What was the goal of the Nelson’s Gin Distillery optimization project?

The goal was to improve site speed, efficiency, and sustainability without redesigning or restructuring the existing website. The focus was purely on technical performance and reducing carbon emissions.

What specific performance improvements were achieved?

We achieved a 43% reduction in total page weight, 38% faster load times across key product pages, and a 32% reduction in estimated carbon emissions per visit.

Did the visual design or hosting change during the project?

No. The existing design and hosting setup were maintained. All improvements were made within the existing framework to enhance performance without altering the brand’s visual identity.

How was the website’s carbon footprint reduced?

By reducing total page size, optimizing resource requests, and improving loading efficiency, we cut unnecessary data transfer, directly lowering energy use and emissions per page load.

Nelson’s Gin Distillery

Rating: 5
Author: Stephen

eCommerce for performance, sustainability, and growth

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Reducing digital carbon and boosting performance for a premium brand.

Nelson’s Gin Distillery began with Neil Harrison’s vision: to craft premium spirits that celebrate individuality and creativity. Their website already reflected that quality, but behind the scenes, it was running heavier than it needed to. We stepped in to optimise the existing site for speed, efficiency, and sustainability, refining how it performs without changing how it looks. The goal was simple: make the digital experience cleaner, faster, and lighter on the planet.

Optimising performance without a redesign

Nelson’s Gin Distillery website was visually strong, but under the surface, it was weighed down by unoptimised scripts, large media files, and inefficient code delivery, all contributing to slower load times and higher energy use. We focused on technical refinements that make a measurable impact. Every optimisation was designed to reduce carbon emissions per visit while improving user experience and maintaining the integrity of the existing design. By streamlining performance and introducing efficiency-first development practices, we helped the site run leaner, faster, and more responsibly, proving that sustainability doesn’t require a redesign, all backed by Google Core Web Vitals.

Our approach: cleaner code, lower carbon.

We performed a full technical audit to identify and eliminate inefficiencies. This included reducing unused CSS and JavaScript, deferring non-critical scripts, compressing and reformatting images, and cleaning up redundant database queries.

Through these changes, the website’s total page weight and load times were significantly reduced, directly lowering its carbon per visit. That’s carbon reduction at its finest! To ensure long-term gains, we implemented web efficiency best practices for caching, resource loading, and accessibility compliance, creating a site that performs better for users and the planet.

Sustainable performance in action.

Our work with Nelson’s Gin Distillery proves that sustainability isn’t just about design, it’s about efficiency. By focusing purely on optimisation, we achieved measurable improvements in both speed and environmental impact, without altering the brand’s visual identity or existing structure. The results:

43% reduction in total page weight
38% faster load times across key product pages
32% lower estimated carbon emissions per visit

A small footprint, a big impact.

The improvements in speed and efficiency were immediate. Our website now loads faster, feels smoother, and aligns with our sustainability goals. A brilliant example of how small technical changes can make a big difference.

Stephen
Marketing Manager, XDNA Creative

Looking ahead

With the website now running faster and leaner, Nelson’s Gin Distillery is better equipped to deliver a premium user experience with a smaller environmental footprint. The optimised build lays the groundwork for future scalability, ensuring that as the brand continues to grow, its digital presence remains efficient, sustainable, and high-performing.

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