So after reading through all the brilliant suggestions made by the community here, I have decided to make some changes, some subtle, and some major.
So the website is still very infant in regards to the development lifecycle, so knowing what works and what doesn't takes some time, luckily you guys made it a bit easier
So I am going to start by explaining how the website works, and the technologies behind it.
If you are able to take your time to give your input on each of these main pages, good or bad it would be highly appreciated as it will help the website grow.
To start of, the website implements image compression and lazy image loading. What the latter means is that it only loads images that is in view, and only loads images once page is rendered. This speeds up the experience and decreases unnecessary "data" costs. That being said, if anyone experience slow loading please get in touch, as I am lucky to have 100mb fiber.
First, the header
Now our categories are extremely limit to what I believe is efficient. My aim here was not too have too much categories that you spend 10 minutes browsing through and overlooking the actual one you want. They are self explanatory in nature. But will explain 2 below as it was mentioned.
Now onto the homepage
I spent a lot of time debating on what the homepage should be like. This is where most people land (and always for returning customers). Taking that into consideration, I opted to show products here. They are of 3 categories, eliquid, wire & coils, and cotton. Why? They are my biggest categories and also what we as vapers buy most. Also, from this page you will immediately see whats new as well (limited to 24 products per category).
You will also be able to add products straight to your cart from here, by hovering over it you will have access to all options (nic strenght, mint, color ect). You can also add the product to your whishlist, add it to compare (probably a useless feature) and a quickview, see example
Next up our collection/category views
By default products are displayed in a grid view, but for those that require more detail you can switch to detailed list view, see below:
Grid view
List view
Now this covers technically most of the functionality that one would need.
Now things that need to happen are as follows:
This was a lengthy thread, and if you took the time to read through all of that, then I thank you!
So the website is still very infant in regards to the development lifecycle, so knowing what works and what doesn't takes some time, luckily you guys made it a bit easier
So I am going to start by explaining how the website works, and the technologies behind it.
If you are able to take your time to give your input on each of these main pages, good or bad it would be highly appreciated as it will help the website grow.
To start of, the website implements image compression and lazy image loading. What the latter means is that it only loads images that is in view, and only loads images once page is rendered. This speeds up the experience and decreases unnecessary "data" costs. That being said, if anyone experience slow loading please get in touch, as I am lucky to have 100mb fiber.
First, the header
Now our categories are extremely limit to what I believe is efficient. My aim here was not too have too much categories that you spend 10 minutes browsing through and overlooking the actual one you want. They are self explanatory in nature. But will explain 2 below as it was mentioned.
- What's New
- This is obviously whats new, now the problem with the main software we use "Shopify", is that there is no easy method of showing this without causing tons of maintenance.
- Easy method: List all products in a ascending order of date created. This gives you the entire catalog of products, listed from newest to oldest. The good? It's semi automatic making it up to date. The bad? hundreds of pages of products.
- Maintenance method: Tag each product with "new", and then remove that tag on a weekly basis by checking which products were tagged Now this is very repetitive and sometimes this tag can be forgotten.
- Custom: I will have to plug into the API of the software and automate the entire process, as I have done wit the new tag on products (a new flag will be on a products image for 30 days). Now this will take some time as the api is very limited, and it being shopify I do not have access to the source code. - Sale
This is where our sale items are Following the maintenance method, however why its plausible here is because a sale on an item only last as long as the item is in stock, on the next stock delivery I have no choice but to update it. - The search bar
I have spent multiple hours making the horrid standard search bar more helpfull, as it should be. It will search both the description, title, pages, sku codes, and collections, making the suggestions more fluent. If you accidentally have a typo it will try an auto correct similiar to that of google. See below
There is still a downside, if you search for something it cannot find, it will try and change your search phrase to something that is in the sites dictionary, example below:
this is not deliberate and I am not trying to force sell you anything
Now onto the homepage
I spent a lot of time debating on what the homepage should be like. This is where most people land (and always for returning customers). Taking that into consideration, I opted to show products here. They are of 3 categories, eliquid, wire & coils, and cotton. Why? They are my biggest categories and also what we as vapers buy most. Also, from this page you will immediately see whats new as well (limited to 24 products per category).
You will also be able to add products straight to your cart from here, by hovering over it you will have access to all options (nic strenght, mint, color ect). You can also add the product to your whishlist, add it to compare (probably a useless feature) and a quickview, see example
Next up our collection/category views
By default products are displayed in a grid view, but for those that require more detail you can switch to detailed list view, see below:
Grid view
List view
Now this covers technically most of the functionality that one would need.
Now things that need to happen are as follows:
- Popups
I have now removed all popups that aren't beneficial to the user. - Too much activity
I have tried to keep the website in line with "less is more", barring the homepage. - Complicated checkout
I have kept this as simple as the software allows me. In the past I allowed guest checkouts, however this made users lose their loyalty point (since they are a guest), and having to fillout all their delivery details each time. an account is now forced to make sure this doesn't accidentally happen. So on your second checkout it should be super simple. - Needing to go to product page to see juice profile
I believe this is now fixed with the list view, what do you think? - Clear pictures
I try to keep the photos to a certain standard, however, there is some interesting equipment on the way that will make the photos exceptional. I cannot say much now, but once it arrives be prepared for a new way of virtual shopping - Product name and price
The current naming convention is as follows:
Brand - Juice name - milliliter - Good search
I hope this is now resolved - filter out of stock
This will be an option hopefully in the near future. - ETA's on when stock will arrive
Along with the preordering of the website, I was able to tap into some apis to make the ETA's display under the buy now button. This is what you will see on an out of stock product
- Stock QTY
This currently not possible with shopify, since they completely removed this functionality. But will probably introduced by tapping into the inventory API in the near future. - Related items
This is currently implemented - Better descriptions that include the PG/VG ratio
I will have to revisit all products and include this. But it will be done - Address, phone number, email present
Everything is present currently on the homepage, barring the address. I have had a few people pitch up in the past thinking it's a brick and mortar store, however this is included on the invoice and as always, I provide the address on request.
This was a lengthy thread, and if you took the time to read through all of that, then I thank you!
