The Present Shop

[Weirfire]

From a business point of view, I would very much appreciate you guys to give my website www.thepresentshop.co.uk a review

Please indicate whether you would buy from this site and what changes you would make to increase customer reliability.


I really appreciate the help :)

[Astaroth]

As purely personal opinion:

1) I dont like the text menus on the left and right - not really sure what is wrong with them but they look a little plain and verging on feeling unprofessional

2) The javascript mouse over on the left menu is inconsitant when using Opera

3) Personally dont like Ebay so tend to steer clear of companies making a big thing about their ebay store

4) Ebay logo has white speckles arround it

5) I would have "add to cart" rather than buy against each item

6) To me the T&Cs should contain your delivery pricing/ delivery options (eg express delivery, can you have it sent to a different address than where your card is registered, do you ship internationally etc)

7) very glad to see you arent just using paypal for credit card payments as sites that can only use paypal really scream unreliable company to me. I would prefer for a company I am using to have an intergrated payment solution rather than being transfered to an alternative site which hasnt been branded to my design/ seamlessly intergrated but given you have a fair amount of "we are a chain of real shops too" on the site you may over come this

8) The option to register is fairly small and hidden - when you do find it I would rather read about all the wonderful benefits I will get before I have to enter all my closely guarded personal details

9) If you miss enter your username/ password (or enter nothing) the error page doesnt match the rest of the design

10) a few times (eg the novelty) the pages dont resolve correctly in Opera - havent checked if this is a compatability issue or if an inherent problem


Sorry if this sounds all negative but it is always easier to mention the points that need considering than just list a large list of "I like the Font, I like the logo" etc

[kyber]

Some quick feedback for you. First impressions. I have not gone through the sales cycle.

I found the site a little overwhelming and would suggest that you consider use of a little more whitespace. I note some of your photos are on white backgrounds but others are not.

One first landing, I was not clear about what to read. Nothing stood out particularly (other than the badly aliased ebay logo).

I find the darkish green with white on it a bit too much and not a friendly colour. It may well be part of the brand VI but if not, I would look to a pastel.

The font choice is not obviously great, I would look at tweaking the style accordingly. Also, add some margins around the best buys special offers text as they are too close too the borders at the moment.

I have a reasonably large laptop screen and run 1400x1050. I had to scroll on the first page to read everything. Not ideal. Your logo and ebay link take up a lot of vertical estate.

The top menu and catalogue did not stand out much for me. Boring in fact.

I suggest you do a design comparison with sites like amazon.co.uk and see how they use whitespace and break sections up. Your central section is not properly distinct from the sidebars.

Personally, I do not feel it appropriate to have Google adverts on this kind of site. Surely you want to attract buyers to your site and not encourage them to leave. Any revenue from Google to you is lost opportunity in my view.

Overall, there is a lack of branding and style. The about us page has a grey background, the contact us form has a white background.

You need breadcrumbs or similar. For example, when I select Collectables and then Thunderbirds, the heading in the centre section still says that I am in Collectables. I can not tell where I am. The menu on the left does not tell me either. (It would be easy to change to style of the selected menu entry.)

After adding something to basket, there is no button to continue browsing the shop.

Your title tag is not being well used. "Gifts in Fife". You would do better with the search engines if you updated the title in relation to where you are in your catalogue. (Oddly enough, you will be slightly better off putting the unchanging bit, the company name, at the end of the title if needed at all.)

Hope you find this helpful.

Also, read SillyJokes' feedback to another site here (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=31239#31239). Should get you thinking.

Stuart

[Weirfire]

Thanks guys for the fantastic feedback on the site. I will definitely consider your points when making changes. I have around 70 reviews to review funnily enough and both of yours are right up at the top of the list for being helpful.

Thanks again and if anyone else has anything they want to add, please let me know.

Stephen

[clairemackaness]

Just looks like a jewlerry shop at first glance. If someone wanted handbags or scottish stuff they might just pop straight back to google.

[TWD-Tony]

As above really, oh and loose the Google Ads....

Some website's (info based sites) get away with Google ads fine, but eCommerce site's shouldn't be using them - it looks cheap and nasty (In my honest opinion obviously :wink: )

Tony

[MorethanWords]

There's so much to look at on the first page - it's really hard to decide where to which could put shoppers off. It's almost aggressive that everything is so big and 'there'. Maybe it's to do with the colour and the fact that it's all so bold.

Having said that you have an extensive range of lovely items, I just think the home page needs to be cleaned up a litte. I wouldn't have just jewellery to view on the homepage either. Maybe just a couple of different things. And I agree that the buy button should be changed. I also think it would be good to add a wish list function as it's a gift shop.

[Weirfire]

I have a list of around 60 things to change/add on the site after getting several reviews . So far I've done half of them. What do think of the changes so far reviewers? :)


Thanks
Stephen

[JaneOwen]

A bit of legal info - have look at these guidance notes which will affect your terms and conditions:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/1E6F3C94-8BB0-4374-A65B-6281E030C3C9/0/oft698.pdf

If you get stuck PM me or give me a call :-)

[SillyJokes]

I'm thinking of charging £500 for an honest review of any online shop.

Would you pay that? Personally I think it's peanuts and may raise it to £1250 shortly.

It's looking better but the image quality lets you down, your left had menus are too long and too close togehter, making it hard to click your choice.

While I appreciate a lot of people like paypal it is still seen as the payment processor of choice for cheapskates and amateurs and reflects as such on your site.


Can you customise the HSBC pages at all? It looks a bit odd without evena logo. The back button from this page is broken making it iimpossible o get back to your site to add more products to the basket.

[Weirfire]

A bit of legal info - have look at these guidance notes which will affect your terms and conditions:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/1E6F3C94-8BB0-4374-A65B-6281E030C3C9/0/oft698.pdf

If you get stuck PM me or give me a call :-)

Does it make a difference that they have 2 high street stores?

Thanks for the info, I will pass this on to my client.

Silly Jokes - Thanks for those comments and I will definitely look into customizing the HSBC pages but I have a feeling that I won't be able to do anything with them. Setting up the payments through HSBC was a big enough battle as it was.

[MorethanWords]

I think it is looking a lot tidier now. I'd suggest making the paypal and card logos on the left a little smaller though.

[JaneOwen]

Does it make a difference that they have 2 high street stores?

No, the requirements in the guidance notes I posted apply to all businesses selling online to consumers. The products they sell online will be subject to the requirements, but it's unlikely to affect the sales from their shop.

Hope that helps :-)

[duenna]

Great looking shop!

BUT!

Your source code has huge gaps of white space. This adds to file size. Your Meta tags are wrong and need dire attention.

Finally............... The pictures of the goods you are selling, try and devise a commen them to them. It makes the site more presentable.

[Richard]

Please indicate whether you would buy from this site and what changes you would make to increase customer reliability.
Hi

What about encryption for securely transmitting information?

Most eCommerce Websites use a certificate don't they? :roll:

Since eBay took over PayPal, it's become a more robust method for collecting small payments.

Having myself received a full refund from PayPal when an eBay seller proved to be fraudulent, I'm confident that their reputation will only improve.

As far as making the shop successful I believe that its more to do with how you deliver the goods rather than how you take the order. :wink:

Presumably, you have an eBay presence where you've tested the marketplace?

All the best.

Richard