Look at our site please - comments appreciated

[davidbenson]

Please have a look. I'm not a programmer etc. and most is standard Actinic - straight from the box with a little help from the manuals. Have tried to keep it simple, clean and usable by any novice shopper. Any comments appreciated. Thanks.
David
http://www.parterredesign.co.uk

[pnagames]

Hi David

had a quick look and the obvious thing that hit me was that i could not see anywhere any info about your posting costs (untill i hit the checkout)..

would seriously put me off if i discovered that something worth £3 has a shipping of £4.5

[leehack]

Hi David

As you say it's an out of the box look, nice and simple.

One thing i do not like is the fact that the buttons available and their location is dependant on where you are in the catalog. Navbar at the top comes into action at times at not others. If i'm on your T&C page, i have no home page link for example.

I always like to have navigation links constant across all pages, so users know where to find them easily and more importantly each area of your catalog is accessible from every page. A home page link is essential for online catalogs as sometimes you get stuck up your own ass and don't know where you are, so a quick click on home and you can start again.

The differing buttons on differing pages is due to 2 templates being used, maybe even 3. I would rationalise these, in fact i can't see any reason that your shop could not be rationalised onto one template rather than 2 or 3. There is nothing specific stopping this.

A number of your product pages are also breaking outside of a 1024 screen res. I'd like to see standard image size adopted, giving some uniformity and a tidy look to the layouts.

[davidbenson]

Lee and Panagiotis.

Thank you for your input. I didn't think I had used more than 1 template but I'm sure you're right and somewhere along the line I did it without knowing.

There is a link back to the homepage but for some reason it jumps down to the bottom left - as does the up a level link. I tried to get it back to the top but failed to move it to anywhere else. Also can't see why several other links on the homepage vanish when entering the shop. Is this due to the template problem?

Most of our sales are Metal Furniture, which is heavy, and we have used a component to add extra handling charges where it requires 2 men to shift the crated/palleted goods, which are shown against each item. Normal goods have lower post/packing charges which is shown on some products - seeds for example.

Thanks again for your time - I'll try and get it corrected.

David

[pinbrook]

PLEASE NOTE .....
PARTERRE are pleased to offer the widest range of FERMOB OUTDOOR LOUNGE in the UK but due to the range of models & colours available, your order may need to be placed with the factory in France. The lead time varies, but is usually between 3 & 6 weeks from confirmation of order. We do hold stock of popular models & colours. If we have stock your order will usually be despatched next working day. In all cases you will be notified by return email or telephone. We have large deliveries from France every few weeks, but if you wish to check availability prior to ordering please email or telephone 01273 476305.

By way of example - there are 10 different BISTRO tables, each available in 26 colours - therefor 10 x 26 = 260 different tables. You can imagine the problem trying to keep the whole FERMOB range in stock.

You get factory fresh products, with the style & colour you want, rather than be limited to the few models and one or two colours offered by other suppliers.

Personally I think this could be better phrased. Especially the 2nd paragraph.

If you keep certain styles and colours in stock I would mark these on the site, conversley I would indicate the lead time beside combinations that have to be shipped from France.

[los_design]

In Line with what has already been said I would also stress the importance of consistent navigational location and structure.

In addition to Lee's comments, the logo (top left) is always a favourite get out of jail card for visitors who get lost. It is becoming more common to use the logo to go back to the index page so maybe turn that into a clickable link would be a smart move.

I would also loose the 'bold text' on the index page. Choose your points you wish to highlight and make the odd word or two bold.

##############################
Parterre is a retail and mail order company based in Lewes, the County Town of East Sussex.

From our store in the shadow of Lewes Castle we have a range of mostly garden inspired products from leading manufacturers, all of which have some connection with the garden, patio or conservatory.

Our online shop gives just a small selection of the products we stock.

To Browse - Please click on 'ENTER SHOP' or use the headings on the left.

For more information about PARTERRE, PAYMENT OPTIONS, ETC. please click on 'ABOUT US'.
#######################################

Can be hard to read as opposed to
########################################
Parterre is a retail and mail order company based in Lewes, the County Town of East Sussex.

From our store in the shadow of Lewes Castle we have a range of mostly garden inspired products from leading manufacturers, all of which have some connection with the garden, patio or conservatory.

Our online shop gives just a small selection of the products we stock.

To Browse - Please click on 'ENTER SHOP' or use the headings on the left.

For more information about PARTERRE, PAYMENT OPTIONS, ETC. please click on 'ABOUT US'.
#######################################
Will lead the reader down your text path.

