Advice on new site please.

[halo1234]

Hi, I've recently bought an e-commerce website. To save money I've revamp the website myself. So I've had to learn practically everything that goes along with this in the last few months. The problem is now I've finished I'm not sure if I've taken the site in the right direction.

uk-clobber.com

Have a look & see what you think, I'm looking for feedback on a few points:

- From an e-commerce site is it easy to purchase from.
- Does the site have its own identity & some form of emotion towards the product
- What would you change to improve the experience?

I'm considering dumping the front page, or integrating the front with the category page. This would remove several clicks from the process. I'm thinking about simplifying the whole site perhaps too. I'm even thinking about a very basic flash intro like bigactive.com. So nice short & simple so not to annoy. I’ll need to learn how to use flash, so this is not a priority.

 

[Astaroth]

I am sure I have seen this design before - but it could be that you have posted it before for review.

Personally I like the design but the majority of the design and images do not in my opinion fit the products - the look is "Skater" but the clothes are "Designer" (ps I am not a fashion expert so could be wrong)

The functionality is fairly standard - the sizing options werent in the natural order of XXL -> XXS though

Using Firefox the add to cart button is touching and therefore disappearing into the email a friend bar.

On the shipping page I personally dont like the way you have mixed up US and UK states/ counties - there is also no option for "none of the above" if the buyer doesnt live in the UK or the USA - may not be a frequent problem but why allow people to say they live in Vantican City as their country but then forcing them to say the live in Yorkshire?

For your sake I would validate that email address are in the right format, that telephone numbers are actually numerical etc as at present it will accept anything.

Change the default payment option to your prefered payment option rather than by telephone

Even if you say you live in Vatican City the payment page defaults to uk delivery prices - really it should default to the appropriate lowest price option (like wise the £200 free delivery should be automatic) and it should validate the option so someone cannot select a UK delivery if they have said they want it delivered to Bosnia.

 

[Sue F]

To be fair I am a bit of an old bat and don't think I can claim to ever have been fashionable but the site looks pretty cool to me.

Not sure I can help you on the brand emotion score ... it makes me wish I was younger and the lad on the homepage in the black and white photo is very cute which I suppose classes as an emotional response :biggrin:

I like the tab navigation at the top and actually I really like the home page too ... it's all very easy to work out so it shouldn't cause a problem.

I'm always warn out and in a hurry so on line shops have to be straight forward for me to be bothered and I was happy.

The only thing I'd say is that I knew I had to click on the product or the description to get to the part that has the Add To Basket button because I've got some sites of my own but I'd suggest the addition of Click here for more info between the product description and the price ... or something similar.

The dummy is a tad scary ... reminds me of the 1st episode of the new Dr Who

Best of luck with the site.

 

[Vicky R]

I would agree with Sue F but go a little further and say that those mannequin thingies are *very* scary.

But maybe I am just a big scaredy cat.

But if you're targetting the image and label conscious, perhaps a very artificial-looking dummy isn't the best way to display your clothing?

Vicky

 

[SillyJokes]

I've seen this site before, or one exactly like it. They seem to crop up here every four to six months but I haven't ever seen anyone come back and tell us about their success.

Perhaps you will be able to make a go of it.

Can't comment on the site, I know nothing about clothes.

 

[halo1234]

These are all very useful points so thank you very much. I don't want to go through all the responses right now in details, I do agree with most if not all of the comments made. So I'll come back with responses & questions as I work through them.

I could do with changing allot of the 'skater boy' images, this is easy for me to do.

The technical things like size order, address conformation & the 'add cart' button I need to figure out. I'm using CCP which can be a little complex.

I was torn whether to use a mannequin or not. I came to the conclusion that the customer really wants to know what the product looks like on. Instead of a floating image with a white background. The problem is I have no one to model & to be honest standing in front of 2 x 500 watt bulbs for 2 hours is no fun! Maybe 1 solution would be to remove the head, via photoshop of course

You will have seen this site before because an old forum member owned it prior to me. Coldfuel designed 3 sites that have a similar feel & non have done very well so far. I'm relying on the fact that they never ranked higher than page 11 on google. I'm planning to focus on this & with the help of a consultant rank much higher than this.

 

[mattk]

I was torn whether to use a mannequin or not. I came to the conclusion that the customer really wants to know what the product looks like on. Instead of a floating image with a white background. The problem is I have no one to model & to be honest standing in front of 2 x 500 watt bulbs for 2 hours is no fun! Maybe 1 solution would be to remove the head, via photoshop of course

Take it from me - use a model and a professional photographer. We did some trials between photographing clothes laid flat on a surface, having them on a mannequin and having them on a model and the ones on the model sold so much better than either of the other two. You may think it is initally expensive, but it'll pay for itself within a couple of days.

