Feedback For New Store: Zone-Clothing.Com

Andy-Flashie · 01-07-2007, 09:42 PM

Hey there guys and girls!

Ive just finished setting up my new/first online store. Im limited to low capital, and anything that has to be done then ive had to do it myself. It does'nt have heaps of products at the moment, but I didnt have much start-up capital. I have spent around £300 altogether for the site hosting, domain, mods, and stock.

Now... I know I havnt changed the shop skin/layout much, so dont please flame me on this. I dont know php at all, but setting up the shop myself was a good learning experience. I dont plan on changing the layout anymore as i dont have the experience too, as im no good with graphics or anything fancy like that, but was hoping that once the shop gets going, then I may be able to afford a custom layout

Anyway... to the point, Any comments, ideas, suggestions are welcome, either about the shop, or any info about newly start ups would be great...

And i have a question for you... Would you honestly buy anything from my store? (just pretend i sell an item your interested in, does it look like an honest genuine store you would buy from?)

Ooo and can I please have some feedback on screen resolution problems, e.g if any of the images/text boxes arent set right, things like that can you please tell me.

www.zone-clothing.com

Thank you for looking! I look forward to hearing your comments.

PT · 01-07-2007, 10:19 PM

No offence intended, but it just looks like an out of the box CubeCart installation. You say that you don't have the experience to edit PHP and that your not very good with graphics. Then it may be time to hire someone as it needs sorting to be honest. My judgement is based solely on the fact a potential buyer will browse the Internet and most likely see numerous websites that all look the same as yours. It also doesn't look very professional. A custom CubeCart skin won't break the bank and it will certainly look a hell of a lot better.

Another thing I would do is buy the CubeCart licence so you don't have the "Powered by CubeCart" appearing on your site. Again it gives you that custom edge to the site rather than your out of the box CubeCart installation.

Be sure to have a good amount of payment methods including PayPal, Google Checkout, and Nochex. If you don't offer the payment method your buyer wants, then they may go to the next store which does...

My overall opinion is if you don't want to put the money into the site to make it unique and look more professional then what does this say about your company?

I am aware I have been very negative and no offence is intended. The site is not terrible I just think it could be better by doing the above.

Andy-Flashie · 01-07-2007, 10:38 PM

Thanks for your reply,
I do want to put money into the site, just that at this moment I dont have anymore funds to put into it. And i respect what youve said, and its what I want to hear, so i know where to improve.
I have been looking into a custom skin already. Hopefully should have some more funds later this week to get that designed and installed.
Yes, i agree too about the Powered By CubeCart, as it does put you off, and shows that its just a free cart. I will also get that removed when i have the cash.
I have taken your advice about different payment methods and have now started opening an account with Nochex

Negatives are good as it shows where i can improve.
Thanks for your time for looking at it. I hope you will have another look in a couple of days or so when ive made some changes!

JPB · 01-07-2007, 10:43 PM

I would definatly change the skin mate

PT · 01-07-2007, 10:56 PM

Quote:

I do want to put money into the site, just that at this moment I dont have anymore funds to put into it. And i respect what youve said, and its what I want to hear, so i know where to improve.

Its always a costly job setting up your own website, a custom design is one thing. You then need to work on the marketing of the site as the sales don't just come from anywhere. Run some PPC campaigns with Google AdWords to get some keywords with a good 'click to buy' ratio. Then try to get natural rankings on the search engines for these keywords so that you can cut down on the costs. Join clothing forums and have a link to your site in your signature. Build a good reputation and its likely if your site looks the business the forum members will buy from you.

Quote:

I have been looking into a custom skin already. Hopefully should have some more funds later this week to get that designed and installed.

Make sure the design you get is a custom one and not a £30 skin that's used on a few thousand other sites. That little extra money will give you a better long term style. It defeats the objective of changing the skin if your only going to get one that's used by so many other sites, don't you agree? Whoever you hire will be able to design the site based around your own needs and web site.

Quote:

Yes, i agree too about the Powered By CubeCart, as it does put you off, and shows that its just a free cart. I will also get that removed when i have the cash.

I think its around £25 to get this removed, not a lot really as its a one-off payment and looks a lot better.

Yes, please do post when you have updated the site and made the changes so we can have another look.

**cdtronix** · 02-07-2007, 07:50 PM

yeah change the skin m8, this is my skin for my cubecart site, didnt cost much, plus got a mate to do my logo, looks alot better than the out of the box skins. worth doing

http://cdtronix.com

**Jbomb** · 03-07-2007, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdtronix

yeah change the skin m8, this is my skin for my cubecart site, didnt cost much, plus got a mate to do my logo, looks alot better than the out of the box skins. worth doing

http://cdtronix.com

I see you are based in COlchester, i am from around that area too.
ALbert