Oh and loose the mailto link, spam manna from heaven, convert that to a link to your contact form.

Other than that, not a lot can be added as it is as stated, a standard boxed theme, but a good start though...

Regards

[jont]

(Morning Darren) ... may also be worth emboldening what they actually sell "garden inspired products" ... as lovely as Lewes Castle is!

I would drop the "powered by Actinic" link from the page - you have paid your money to own the software and not lead people to others sites. Unless you are making good money from the referrer scheme that is.

[los_design]

(Morning Darren) ... may also be worth emboldening what they actually sell "garden inspired products" ... as lovely as Lewes Castle is!

I would drop the "powered by Actinic" link from the page - you have paid your money to own the software and not lead people to others sites. Unless you are making good money from the referrer scheme that is.

Morning sir, how are you on this fine Saturday morning?

The example was to demonstrate Jonty, not as to what to do with the copy, if that was the case I would have re-written it as it is a bit 'flowery' (no pun) and looks like it was written in 5 minutes (no offence intended).

Many home site owners (as opposed to outsourced) give scant time to the landing page copy, yet it is crucial real estate.

[jont]

The example was to demonstrate Jonty, not as to what to do with the copy, if that was the case I would have re-written it as it is a bit 'flowery' (no pun) and looks like it was written in 5 minutes (no offence intended).

Appreciated it was only an example.... you are probably not amazed at how may people will simply copy and paste (literally or metaphorically) without thinking... especially if they are not confident about writing copy .. which as you say is a little too fluffy for the homepage with a very low keyword count.

I will make "verbatim" my word of the day

[los_design]

Appreciated it was only an example.... you are probably not amazed at how may people will simply copy and paste (literally or metaphorically) without thinking... especially if they are not confident about writing copy .. which as you say is a little too fluffy for the homepage with a very low keyword count.

I will make "verbatim" my word of the day

Great word....my word of the day appears to be hindsight

4 phonecalls thus far and have used it a gazzilion times.....

[jont]

my word of the day appears to be hindsight

I always assume (where I hear a politician say it) that is a euphemism for "I have really messed up and I can't believe I was stupid enough to do it that way in the first place but rest assured it won't happen again and I will fight with every last ounce of effort to rectify by not asking the pertinent questions in the first place" ... hmm ... I used that several times on Thursday

What are you doing taking calls on a Saturday? Or is it Mrs Los asking why your mobile is showing in the Red Lion when you claimed to be at the office making v8 w3c compliant?

[los_design]

I always assume (where I hear a politician say it) that is a euphemism for "I have really messed up and I can't believe I was stupid enough to do it that way in the first place but rest assured it won't happen again and I will fight with every last ounce of effort to rectify by not asking the pertinent questions in the first place" ... hmm ... I used that several times on Thursday

What are you doing taking calls on a Saturday? Or is it Mrs Los asking why your mobile is showing in the Red Lion when you claimed to be at the office making v8 w3c compliant?

Effective marketing (on and offline) and our new 7 day support/sales SLA's (cheers for the free plug )

Mrs LOS thought it was time I spoke to real people on the telephone in readiness for when I leave my Howard Huges existance behind me and start to interact with peeps in the outside world.

Don't you just love care in the community.

[jont]

Mrs LOS thought it was time I spoke to real people on the telephone in readiness for when I leave my Howard Hughes existence behind me and start to interact with peeps in the outside world.

LOL .. I'm sure she has your best interest at heart (aka her credit card)

[davidbenson]

Thanks to all for the input. Much appreciated. Didn't think so many comments would appear on a Saturday.
I have made a couple of changes and hope it has improved the appearance of the pages.
Re Jo's comment about Garden Furniture in stock - we do keep a stock list but have not found an easy way to include it online. We offer the chance to phone and check current & expected stock. The main problem is the choice of colours available on each product. There can be up to 27 colour variants on each product. At the moment they are selected by the customer from drop down boxes. I think that to show actual stock in each colour would require 27 different products rather than using the drop down on 1 product. That would make a very long page of each product. Most customers seem to be happy to wait a few weeks to get the colour they want rather than be limited to the colour the shop bought in bulk.
Products, other than the furniture, are all in stock and can be taken off the site at a moments notice if all are sold.

Regards to you all.

David

[pinbrook]

I'm not saying don't offer the choice - its a unique selling point to offer all colours all designs etc. I was just suggesting you investigate better info online - despite the woeful inbuilt actinic stock control.

You could have the product info as a fragment or product not orderable online

then use one line per product layout to list the choices, then you can add lead time