The brief for this project was to develop an e-commerce solution for a startup company selling handmade tiaras and wedding accessories.
The website had to showcase the client’s product range while providing an engaging and intuitive shopping experience. Usability research played a key part in identifying current shopping habits and the features potential customers may require to help them make their purchasing decisions.
Prior to starting any visual design work, wireframes and semi-interactive mock-ups were created to help the client understand both the "mechanics" of the shop and the usability research findings. Working with mock-ups was a new experience for this client but it helped them to understand that a successful e-commerce website is not just about great asthetics.
Once the shopping experience was finalized the website visuals were created and development began on the final version of the shop.
Producing a great shopping experience is extremely important when developing an e-commerce website but it's not a lot of use if potential customers can't find it in a search engine.
The shop was developed with SEO in mind. Each product has a unique friendly URL and configurable meta data allowing fine grain control over it's exposure to search engines. The shop also automatically generates an XML sitemap which is compatible with all major search engines.