Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Items with 2 components

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    Items with 2 components

    Hello.

    I'm a bit stuck with the following problem.

    I have a giant pillow which is available in 20 different colours. No problem.

    The same pillow is available in 5 different types of material (denim, cotton, leather etc). No problem.

    However, if a client wants to select a denim pillow, the range of colours needs to be limited to just one... blue. This is also the case for Leather, which is only available in four colours. Is there a clever way of presenting this information, rather than what I have currently?

    I currently have 5 drop down menu's, one for each material, which the user then clicks to reveal which colours are available. It looks untidy!

    Thanks in advance.

    Bo Dollar.
    Tags: None
    #2
    If I were you I'd call this 5 different products, each with a single option (colour) rather than one product with a confusing range of options.

    It just seems more logical to me and allows you to show an example of each product (material type) and sell the benefits of the different materials.

    Mike
    -----------------------------------------

    First Tackle - Fly Fishing and Game Angling

    -----------------------------------------

    Comment

      #3
      I'd do it Mikes way but consider using different templates, one for the "main product" - big picture, most colours, then use a simpler template for the denim and leather products - small color / texture swatch image.

      You can design this so that it all looks like part of the same product by leaving out the Product Separator.

      Norman
      Norman - www.drillpine.biz
      Edinburgh, U K / Bitez, Turkey

      Comment

        #4
        Good points guys. I'll take your advice and create something in the way that you describe. However, although I probably discribed my problem very badly, I wouldnt call this range of options "confusing". For example, on the AutoTrader website (http://www.autotrader.co.uk) you are given the option to search for a particular car. There are a number of drop-down menu's. For example, you must select a Make of car before being able to select the Model. Admittedly, the website is written using ASP, not CGI and HTML. Ideally i'd like to achieve a similar result, whereby I can select a material (or fabric) and then be provided with a range of colours in another pull down menu that are relevant to that fabric.

        I'm not sure how familiar you both are with UK cars, but if you selected Ford as the make of car, you wouldnt be given a list of models from another manufacturer.

        Can the same principal be applied using Actinic, or am I just talking rubbish here??? ;-)

        Comment

          #5
          To add to the above further, although I could have 5 different products pages (one for each type of fabric), I'm going to have the same problem when it comes to the 6 different sizes the pillows are available in!

          Darn!

          Any more suggestions?

          Comment

            #6
            Norman Rouxel has grid thingy for displaying complicated component choices as pictures, would this help at all - see http://www.rouxel.cwc.net/actinicstuff.html it is under paid for stuff.

            Regards,
            Jan Strassen, Mole End Software - Plugins and Reports for Actinic V4 to V11, Sellerdeck V11 to V2018, Sellerdeck Cloud
            Visit our facebook page for the latest news and special offers from Mole End

            Top Quality Integrated label paper for Actinic and Sellerdeck
            A4 Paper with one or two peel off labels, free reports available for our customers
            Product Mash for Sellerdeck
            Link to Google Shopping and other channels, increase sales traffic, prices from £29.95
            Multichannel order processing
            Process Actinic, Sellerdeck, Amazon, Ebay, Playtrade orders with a single program, low cost lite version now available from £19.95

            Comment

              #7
              You described your problem well. I'm pretty sure we both understood it. The reason that we didn't suggest any type of comlex selection list like you mentioned (Cars) is because it can't be done with Actinic.

              The Auto Trader site has been designed to just sell one type of product in one particular way (and probably cost tens of thousands of pounds to set-up).

              Actinic is a general purpose solution and at the price you have to work within its limitations.

              You could get the structure you ask for by using Sub-Sections. Make a Section "Giant Cushions" and within that Sub-Sections (or Products), "Cloth", "Denim" and "Leather".

              Norman
              Norman - www.drillpine.biz
              Edinburgh, U K / Bitez, Turkey

              Comment

                #8
                I would have 'Giant cushions', etc as the section titles and then on each page show the range of cushion types available.

                i.e.

                >Giant Cushions

                1. Giant Leather Cushion

                "Nothing beats the warmth and practicality of real leather and our giant leather cushion brings style and comfort in one huge fashion statement"

                Colours available: BUY!

                2. Giant Denim Cushion

                "Denim has been the fashion choice of the younger generation for decades and with our giant denim cushion you can bring a fresh new look to the comfort of your living room."

                Colours available: BUY!


                etc, etc.

                The benefits of doing it this way are:

                1. Customers want to see what you have. Not go through a drop down filtering process to be finally presented with the option you think they want.

                2. As I said before, you have to show and sell your products if you want people to buy. Cushions are different from cars.

                3. Lots of content for the search engines to pick up.

                4. It's easy for the customer. They just find the product they want and then choose the colour. (Sales Hint: every time you ask a customer to make a choice you probably loose half your customers there and then. People hate making choices).

                Mike
                -----------------------------------------

                First Tackle - Fly Fishing and Game Angling

                -----------------------------------------

                Comment

                  #9
                  I'm well chuffed with all your responses guys (and girls). I am not for one minute disappointed that Actinic cannot do exactly as I ask it, as I am very surprised and very pleased with the software. It can do far more than I imagined!

                  Mike makes a particularly useful comment. You've sold me the "giant cushions" already. Check out this line:

                  > "Nothing beats the warmth and practicality of real leather and our giant leather cushion brings style and comfort in one huge fashion statement"

                  I'm going to go with this and use some of Normans advice regarding subsections...

                  Giant Cushions>Denim
                  Giant Cushions>Leather
                  etc

                  As for Lady Jan's comments... I'm going to take a look at the URL now. Thanks.

                  Cheers gang. No doubt i'll need more from you soon!

                  Comment

                  Previous template Next
                  Working...
                  X