Fashion Web Design & Online E-Commerce for Boutique Fashion Retail Business

We recently completed a new website design and online store for fashion designer Hansel from Basel.  We were tasked with creating a fun and friendly website for this boutique's legwear and accessories products.  The high quality products demand a high quality website & online brand from which they would be showcased and sold.

We really enjoy working with fashion retailers & online boutiques (as you might have guessed from our portfolio). We are proud of our experience and products; our toolbelt has all the right ingredients to help a boutique acheive Online Success.  As online business consultants, our expertise really goes beyond web design - we pride ourselves on being able to give quality recommendations and advice about running an online business. (Just take a look what our clients are saying, this truly reflects on our hard work!)

As such we were excited for the opportunity to work with Hansel from Basel and help them take their online brand & online business to the next level of success.  Won't you join us as we review some highlights from this new fashion website design?

The online store is the most important part of this fashion designer's website. Our goal was to create a sleek, beautiful, and friendly shopping experience that would promote and encourage more online sales. We want the customers to have fun and feel comfortable while they are shopping online. We feel we did quite well :)

The following screen shows a listing of products within a particular category, in this case New Arrivals.

Fashion designer product category shopping page.

 

Once we choose a product we can see the product detail page. From that product page we can zoom in, change colors, view alternate images or add the product to our shopping cart. If we want to see other products we can easily browse back to the category, to another category or choose from the suggested products. Shopping is fun and easy!

Fashion product shopping page

 

Ready for checkout - let's review our shopping cart. The layout is friendly and it's easy to update the quantities or remove a product we decided not to purchase. We are reminded how the products look - we even get to see the photo corresponding to the particular color we chose!

Fashion retail online store shopping cart page

 

We designed an image gallery to show off the collection of the season. The image gallery is completely updatable via the content management tool. Images can be added or rearranged at will.

Fashion design collections image gallery page

 

Once you choose an image from the image gallery page you'll see the large version in the image viewer. From there you can continue browsing forward or backward in the gallery.

Fashion design collections image page

 

We developed a stockists page that shows all of the nationwide retail and local boutiques that carry this fashion designer's products. Stockists are arranged and filtered by location. The website administrators can easily update the stockists themselves via the content management tool.

Boutique retailer stockists page

 

The custom fashion e-commerce website we designed for this boutique has streamlined the shopping experience quite nicely. They have already seen an increase in their conversion rate - the percentage of visitors that become customers.  The website design compliments the high quality of brand and products, delivering a strong message and overall online experience.

To learn more head on over to the Hansel from Basel case study or visit the website at hanselfrombasel.com.

Are you a fashion designer or boutique that wants to get started with a new website or online store? Contact us for a free consultation and more information about our services.

Wishing you the best in Online Success!

Thursday, October 20, 2011Add Commentshare

Affordable E-Commerce and Online Stores for Small Businesses & Boutiques

Small & boutique busineses have some important choices to make when preparing to open a new online store and e-commerce engine. Whether you are a startup business or have been selling your products for years, it is important to plan carefully when you sell your products online. Your online brand, the presentation of your products and the technology which offers e-commerce to your customers are all factors that play into the success of your online business. Read on for tips & advice from an expert web designer and e-commerce consultant.

  • Custom e-commerce engine and online store design: On one end of the spectrum of the options available to you, you can hire a web consultant to design and execute a custom e-commerce engine. Perhaps you have special needs regarding the shopping process or you want an online store that is 100% customizable in its form and function. In that case you may want to consider a custom e-commerce engine and a custom website design. You can read about our custom e-commerce and website design services in this this case study.
     
  • Affordable online store service: On the other hand, complete customization may be overkill in terms of your time and resources, depending on your goals. If you are setting up an online store for the first time, have a low budget for your online store and require an affordable solution, or just want to easily test the e-commerce waters out yourself with an attractive and professional service, you may want to consider Shopify.
     

Shopify, affordable e-commerce engine and online store Shopify is a hosted service that offers a website and online store in one affordable package. A hosted service means that you don't need to have a seperate web host, you could combine your online store and website on the Shopify server. However if you already have a website and don't want to mess with it, you can also use Shopify to create an online store as a supplement to your existing website and just link to it from your existing website.

