OwenP Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 (Sorry, read the posting rules after submitting my original post - have now amended to include "Powered by osCommerce"). Hi everyone, I have just launched my first osCommerce site: www.audiowardrobe.co.uk Your comments and suggestions would be most welcome! Particularly I am interested in what people think to the changes to the checkout process as that was such a mess to get working. Thank you for your time. -Owen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 Aww, is it really that bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrenerjm Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 Aww, is it really that bad? Hi When I first see the site it looks squashed upwards (wide & shallow) but when I enter the products section it looks better. The left column boxes look like there is something down the right hand side of the boxes. Not sure what it is? There isn't much in the info box. No terms & conditions, about us, Privacy etc. You wanted a comment about the checkout. I got as far as entering my details & it froze. Could be my machine but just in case it's not. The address doesn't have enough lines. ie street, village (optional but usual) town/city, county, Postcode. (just a personal note) I'm curious to see what would have happened in the checkout as I want to streamline it/make it poss to buy without account, but it looked like you page was creating an account by stealth. What happens when your customer comes back? What is the purpose of the password? I like the red which suits your site & I hope I haven't sounded too mean? Good luck Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 Thanks for your comments warrenerjm! I see what you mean about the squashed look. I don't like the idea of the customer having to scroll on the homepage as they may not immediately realise this and I want them to be able to see the whole page in one go. Maybe I should try to fit it to the length of the display, assuming 1024x768 res? The menu panels I made when I was unsure what to do with the template. I was trying to copy this sort of effect, but when I saved to gif, it went a bit wrong: http://www.algozone.com/shop/oscommerce-te...33tm-p-304.html The address is fine I think, I was intending it to be more: street optional town, county postcode which is the correct number of lines. Not really sure why the checkout didn't work for you, as it works fine when I try it. You're right about the stealth account creation - that is pretty much the only significant change I made, and that is because I think a lot of people will be put off as soon as they see that they have to create an account. Since the PWA mod makes the customer fill out the same form but without the password bit at the end, I thought I might as well make them fill out the form without mentioning it gives them an account until the end of the form. The "Express Checkout" for existing customers is just a bit of positive spin on the "sign in here" to make it less obvious to new customers that they will sign up for an account. I'm not that happy with the checkout, it's the one part of my store I'm really not at all confident with. After some research this evening I've found the "Fast Easy Checkout" mod which looks like it would be a better addition. This might be suitable for your site as well. It's located at: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...search,checkout I'm thinking of modifying the site so that no accounts are ever created, to keep it all nice and simple for the customer. The only problem with this is that I lose out on some of the features like being able to see who is online, what they're looking at, what's in the cart etc, but I guess this is more of a gimmick anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrenerjm Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 Thanks for your comments warrenerjm! I see what you mean about the squashed look. I don't like the idea of the customer having to scroll on the homepage as they may not immediately realise this and I want them to be able to see the whole page in one go. Maybe I should try to fit it to the length of the display, assuming 1024x768 res? The menu panels I made when I was unsure what to do with the template. I was trying to copy this sort of effect, but when I saved to gif, it went a bit wrong: http://www.algozone.com/shop/oscommerce-te...33tm-p-304.html The address is fine I think, I was intending it to be more: street optional town, county postcode which is the correct number of lines. Not really sure why the checkout didn't work for you, as it works fine when I try it. You're right about the stealth account creation - that is pretty much the only significant change I made, and that is because I think a lot of people will be put off as soon as they see that they have to create an account. Since the PWA mod makes the customer fill out the same form but without the password bit at the end, I thought I might as well make them fill out the form without mentioning it gives them an account until the end of the form. The "Express Checkout" for existing customers is just a bit of positive spin on the "sign in here" to make it less obvious to new customers that they will sign up for an account. I'm not that happy with the checkout, it's the one part of my store I'm really not at all confident with. After some research this evening I've found the "Fast Easy Checkout" mod which looks like it would be a better addition. This might be suitable for your site as well. It's located at: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...search,checkout I'm thinking of modifying the site so that no accounts are ever created, to keep it all nice and simple for the customer. The only problem with this is that I lose out on some of the features like being able to see who is online, what they're looking at, what's in the cart etc, but I guess this is more of a gimmick anyway. I have looked at the Fast easy checkout, but I think it is probably similar to yours. It says would you like to creat an account by the password, as far as I've seen. I would like it so when a customer first buys they effectively create an account by giving shipping/billing details etc, but next time they come to the shop it is already there waiting for them. I have no idea what that involves & probably wouldn't understand how to implement it either! Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 The account creation on Fast Easy Checkout is optional - if the customer doesn't check the create account box then an account isn't created. I thought I would change this so that this option doesn't show and is always set up to not create an account. The only way you'll be able to have your store remember your customers' details will either be for them to have an account or for you to store their personal details in a cookie, which isn't very desirable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 I have now added Fast Easy Checkout and customized it a little, so the checkout is far more slick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrenerjm Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 I have now added Fast Easy Checkout and customized it a little, so the checkout is far more slick. That is faster. As no password is asked, no account is created, but what happens to the orders? At the moment they are allocated to the customer. If this quick method could be used as an "Express checkout" option (with button) that would look great. Are you going to put together your amendments & make them available to us who can't hack codes apart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 You don't really need to hack any code. The FEC contribution has three different modes where you can remove accounts altogether, make them optional for the customer, or allow them to create an account when they have completed the order. I followed the instructions for not using accounts and then just had to re-jig the address lines and make some changes to the language and format etc. The orders are still assigned to the customer. The customer is added to the database even though they don't create an account, but it doesn't stop them using the same e-mail address again. What happens is it updates the entry with whatever details they enter next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 Fixed the navigation boxes. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 Anyone else have any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 Anyone? Not a bad looking site, and I like how it's different. The only thing I would suggest is on the front page maybe smoother High resolution pictures. Off topic where do you get your shirts made at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 Thanks for the comment, shortd81. I need to improve the res on the header and menu boxes, but not sure on the main pics in the middle. I was keeping them as GIFs to keep the load time down on the homepage. I'll PM you the details of my supplier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abra123cadabra Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 Your checkout process is certainly streamlined now but it the layout is broken (unless this is really the look you want to achieve). The screenshot is here: http://www.finefoods24.com/oscommerce/foru...be_checkout.jpg When I go to edit my address, it even get's worse. It took me a while to figure out that you are selling t-shirts and not music itself. Had no inkling for which artist to look. Then I realised I can have all products displayed from the category list below. Wasted some time there. I think a website should make it obvious at first glance what it is about and how you can navigate. I came to review it so I do some "thinking" but usually I would just go to the next shop. When I continue browsing after filling my cart, it's difficult to figure out how I can checkout. Make it more obvious. It's the most important part of your shop if you want to earn money. You state you are a legitimate dealer of the merchandise but anyone could put that on their page. Keep up the good work. abra The First Law of E-Commerce: If the user can't find the product, the user can't buy the product. Feedback and suggestions on my shop welcome. Note: My advice is based on my own experience or on something I read in these forums. No guarantee it'll work for you! Make sure that you always BACKUP the database and the files you are going to change so that you can rollback to a working version if things go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenP Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 Abra, thank you so much for your comments! Your checkout process is certainly streamlined now but it the layout is broken (unless this is really the look you want to achieve). The screenshot is here: http://www.finefoods24.com/oscommerce/foru...be_checkout.jpg When I go to edit my address, it even get's worse. I noticed this yesterday and was supposed to fix it today, but forgot. Thanks for the reminder! I just need to change the CSS classes as it's using the background for the infoboxes. It took me a while to figure out that you are selling t-shirts and not music itself. That's two people who have said that to me now. I will have to re-work the header to state what I am selling. Had no inkling for which artist to look. Then I realised I can have all products displayed from the category list below. Wasted some time there. This bit I'm not so sure on. I hate they way that you get a massive drop down list when you click on T-shirts. I'd rather the customer navigated through the artist search, that way as well as T-shirts I can sell them patches, badges and other little accessories as extras. When I continue browsing after filling my cart, it's difficult to figure out how I can checkout. Make it more obvious. It's the most important part of your shop if you want to earn money. I will make the buttons in the header a lot clearer. You'll see that the layout looks wrong on them since I removed the account feature, so I need to tidy those anyway. You state you are a legitimate dealer of the merchandise but anyone could put that on their page. I don't state that I am a legitimate dealer, I state that the merchandise is licensed. Anyone could put that on their site, true, but any customer can tell when they receive poor quality fakes. Thanks again for your comments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abra123cadabra Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 My mistake about dealer and licensed merchandise. Still, give me some more certainty that I get the right stuff. Maybe write down somewhere how I can check fake from original? About the items you sell, maybe you can make that more obvious and at the same time throw in some artist names so I already have a name I can check out. I'm more a visual person. When I go in a real musicstore, I ususally start trying to remember band/artist names I already got in my collection to see if they have something new on offer. After that I look at those discs displayed on top of the shelves (like featured products). So maybe give a hint like: if you like this, you might like that as well. Just a few thoughts. abra The First Law of E-Commerce: If the user can't find the product, the user can't buy the product. Feedback and suggestions on my shop welcome. Note: My advice is based on my own experience or on something I read in these forums. No guarantee it'll work for you! Make sure that you always BACKUP the database and the files you are going to change so that you can rollback to a working version if things go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmcdon Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Hi OwenP, Just had a look throgh the store and like how the Fast Easy Checkout works. I'm in Australia but nothing really to say that you can only order if you live in the UK, or do you let non-UK people order. I use Safari as my browser and it wouldn't let me access the different sizes for the Franz Ferdinand t-shirt. Swapped to Firefox on a Mac and for the AC/DC shirt the size drop-down list would drop down but only give me the option of "Medim". Good luck with the store. Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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