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Feedback on webshop selling handmade pashminas

pashminapashmina subscriber Posts: 7 Member
edited June 2017 in Website Critique
Hello,

I have been running a webshop in Denmark for a while. Sales are good, so I thought I would expand making an international site. The market is so much bigger, but sales are really slow. Can anyone point a finger to the problem? https://www.pashminawear.com

Cheers,
Nicolai

Comments

  • Ryan O'BlenessRyan O'Bleness administrator Posts: 1,137 Site Admin
    Hello, @pashmina

    Here is a clickable link to your website: https://www.pashminawear.com

    I think your website is aesthetically pleasing, but the top menu bar is a little inconsistent. You have a drop down/mega menu for Shawls and Wraps, Scarves and Filters, but Hats and Gloves, Scarves for Him and Ponchos don't have the same responsive functionality. Which is fine, but there should be a drop down arrow or something to signify this functionality, similar to what we do with the StartupNation menu on the home page. 

    Also, another reason your sales may be slow is that these items are expensive, at least when looking as U.S. dollars. 

    While I am sure they're quality, and I appreciate hand-crafted items, personally, I am never going to want to pay over $100 for a scarf. I would analyze your pricing points and do more market research to see what your competitors are selling their items for, and if they're having more success or not. 

    @Randi Miller and @BrianSmith will likely be able to give you more of a website critique than I can, but those are my thoughts. 

    Hope it helps! 
    Ryan O'Bleness
    Community Manager
    StartupNation, LLC
  • pashminapashmina subscriber Posts: 7 Member
    Hi @RyanOBleness ,

    Thanks for your feedback. Good point about the menu. I will fix this.

    About the prices, I think they are on the same level as my competitors. I have a close relation with my manufacturer, and I know the prices on cashmere raw material and spun yarn, so I beleive my cost price is about the same as my competitors.

    The prices you see are inclusive 25% danish VAT. Since my main markert is Europe this is not a problem, but if I export outside EU the VAT will be deducted.

    Of course there are shops selling "pure cashmere scarves" for $20 but I can't do anything about it. It is the same quality you often see in pashmia shops in Kathmandu, typically a mix of wool and polyester. No way you can sell a cashmere scarf for that price with a profit.

    I am well aware our products are not for everyone. It is a niche, but big enough to make a profitable business if you can get a nice cut of the international market. My strategy in Denmark has beed to do some story telling about how these delicate scarves and shawls are made. https://www.pashminawear.com/blog/8_pashmina-shawls-from-goat-hairs-to-luxury-acc.html
  • Ryan O'BlenessRyan O'Bleness administrator Posts: 1,137 Site Admin
    Yeah, obviously you need to make sure you're able to make a profit, and I figured there were some international taxes on the prices. Thanks for clarifying! 

    Best of luck. 
    Ryan O'Bleness
    Community Manager
    StartupNation, LLC
  • Randi MillerRandi Miller administrator Posts: 20 Bronze Level Member
    edited June 2017
    ** Note. I use scarf throughout but replace suggestion for any other product that you have **

    First off, congrats for getting sales to take off in your neck of the woods. Here are a few of my initial reaction thoughts then I'll provide a few more technical items.
    • Pricing type should default to the location of the visitor. Most people in the US will just leave your site as soon as it loads if they don't see USD pricing. If this is is too difficult technically for you to do then consider showing USD pricing on everything no matter what. We are very different than most places, US citizens like to feel as though they are shopping local and any hint of it not being local deters us.
    • Take a look at the number of mobile visitors. I would consider removing all the stuff on the top for mobile and putting that in the footer. I should see more than just the top of the first product. Consider doing rows of 2 squares and have the first row fully visible at the top. (ie. do col-xs-6 instead of col-xs-12 on the squares)
    • Better descriptions. Stories sell. Give me a story with each product. Why did you pick that material? Why those colors? Was there an inspiration? I'm not buying a $100 scarf without a story behind it. If you aren't making them then why did you add it to your catalog instead of something else?
    • Provide a "Suggested look" for the visitor to know what they can wear the item with. Is it a black tie fundraiser scarf or for enjoying an evening in the park. It will be hard because I know each scarf can go with "anything" but people easily get frozen from options. Narrow it down for them by suggesting something.
    • Your social media is dead in the water here. We can't read it so we aren't clicking, liking or sharing. This is difficult for any e-commerce business but you have several options.  1) default to English for even social media posts since it's pretty much spoken everywhere or 2) have separate accounts for different languages. I suggest switching to English and provide a localized translation to your larger demographic underneath that.
    • Your site is pretty well equipped for SEO. Consider a source of content though. A blog or something about trends with scarves for this season.
    More technical and design details:
    • The currency in the header not being even with the other parts drove me insane. Move it further way or line it up. Just made the whole top of the page look uneven to me.
    • Are people calling you from your website? If not, remove the phone number from the top. Not many people are going to flip a huge phone bill to buy a scarf. Maybe do a chat instead.
    • Remove the card logos at the top. Wasted space. You wouldn't be online if you didn't take them.
    • Compress thy images.. use tinypng.com or an image compression plugin. Per Google, "reduce their size by 271.2KiB (18% reduction)."
    • I am drowning in color on your site. This deters many people. Look at what the high-end sites do like Saks. Black & white. Keep it simple. Keep it clean.
    Most important thing is to watch your analytics. Check where people are coming from and where they aren't. You won't ever have one-size fits all website but walk through and pay attention to things that just don't make sense for everyone.
    Making the web a better place!

    Randi Miller
    Geek Guy
  • pashminapashmina subscriber Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks @"Randi Miller" ,

    Really good feed back. I will try to tone down the colours. I have changed the menu, so it looks a bit like Saks.

    Good point with the currency. It should be possible to set it according to the location of the visitor.

    As mentioned in my previous post, my strategy is exactly to make some content about how the shawls are manufactured.

    Cheers,
    Nicolai
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