If you are interested to check it out you can view the Shopify home page directly or go straight to the Shopify pricing page and see if it the cost works for your budget. Make sure you sign up for the free trial and give it a spin for 30 days.

Where Shopify really shines is its ability to get set up extremely quickly, easily and at a low monthly cost. You don't need a web designer to set up a Shopify store, in fact you can use the provided tools to customize the look and feel of your website and online store yourself. However you can also hire a web designer to customize your online store with a professional web design. The slick and intuitive interface make it easy to administer products and orders. Shopify also lends itself to sleek and user friendly websites and online stores. For these reasons I highly recommend small businesses and boutiques check out Shopify and see if it makes sense for you.

I'm including a few screenshots below of some different pages on some real online stores that use Shopify for an e-commerce engine. Hopefully they will help you visualize what your online store might look like.
 

Category page including a list of products for sale for a fashion designer's online store:

Category page for an online store

 

Product details page with an add to cart button for a high end bicycle online retailer:

Product details page in an online store

 

Shopping cart page for a boutique online retailer:

Shopping cart from an e-commerce engine

 

I hope this review and advice has helped you in your decision regarding your new online store.

If you are new to Online Success, the purpose of these articles is to help you succeed at your online venture, feel free to browse around and get more great tips from an expert web designer :)

Wishing you the best online success!

Friday, July 29, 2011Add Commentshare

Custom e-commerce, website design for fashion designers and online retailers

You are about to embark in a tour of a custom e-commerce engine and website design for a fashion designer and online retailer, RelaxReflect.  We were tasked with creating a fun and stimulating online brand and online shopping experience to showcase this e-retailer's unique product line. Fashion e-commerce and custom website design happens to be Niche Tank's specialty. We really hit it out of the park with this fashion website design and custom online store. Please join us as we explore the custom online shopping experience.


This fashion designer's product line is divided into several categories, each of which caters to males & females. We wanted to explore a visual way of browsing the sub-categories of this online store without falling into the common pitfall of a complicated navigation system.  The result is e-commerce landing pages that provide an easy way to understand where you are in the online store and a fun way to make a quick decision where to go next.

Landing page for an e-commerce website


Viewing a category page in the online store displays a list of product photos. A unique feature that we came up with for this online fashion boutique is the ability to see all of the color choices available for each product before going to the product's page! This lets the shoppers make informed decisions about where they want to browse next without having to make a lot of extra clicks back and forth to see what product has what color options. Brilliant and simple.

Category of products for a fashion e-commerce website


The product page is where all of the real shopping action happens. Instead of using a boring menu, we provide a visual color pallete to present the color choice options. If you change to a different color, you will see new photos of the product in that color.  You also have the option to choose additional views of the product by clicking on thumbnail images. In the case of this t-shirt we can see the front view and the back view.

Product page for a fashion e-retailer with a custom website design


This screenshot depicts the ability to magnify any portion of the product image to easily see close up details, an important factor in making an informed decision about your online purchase!

Zoom feature for a custom e-commerce shopping cart


When you are shopping at some website, you add the item to your cart and get ready to start checking out. How often do you see a boring cookie cutter shopping cart? Or even worse you are shuffled off to another site altogether that looks like it was made 8 years ago, which is not ideal in securing the trust of your online shoppers. The shopping cart is yet another point in the online shopping process where your potential customers have a choice whether they want to continue to purchase or, drop out perhaps to visit another retailer's website. Don't let that happen! The online stores we design are branded throughout the whole shopping experience from the home page, to the shopping cart, to your receipt.

Aside from being attractive this shopping cart is very functional. It allows the shopper to make modifications as necessary and provides an attractive overview of the products in the cart.  The shopper is allowed to enter promo codes for discounts, ready for you to promote through your various channels.

Shopping cart in a custom e-commerce engine


The checkout is perhaps the most important step in the online shopping experience. When I am ready to make an online purchase I have seen so many websites that seem like they are trying to prevent me from making a purchase. For example I get this huge stop sign in my browser that says I need to login or make an account, am I a new customer or returning customer? Ack! And then there are a bazillian steps before I finish my checkout process, OK I see step 1 but what are steps 2-5? I guess I'll find out soon enough if my patience doesn't run out.

