Craft Source
Craft Source is an independent online retailer where products are marketed and sold under the Fabric Inspirations and Wool Felt Company brands
Craft Source is an independent online retailer, specialising in a range of fabric for quilting and patchwork in a range of textures and patterns that can be purchased per metre. Based in Nottingham, products are marketed and sold under the Fabric Inspirations and Wool Felt Company brands.
Background
Craft Source previously operated via two separately managed sites and an additional eBay store. They wanted to improve their operation and create a single database to manage their multiple channels.
Progress
Craft Source approached Sellerdeck with a series of challenges that they we’re experiencing and wanted to identify a new platform that would be better suited for their requirements and products.
They requested that we identify the best platform for their business and build a site with all the necessary features, functionality and integrations. Multi-site was required to support two separate store fronts with a single database for the product catalogue and single systems for order processing.
Once the new site was constructed, they required a full product migration, eCommerce tracking via Google Analytics, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) support.
In addition, Craft Source requested a UI design that focused on the colourful, patterned products on sale. Capable of drawing the user’s eye to the right place with all the necessary details to encourage purchases.
A well designed, smooth working Multi-site solution
After a consultation period, it became clear that Craft Source needed to invest in a new platform to achieve its plans over the next five years. After careful consideration, Magento was identified as the best platform for Craft Source. The software has a built-in multi-site setup capable of meeting the commercial goals of both websites. Once created, we merged the database of the multi-site setup for efficiency and cost reduction.
UI and UX was very important as they wanted to highlight the vibrant products on offer, as well as a streamlined customer journey. To achieve this, we opted for a clean and attractive design to increase conversation rates. Product imagery provides a pop of colour throughout the design and engage users with a natural interest in the product and designs on offer.
We added multiple navigation methods and filtering options to match the products and customer search preferences. This provides an improved browser experience and leads the user to the product page and add to cart button, through a series of different navigation options.
Another customisation was to allow users to purchase the products and materials by length. This involved adding specific restrictions to ensure that the requirements could be sourced, and orders could be filled without complications. Not only did this improve user experience, but it also saved money and prevented waste from unused offcuts of material.
Sellerdeck’s proactive approach and problem-solving mindset helped us overcome the challenges we faced as a business. They identified a multi-site platform making it much easier to manage day-to-day operations. The website has bespoke features such as specific navigation, filtering, and the functionality to sell our materials by a length with set restrictions, reducing waste and providing a better customer experience.
Sellerdeck are really helpful and always on hand to solve my problems. The friendly team continues to host our website, and we look forward to working with them on any future developments.”
Special Features
Multi-site Setup
UX and UI Design
Magento Development
Multi-site solution
Having multiple sites can be challenging to manage, however with Magento’s native multi-site functionality it allows for a single database of products, orders and customers; meaning the data management is greatly reduced which still retaining the specific customisations each site requires.
One of the main goals in the multi-site creation was to achieve the above goal without significant increases in setup and maintenance costs. Therefore, Sellerdeck ensured that as much as possible was site agnostic and could be used multiple times without major customisations.
The value the customer received from their investment was greatly increased due to being able to use it across multiple sites.
Decimal Place Product Quantities
Craft Source often sell products in half metres which can create confusion in stock control and customers understanding of what they are buying. Previously the products included ‘Half Metre’ and the quantity was 1. This resulted in lots of orders being placed with the assumption of one metre (if only customers actually read the text on the screen).
Changing the quantity to 0.5 and only allowing incremental quantities of 0.5 meant the confusion was completely removed.
Multiple Navigation options
Browsers have many ways in which they want to shop and Craft Source wanted to offer navigation to accommodate as many as possible without significant data management efforts.
Using the Magento CMS products are added to multiple categories with one click resulting in a varied navigation without the added data management effort.
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