 

[halo1234]

With the exception of the plastic man, what do you think to the images? I ask becasue I've now bought the lighting, background & software to do the work in house. I've got a few books in the post that should help too.

The question is now, do I do them all again with a model or chop off the dolls head & resize the masters again. The 1st option will be around a 5 hour job combined & the 2nd wil take around 2 hours.

 

[mattk]

The main problem is that your homepage looks very professional, with lots of good shots, but your actual product images, the ones that do the selling, look poor in comparision. Also, the quality on the category page is poor. You should actually resize the image in PhotoShop and save it, rather than trying to resize a large image in code.

 

[Astaroth]

I like the images and graphics (though agree on previous comments about your models) - as well as the photos I would say the whole site's graphics does have a "grunge" feel (which isnt a negative thing) but with the current photos does reinforce the "skater" image. Whilst I am not into fashion and so dont know if Armani and grunge now go together I personally have difficulty imagining the site feeling as well cemented (other than your products) if you change the photos to those more suitable for the products but leave the graphics as they are.

 

[halo1234]

I like the images and graphics (though agree on previous comments about your models) - as well as the photos I would say the whole site's graphics does have a "grunge" feel (which isnt a negative thing) but with the current photos does reinforce the "skater" image. Whilst I am not into fashion and so dont know if Armani and grunge now go together I personally have difficulty imagining the site feeling as well cemented (other than your products) if you change the photos to those more suitable for the products but leave the graphics as they are.

Right so if I change the html images more inline with the product, i,e more designer oriantated. I can do that.

My main issue not withshanding the technical points mentioned earlier (working through now). Is the actual product photo's. This is a big problem as I've spent allot on equipment & the amount of time it took to actually get the images onto the site was around 5 hours in total, maybe abit more. Now if it's a case of chopping the head of the model, thats fine. If my images are in general no up to the required standard, then this is major .

What's the overall concenus on this & please don't worry about being honest. I need to get this right.

Thanks

Peter

 

[mattk]

I don't think chopping the heads off the pics would really add anything. I would definitely resize your "product_category" images. You should be able to do this in PhotoShop using batch processing, so it will only take a couple of minutes.

For example - this image

http://www.uk-clobber.com/ccp51/media/images/category/GSTARSCOT8506173900FRONT1.jpg

is actually 300x450 pixels, but you are displaying it as 99x149 pixels on this page/ That's why the image doesn't look very sharp.

 

[halo1234]

ah right I see, my mistake. Your referring to the store & category pages. Yes your right, I'll reszie them in PS tonight. The thumbs I've already done as theres no size code for these so I had to.

You still think the actual item pictures are sub standard though?

 

[mattk]

No - they are not substandard. In fact, when you actually drill down to the products the three images are very good quality and show off the products well.

 

[halo1234]

thank thank thank......they took so long to do.

 

[Astaroth]

As Mattk says - making the web browser compress the images has 2 problems - 1) your page takes longer to download than it should 2) the images look poor as a web browser wasnt ever really built to do this so is no way near as effecive as a dedicated graphics program

The dummy doesnt look good but you have been told that already

The photos are inconsistant in the white balance/ colour temp etc - it most easily noticable with the dummy itself - if you look at http://www.uk-clobber.com/cat--Shirts--Shirts.html the dummy's skin tone goes from never seen the sun to fake tan via twilight. Personally I am a fan of consistancy - I would want to see all the backgrounds the same, all the photograph conditions the same so that I can get a true feeling of the product (and its colour). If you look at the above page and compare the Hugo & Lacoste shirts they look a fairly similar colour but then you see the lighting is different and you then start questioning it.

I dont know what equipement you have (and to be honest I am not much more than an ameture photographer) but you really need to look at having everything setup identically for every photo and using a custom white balance if your camera supports this. Any post photo processing (colour balance/ curves/ unsharp mask etc) should be done identically to all photos to ensure their consistant look.

With selling mid level brands then a proportion of people will be driven by the fact that it has a certain name stitched into it somewhere but there is a strong amount of brand association.... I want to buy a X shirt because by wearing it I will be like Y... at the moment with your current pictures I cannot make a connection between your products/ dummies and Y (insert name of relevant C list celeb)

PS - unless creases are in style at the moment - invest in an iron - you want "luxory" goods to look their best not still with the "just out the packet" creases

 

[halo1234]

This was my 1st attempt at real portrait images with lighting. The masters all use the same settings. The problem I found was depending on the colour of the clothing versus the dummies skin tones. I found it quite hard to keep things consitant. I think I will try & re-edit the ones that don't match again.

So you think I should list what celebs are wearing what in relation to my products? What happens if the buyer likes the clothing, but not the celeb who wears it?