Don't do that to your customer! Give them a smooth, attractive, easy, fun shopping experience and they are more likedly to complete the purchase and they are more likely to come back again later. In this case we have provided the entire checkout process on one single page that is not too overwhelming or confusing. It is simple, straightforward and gets right to it. As you enter your address shipping is automatically calculated for you. It even includes an overview of the shopping cart so there is no question as to what you are purchasing as you enter your payment details. Now that's a sharp cookie.

Single page checkout process in a custom e-commerce engine


I hope you enjoyed taking the tour of this custom fashion e-commerce engine and website design. If you are curious to learn more about how we've helped our clients with their custom online stores check out these links:

  • Hansel from Basel - case study of a boutique fashion designer of women's legwear & accessories.
  • Miss Lonelyhearts - case study of a boutique fashion designer of women's clothing, handbags & accessories.
  • RelaxReflect - a case study and additional reading for the online store we just toured.
  • Lolita Evonne - case study of a boutique modern vintage fashion designer & online store.
  • NutraSalt - case study of a online store for low sodium sea salt.

You may also wish to read about our e-commerce software, Niche ShopCart or view our full website portfolio.

Got questions about our custom web design and online store software? Call us at 949-207-7714 or contact us for a free consultation.

Friday, July 15, 2011Add Commentshare

Custom vacation rentals booking engine and reservation management system

We offer turnkey online resevation and e-commerce systems for boutique vacation rentals management and hospitality businesses.

There are plenty of booking engine services available, but they typically charge a bulky percentage commission on top of each sale. These fees cut into the net profit your vacation rental business makes and the percentage really adds up over time. That's exactly why we developed a custom booking engine for the vacation rentals and hospitality industries.

Our custom reservation management system is integrated directly into your own website. Your customers won't have to navigate away to another window or another website to check availabilities, compare rental rates or make a reservation.

Frustrating online booking experiences can be detrimental to your website's conversion rate (the percentage of web visitors that convert into paying customers). Our custom booking engine and reservation management system can be completely customized to your internal processes and fee structures.

Check out the benefits of using our custom booking engine, reservation management system and turn key website solutions:

  • No percentage transaction fees for taking online reservations
  • Maximize online reservation conversion rates
  • Position your website above the local competition
  • Customers stay on your website during the booking process
  • Customizable to your rate and fee structures
  • Automatically charge credit card at time of purchase
  • Custom web design provides a unique and friendly experience
  • Website visitors receive a friendly online booking experience
  • Pre-filled rental contract automatically emailed to your customers
  • Easy management of online reservations
  • Complete control of your rental rates
  • Automatic and customizable calendars of availability
  • Customizable holiday calendars
  • One central login to manage everything

Consider this real world example of our reservation management system in action. Oasis Rentals, a boutique vacation rentals managment agency serving Palm Springs, California, hired us to design and build a new website including a custom booking engine and online reservations management system. Follow the screenshots below as we take you step by step through the online reservation process a customer experiences:

A custom vacation rentals property search engine allows visitors to easily filter through the list of properties and narrow their search to properties with amenities that suit their criteria.

Vacation rentals property listings

Each vacation property has its own page on the website with complete property details including photos, rental rates, calendar of availabilities, inquiry form, description, and amenties. All of this information is easily accessible in a friendly format.

Vacations rental property details including rental rates and calendar of availability

When customers make a reservation they are presented with a set of options including dates of stay and customizations. The customer is allowed to easily customize their stay and make a reservation in a cohesive browsing experience and without leaving the website, important factors in maximizing your website's online reservation conversion rates. The options on this page are completely customizable to your custom rate structure and internal processes.

Vacation rentals make reservation page for a custom reservation management system and booking engine

The checkout page is presented after choosing dates of stay and add-on options. On the checkout page customers will fill out billing information and complete the reservation. The checkout page is very friendly and is a simple one page process. Instead of a confusing or overwhelming 4 or 5 step checkout process, our checkout process is easy breezy.

Checkout process for a custom reservations management system and booking engine

For more details about turnkey solutions for vacation rental management companies visit nichereservation.com or browse oasisrentals.com to see it in action.

Want more info? Get a free consultation 

Wednesday, March 30, 2011Add Commentshare