Since I started Shorely Chic, getting my own website up and running has been a major goal of mine. I have had great success selling on Etsy, but with that, you must only sell vintage pieces and hand-made items. I am aiming to sell both hand-made/vintage AND things I purchase from vendors. At they New York International Gift Fair I was in heaven with the unlimited selection of beautiful items from so many different vendors and couldn't wait to buy and share my favorites with my customers.
After the NYIGF I made the website a priority. I put some feelers out to have a web designer build me a custom e-commerce site but the lowest quote I got for a decent design was about $2500.00 - no can do right now. I looked and looked and finally found something classy and elegant looking and suprisingly affordable (boutiquemama.com). Robin, the web designer I worked with was great, I especially appreciated her patience with the countless emails I sent her with change requests and questions. Here's is a simplified version of how the process work: Boutiquemama.com offers different templates you can choose from, then they customize your selection to fit the look of your store, and then upload the template to a webhost site, I chose pappashop.com. From there, you start adding products and other simple customizations.
http://shorelychic.com is brand new and I still have so much work to do on it, but I thought I'd share with you all and see what you think!
I categorized my items into 4 separate pages:
Bath & Body
Shorely Chic Vintage
Shorely Chic Home Collection for the items I purchase from various vendors
Shorely Chic Signature Collection for the items my mother and I make
Do you think these are good? I need to organize more within these categories, i.e., make sections for pillows, frames, mirrors, etc... but for now I am just busting my tushy on getting the products up.
My biggest concern is that the site looks homemade to the point where people would be skeptical to purchase anything from it.
What do you think? http://www.shorelychic.com/
I like what you've come up with so far Liz.
ReplyDeleteThose 4 categories sound perfect. I'll go and check out shorelychic.com now. I'm so proud of you!!!
I LOVE it, Liz! It looks beautiful, is so easy to navigate, and the 4 categories are great.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for telling us about BoutiqueMama!
i think it looks really great! :) ps. one thing i would suggest is a view all page under each category? ex. i clicked on Shorely Chic Vintage and instead of having to look at page 1 and then page 2 ~ i like to be able to click VIEW ALL so i can see it all together.
ReplyDeletetotally just a suggestion, i think it's all amazing. and i am excited ab making some purchases!!
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ReplyDeleteI like what you have so far and the category names are great.
ReplyDeleteMy freind and I looked at boutiquemama a while back am glad to hear your take on their work.
Wishing you continued and more success!
wow! that's a hard one. afraid I can't help; just trust your gut and show your personality. Best wishes...
ReplyDeleteOff to check it now, sounds so exciting! Can't wait to see what you have created!
ReplyDeleteLiz, the store is beautiful! I don't think it looks "homemade" at all. Best of success!!
ReplyDeletethank you all for checking it out - so encourgaing! I can't wait till it grows :)
ReplyDelete