The ironing comment, your right of course. I decided not to iron the clothes as I would want to sell them as new. In reflection your right. The question is do I do them again or wait for the new stock.

Thanks & keep them coming.

 

[Astaroth]

I wasnt suggesting having a "as worn by" type caption (though that may work for some people) but simply have the photo look "good enough" so that the person can imagine Celeb A's head there instead of the dummies - if you were selling a product that was fun you wouldnt want a dull/ boring picture of the item as this doesnt communicate the "fun" aspect of it - people like to imagine themselves (actively or passively) owning the item and what it would achieve for them so for designer labels they probably will want to see themselves "looking good", about to go into China White (or what ever the in club is at the moment) with their dream person on their arm.

I think with how your photos are at the moment they are as likely to see themselves shopping in Asda as going into China White and why would they want to pay a premium for that when they could get a very similar looking item from George for a tenth the price?

Unfortunately my skills arent in marketing and so I cant really give any real possitve suggestions (other than using live models) on how you can achieve this.

PS - as an example of what I mean - if you ever look at the airfix model kits - the marketing pictures are always of the real plane in flight or the real tank - they are never of the unpainted model that has simply been dutifully put together (which is kind of how I would see your current photos) or worse still, of the box full of bits still attached to their sprues

 

[halo1234]

that makes sense. I'll try & track down a marketing forum that is willing to help.

 

[webit]

One thing I would change:

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Now (apart from the lack of a space between in and a) one thing I would change is that I would want email address of those who might be intrested rather than just asking them to pop back.

BTW. Boo.com when for a gray, non descript dummys so as not to imply the clothes we nutural rather than being mostly worn by black, white people etc.

 

[polar198282]

hi from a customers persepective i would have clicked back off the site if i found it by chance and not lookin gat it to give you advice, the reason for this would be the homepage is too busy, there is so much stuffed in your face at one time and my eyes didnt know where to look first. I do like the clothing but i wouldnt have looked that far on if i had been a genuine customer far too busy for me.

 

[halo1234]

So thinning out the front page would be a good move. I'm in the process of getting some new model images to replace the grundge ones.

 

[Sandy]

Good idea. I found I was searching around for what the site was about. The designer clothes bit doesn't jump out. I was recently told my home page was too busy. I've taken off all the waffle and pretty pictures and replaced it with one picture and a few catchy bullet points. I'd appreciate your view on mine. Thanks

www.bnbt.co.uk
[email protected]

 

[The Resolver]

Lots wrong from a legal and regulatory perspective:-

1. Your terms are not so presented as to become binding. They are a very small hard to notice greyed out link at the foot of the page (really terms of use of the website not of buying goods) together also with some 'terms' relating to delivery set out within the FAQs and not referred to as 'terms of sale' . They need to be prominent and you must be able to show buyers have seen them before confirming their order.

2. Your terms of use contain nothing other than an excessive set of liablity waiver clauses that will likely be held invalid under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.

3. You DO need terms that make clear that no contract of sale has been entered into until you have verified that there has been no pricing error (as with Argos) and you can deliver. Also need to specify law of England and Wales applies and E&W courts have jurisdiction so you do not get sued in a foreign non-EC court eg in the States.

4. Your site is in breach of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations throug lack of key information as a result of which ,for example, buyers could demand their money back up to three months following delivery even though the items are in perfect condition..and without having to return them to you. Most clear breach is that you fail to give notice of the statutory right to cancel without having to return the goods.The conditions you seek to impose about returning the goods (in the FAQs) are unenforceable. The breaches put the site at risk of being closed down through a statutory Stop Notice from Trading Standards (not that, to be fair, they seem to bother with these duties)

5. The privacy statment is insufficent. Apart from the fact that you do not require those whose info you use to consent to its terms, there is nothing in it to cover what you do with the info to process transactions so all of your transactions may,as a result,if you pass on to fulfilment companies/wholesalers etc toprocedss delivery may well lack consent and thus put you in breach of the privacy laws. As with the rest of the site no info on who is the site owner/vendor- just three letters 'UKC'-a limited company or trading name?

OK enough doom and gloom.

PM me and I will have this sorted for you. If you don't want to pay for a specialist lawyer to set this up properly for you(which you should and which I can arrange through our online panel so all advice is stored in your private advice file) then I can let you have a DIY facility I am putting together for start-ups.

Get it sorted and good luck with the business.

 

[halo1234]

In a word 'Ouch!' PM's been sent.

Thanks

 

[halo1234]

well I've made quite a few changes as suggested here. The ones that are left are T&C's, Script validation & a general site revamp. So less clutter & new model images. All of these I'm working on right now, so things will keep changing over the next month or so.

For the next stock run I'm getting in a model & an Iron!

I'll get back to you all when I've got the rest complete & ask for any other suggestions then.

Thanks Guys