation, military science, and operations and management fields.
