How to improve our store?

[MuscleRodz]

Now that the store has been online for a few months and many of you have had the chance to use it, how can we change it to make it better for you the customer? I am already considering a new store anyway due to data entry issues I have had since day one. I would love your input now so I can consider any changes that can be made as we further develop our site. Thanks.

Mike

[bigvegan]

Since you asked, and since I've got the time, here's what I'd do if I were redesigning it. That site is pretty killer as is, so just take these suggestions as comments from the peanut gallery intended to help you make your online store better. Believe me, I know it's a lot easier to make suggestions for how things can be better than it is to implement said suggestions. Best of luck!

1. Use more of the page. I'm on a 14" laptop and I still have a couple of inches of black on both sides of the screen.

2. Build up the homepage. The Store page should be the musclerodz.com main page. Put that giant text block in the middle of the page into the red header bar up top next to the search function, and devote that middle part to the products that you can make serious money on or that you have to move quickly, as that's your most valuable real estate.

3. No folder Icons. Just the link to the products.

4. Better indexing. The product categories are good, but if you could have a list of products by the car manufacturer/model they're designed for, that would be useful too.

5. Readjust your sale items. You have a stack of sale items at the right side of every page, but then you have a sale items category and a garage sale category. The garage sale category has 2 items in it. I'd put those up on craigslist and get rid of them, and do away with that category altogether, unless you're going to build it up and have it be a used parts sale center. Also, index the sale items so that someone scrolling through doesn't have to click through 2 pages of Seal 4 Good gaskets to get to more interesting stuff.

6. Rides - beef it up, or give it less real estate. Don't get me wrong, the two items you have in that category are friggin' sweet, but to have 1/3rd of your main page devoted to those two vehicles and their category is overkill at this point. Have a link that says Rides to the rides page, and maybe 1 picture on the front page, but not much more until you get more items. Or just add a "Customer's Rides / Testimonials" section to it and make it bigger.

7. Tech - lose it until you have some content. It's easy to add back in, but unless it really is coming soon, just take it offline for the moment.

8. Tchotchkes - At the risk of sounding like a total marketing putz, you need some Musclerodz.com t-shirts, keychains, etc. It's free marketing, and there are a lot of people who can't afford to install a new set of control arms that might think $15-20 for a T-shirt with your logo and a pic of Wildfire on it would be pretty cool.

Again, best of luck! Don't think some of us don't envy you getting to have your own pro-touring parts shop.

[MuscleRodz]

Since you asked, and since I've got the time, here's what I'd do if I were redesigning it. That site is pretty killer as is, so just take these suggestions as comments from the peanut gallery intended to help you make your online store better. Believe me, I know it's a lot easier to make suggestions for how things can be better than it is to implement said suggestions. Best of luck!

1. Use more of the page. I'm on a 14" laptop and I still have a couple of inches of black on both sides of the screen.

2. Build up the homepage. The Store page should be the musclerodz.com main page. Put that giant text block in the middle of the page into the red header bar up top next to the search function, and devote that middle part to the products that you can make serious money on or that you have to move quickly, as that's your most valuable real estate.

3. No folder Icons. Just the link to the products.

4. Better indexing. The product categories are good, but if you could have a list of products by the car manufacturer/model they're designed for, that would be useful too.

5. Readjust your sale items. You have a stack of sale items at the right side of every page, but then you have a sale items category and a garage sale category. The garage sale category has 2 items in it. I'd put those up on craigslist and get rid of them, and do away with that category altogether, unless you're going to build it up and have it be a used parts sale center. Also, index the sale items so that someone scrolling through doesn't have to click through 2 pages of Seal 4 Good gaskets to get to more interesting stuff.

6. Rides - beef it up, or give it less real estate. Don't get me wrong, the two items you have in that category are friggin' sweet, but to have 1/3rd of your main page devoted to those two vehicles and their category is overkill at this point. Have a link that says Rides to the rides page, and maybe 1 picture on the front page, but not much more until you get more items. Or just add a "Customer's Rides / Testimonials" section to it and make it bigger.

7. Tech - lose it until you have some content. It's easy to add back in, but unless it really is coming soon, just take it offline for the moment.

8. Tchotchkes - At the risk of sounding like a total marketing putz, you need some Musclerodz.com t-shirts, keychains, etc. It's free marketing, and there are a lot of people who can't afford to install a new set of control arms that might think $15-20 for a T-shirt with your logo and a pic of Wildfire on it would be pretty cool.

Again, best of luck! Don't think some of us don't envy you getting to have your own pro-touring parts shop.A lot of that stuff is coming but takes time when your a one man show. Thanks for the input.

1. I am on a 19" screen and it fills it, you might try adjusting your resolution settings
2. 1/3 the homepage is devoted to the store now, we list a featured product and a link to the store as well. I have considered flipping them but haven't yet.
3. The floders are a part of the store which I want to change so those will disappear with the new store
4. The indexing is a part of my current data entry problem. For every category you see on the website there is many more in the background to link it all. Also will be fixed with a new store
5. The garage sale is intended for used stuff we have around the shop. It is a courtesey for the customer to find great deals on stuff we don;t stock or have left over from a project
6. Rides section will increase as the company grows and have time to add more content
7. I have stuff for Tech, just not the time to get it up yet
8. Hats should be done in the next week or so and tshirts are in the works