Thursday 24 June 2010

Corsety Connundrum

Dear Readers

I need your help .. I am having a dilema!  I have 12 days in which to renew my current website subscription, or change providers.  The provider I am with, is OK, but I am frustrated by their limitations on postage options.  For example, I cannot charge postage by weight, and I cannot charge postage by destination.  I therefore have to charge postage on a sliding scale of product value, which I don't think is ideal but I have made it as accurate as possible and it works OK.

The new provider, can do postage options by weight and country, which means that the postage costs are more accurate especially for large orders.

The rest of it is swings and roundabouts - there are pro's and cons to either option with the new provider coming out tops on a couple of other things namely, the shopping basket is better and visible, there is a top menu, and a few other bits, BUT, I like the design of my current site and I cannot replicate it exactly on the new site (it's the colour scheme that I like and can't replicate).  

I can't decide which one looks better from a customer point of view...

Can you tell me which you like better?  In each case, the top or bottom image - which do you think looks more user friendly?  The top images are one provider, and the bottom images are the other.

Click on images to enlarge.  This is the home page:


This is the 'shop' introduction page:


What d'you reck???


18 comments:

shopaholicann said...

Ever so slightly the bottom ones are my preference.

shopaholicann said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
melissa said...

There's no difference for me, really. When I'm buying from a shop, I'd much, much rather have reasonable shipping prices than some rounded corners. I can't even tell you what colours half of my favourite online shops are using, but I certainly get tell you if I thought the shipping charges were reasonable or not!

JuliaB said...

Thankyou! Ann, if you are a shopaholic then you must be an expert at spying a good website.. Melissa, I agree with you re postage charges.

Unknown said...

Personally, the layouts of the bottom site look better to me. They're cleaner and more professional looking with a crisp looking layout (can you tell I design websites in my spare time?!). Also, having a basket in the sidebar helps me (as a prolific shopper at times) keep track of just what the hell I'm spending!

jennyflowerblue said...

Option one for me please!

Leah Taylor (Sewbox) said...

I much prefer the second one, I prefer the menu being across the top and also I prefer how the header image is not a separate block but is within the white area (if that makes sense?!)Good luck, I hope the transfer goes well if you do decide to move. I still haven't sorted out shipping on my website which is a real pain, so I just charge £2.50 flat which isn't really ideal. Let us all know what you decide to do! Leah x

The Coffee Lady said...

I do like being able to see my shopping basket wherever I wander, so the bottom one for me.

The Coffee Lady said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ginny said...

hi julia!
i like the bottom one mainly for the rounded (curvy) corners, for me it fits with your brand name of sew 'curvy'corsets.

love ginny x
p.s. your black pansies seeds are doing well and i can't wait for my 'julia' sweet peas to flower : )

https://indoorplantspotsanddoilies.blogspot.com/ said...

Difficult as their is not much in it, just go with your impulse's as you have a fantastic computing skills.
Lovely as always.

Indigo Blue said...

I can not tell the difference, they oth feature your style well. I used the provider you have currently and I gave up with it after a year because I found it very temperamental. I could not edit an item without it thinking that I was adding am item at the same time. Also I would delete things and then discover several days later that they were still there!! Got fed up and shut it down. Looking to start up another in the next few months, with someone else. Go with thenew one if it allows you to rpovide what you want for your customers.
x

Tricia said...

I prefer the top one, as it looks less cluttered. Having the shopping cart visible doesn't matter to me, as there would be an option to view cart.

Jane Le Galloudec said...

I like the top one best Julia... and I don't even know why... but having read all the comments I think I may be 'odd' so you should really go with a combination of your own gut feeling and the majority of potential customers... I guess! x

Gina said...

Both look good to me Julia - I would choose the one that gives you the best options, so the second one I guess.

TheBlackWardrobe said...

I completely agree with Toria. The 2nd layout is far far better, with the main links on top of the page. It is easier to navigate, read and shop! I have this sort of layout on my site too, it was recommended by my web developer. By the way, have you tried 1and1.co.uk or Mr.site?
Good luck with your switch over, anyway.

the-black-wardrobe.blogspot.com
theblackwardrobe.com

DangAndBlast! said...

The bottom one!

Florence Knapp (Flossie Teacakes) said...

I like the top one of each of the two pages best...however, I think lower postage costs are more important as a customer, so I'd go for whichever allows you to tailor the postage costs.

Florence x