Update on thirty bees

[doclucas]

That's true too. But, demand can come due to availability. Sometime you gotta take the chance and invest something to see the return. Just thinking out loud. :) I'll try to talk with Tomer, see what he says.

[Briljander]

@lesley that is the truth. I have tried with iqit for the warehouse theme (I was paying support but have stopped because he doesn't update 1.6) and there is still a problem when you are in a smaller geographical zone which means less demand.

[ajensen27]

Glad to hear things are progressing. Some things that would step you up to another level, IMO, would be:

1. a much cleaner and modern default theme. Looks like it's from 4-5 years ago. https://martica-demo.myshopify.com/ would be a good example.

2. Subscriptions. The only other software I can find that does this right is Lemonstand. All others you have to either buy a module or pay crazy amounts for services. This would put you apart from the rest.

3. A great and easy checkout process (1 page) like shopify and even PS 1.7 has. Check out chewy.com, they do it right.

4. A better customer experience. Should be easier to re-order items, see your past purchases more cleanly, manage cards, etc etc.

Just some thoughts.

[doclucas]

Just note that PS 1.7 one page checkout is flawed in the sense that it has full page reloads, rather than quick AJAX responses of each section. You can read lots of discussion about it on the web. And there is: 5. Improve the shopping cart quantity box logic, by changing it to dropdowns that match the max quantity available in stock, instead of AJAX check of every quantity up/down change. 6. Improve checkout by adding a stock check and a stock correction popup that will allow cart quantity to be automatically adjusted to the max quantity available in stock. For example, if I added 5 pieces of a certain item to the cart (when it was available) and check out when there are only 3 left, there will be a popup notice explaining the stock issue that will allow quantity correction with a click of a button (on that popup). Example:

[ajensen27]

@doclucas Wasn't referring to the functionality, more so the design. Best design of a checkout goes to chewy.com for sure. If you can mimic these guys, you're doing it right. Hence why they sold the company to PetSmart for over $3 billion (largest e-commerce sale ever). They do things right.

[Traumflug]

Best design of a checkout goes to chewy.com for sure.

No guest checkout and "best design" doesn't really match.

P.S.: also:

• Can't enter a company name.
• Can't enter a VAT number.
• Can't enter a different name for the shipping address.
• Only one payment method.
• No carrier selection at all.

While it's a nice looking GUI, pretty crippled in functionality.

Not sure what to learn from there other than the evergreen "get nicer graphics".

[ajensen27]

@traumflug You're nitpicking. These are options, not design elements. And they are a huge company with a loyal customer base, they don't need a guest checkout (same as Amazon). This should be an option regardless. Some store owners like having a guest checkout, others don't.

[Traumflug]

You’re nitpicking.

That's probably my second name :-)

That said, if it's just graphics, what's the problem, then? Juggle a bit with CSS and schwuppdiwupp, these fields in the default theme get rounded corners, shadows, whatever one can imagine.

If there are too many fields, here's a little secret: Go to back office -> Localization -> Countries and click on a country. On the lower half of this page is an editor "Address format". There one can add and remove address fields. Remove them there and they're gone from the dialog presented to the customer.

[doclucas]

Yep. I guess he meant that this is how the checkout should be looking by default, so that those BO options (of those fields) will be disabled by default on a stock installation (while can be enabled by admin of course, if and when needed). One of the best marketing advisors I ever met once told me - simplicity is the key. The more you simplify your UI/UX and make important things stand out and be more accessible, the better conversions you will have. Regardless of the one-page-checkout point , I think @ajensen27 made some valid points for improvement (and so did I :) ), and we always appreciate (constructive) feedbacks, whether we accept them as they are, modify them a bit, build on them or skip them altogether.

[colorful-ant]

I myself also wished for some improvements for the checkout etc.

But I think that some people forget various facts. Some do not remember or forget that this software is for the general public worldwide. That means, for example, laws to consider. It is usually a technical matter, optically can do much for template programmers and possibly turn off functions.

I wish that not everything is always compared with large corporations such as Amazon. I would rather fight these giants than imitate.

It's Thirty Bees, a free online shop software for everyone. It's not an Amazon store, it's not a shopifiy, it's not an ebay, etc.

What you make of the system yourself is up to you. Since the first version of TB, so many bugs have already been removed from PS and it is still compatible with most PS modules. I do not know any other shop system based on PS / TB, which has so many free features and modules. The basic system offers a lot in contrast to other shop systems.

[doclucas]

I generally agree with your post, @colorful-ant , with one exception. You have to remember those online retail giants are also working internationally and conform with international laws as well. They also spent and keep on spedning millions if not billions in marketing R&D to figure out what works in online marketing and what doesn't. Imitating them and learning from their very hard learned and highly paid lessons is wise and completely does not contradict with fighting these giants, ie. fighting them by having good sales through our TB shops. :)

[Traumflug]

You have to remember those online retail giants are also working internationally and conform with international laws as well.

They don't. The evaluation done by me above was made while being connected from Germany and the interface doesn't comply with our local laws. Such shops target perhaps 70% of the available market and just ignore the other 30%, in the hope to get more business out of the 70%. Quite possibly this works out, still it leaves 30% in the rain. Which opens business opportunities for competitors.

thirty bees isn't a shop solution for just end consumer toys, it's a solution for any kind of business. Each kind of business has a different 70% set, so it can't predict on which set of consumers should be targeted. Only merchants can do this and finding this set is a major part of their business operations.

There's another reason why offering a fairly feature complete rather than a reduced default installation is a good idea. There's a lot of competition, so merchants searching for software likely have a checklist about which features they need. Then they search around and look up whether their checklist is met. If there's something missing they move on to the next. It's very unlikely they spend a couple of days to learn about how to add this or that must-have feature for each of the software candidates.

Third reason is, removing widgets is much easier than adding ones.

If thirty bees wants to improve, it could show better how it can get adjusted to particular merchant needs. That's probably the reason why add-on themes are so popular. They don't add shop features, but they come with an interface allowing to change appearance without touching code. Sometimes at a fairly high cost of performance, still merchants like it.

... and please don't take this posting as an official statement. It's one opinion among many.

[doclucas]

@traumflug said in Update on thirty bees:

There’s another reason why offering a fairly feature complete rather than a reduced default installation is a good idea.

Yes, it is not about reduced default installation, on the contrary, I totally agree that feature-rich is very important, the more features the better and the more attractive it will make TB. It is about the default theme/look setup on a stock installation.

@traumflug said in Update on thirty bees:

They don’t.

I was referring to international giants in general, such as Amazon that was referenced in the previous post, not to that specific site.