Atelier Rousseau

Charlotte Russell
atelier-rousseau.com

I sell couture bridal accessories – each piece is designed and handmade by myself in Kent, England. I started my business in January 2011 and spent a lot of time on my previous site trying to make it look like the shop I have today with Storefront. However, it still didn’t have that professional edge; for example, the images on the shop pages were too small and took a little while to load when increasing the size.

Another problem was not being able to offer selected customers discounts. Storefront overcomes both these issues – potential customers can see close-up details of my products using the picture zoom and I can now create special promotion codes. The Storefront package is so much easier to use than my previous website and it didn’t take me long to set up my shop using the 'drag and drop' page builder.

Another great feature is that I can change the look and colours of the site design whenever I want – meaning I can keep my image looking fresh and interesting in an instant.

La diosa

Natasha Faith & Semhal Zemikael
ladiosa.co.uk

We started designing and making our high-end jewellery in 2009, with assistance from The Princes Trust. We used Mr Site’s Takeaway Website Pro to help us build our business up and now have a retail outlet in London’s Hatton Garden, have stockists around the country and our jewellery is worn by the likes of Sarah Brown and Alicia Keys.

'A website is a business' shop window to the world – and we really believe that Storefront will allow us to achieve global success. It is already proving to be very user-friendly and has massively improved interaction with our customers. We have a clear and strong vision of the future and we want it to represent every facet of the things we love and treasure – and Storefront is going to help take our business to the next level.

Gulper.co.uk

Gary Evans
gulper.co.uk

We launched our online business selling gadgets, games and gifts online from our home in Flintshire, North Wales in March 2011. When we first started Gulper, we used Takeaway Website Pro as it was a cost effective solution for any start up wanting to sell products online.

Then one day I received the Mr Site monthly newsletter, which mentioned they were working on a new e-commerce package – I signed up straight away and now Storefront allows me to offer everything from individual product pages with zoom-able images, to secure and easy-to-use payment pages, which give my customers peace of mind that they are dealing with a professional company. The main advantages with Storefront are that it is scalable to my business and the search engine optimisation features provide fantastic opportunities to get your site higher up the ranking pages. From my experience, you will not get an equivalent website from a web design agency for the same price – and if you are on a budget like most start-ups, then Storefront is the future for any inspiring retail entrepreneur!

Sara's Textured Crafts

Sara Millis
sarastexturecrafts.com

I started my business in January 2007 – I am a fibre and yarn supplier/retailer to felt makers, spinners, weavers, knitters and embellishers. I work from home, but am based just outside of Exeter in Crediton. Before Storefront I was using a very basic e-shop package, which gave me quick and easy entry into the online market but I felt I was missing out on business.

Now I’m using Storefront, I have the opportunity to interact with my customers so much better, which is key to my business ethos of ‘learning and sharing crafts’. With Storefront, I can also process sales and answer queries much quicker – imperative when you work on your own, like me. Storefront also gives me lots of other very useful tools, like user statistics and customer reviews. This information will undoubtedly help me to communicate with customers in a more successful way – ultimately this will lead the way for future expansion of my business.

Random Eyes Boutique

Karen Hollowell
randomeyesboutique.co.uk

I run my business, creating unique kitsch jewellery and accessories, from home. It started out as a hobby, but I officially launched Randomeyes Boutique at the Clothes Show Live 2010 at Birmingham's NEC. In the beginning, I had a very basic website and then moved to Mr Site’s Takeaway Website – but my products became more popular, I felt I needed more advanced features for my online shop.

With Storefront I will be able to continue expanding my business and generate more interest from customers. The product filters feature makes browsing so much easier for customers to navigate and the individual product pages will really help with my search engine rankings. I can also offer promotional discounts to my customers to help increase sales and use the reward points system to encourage repeat orders.

Pinnikity

Nikki Williams
pinnikity.com

I work from my kitchen table at home, in Lancashire, producing a collection of retro style aprons for adults and children. I’ve been in business since 2009 and in the past have always relied on marketplaces like Etsy to sell my products. Though they are great tools, maintenance is high and your listings get a little lost with thousands of other sellers – so I started using the Takeaway package in May 2010 to build my own online shop. The most important thing I needed was to show the quality and detail of my aprons with a selection of images, as well as give size and fabrics options – and with Storefront I can do this perfectly.

My daily routine just requires a little quick and easy order management, as customer’s orders are automatically confirmed and I can update them easily on their order and delivery status. I am able to update my range easily and even create an end of season sale – the store reinforces my brand and I can take the business to the press or potential customers knowing I have something great to show them!

The Little Black Dress Boutique

Michelle Sackett
thelittleblackdressboutique.co.uk

The Little Black Dress Boutique, in Stow-on-the-Wold, is a shop full of handpicked collections of dresses, tees, knitwear, separates, jewellery and accessories. We had a Takeaway Website for three years, which really helped our business – but when we heard about the new features in Storefront, we were keen to give it a go as we felt it would help us to keep up in the competitive online market. Using Storefront’s contemporary designs, we’ve manage to create a page layout that is really easy for customers to navigate; meaning they are more likely to browse the site for longer.

We particularly like being able to add a related item to product pages, which will hopefully lead to customers making multiple purchases. On top of this, regularly updated newsletters and online registration gives us the opportunity to update customers about new products and promotions.

Ellie Ellie

Danielle Plowman
ellieellie.co.uk

Ellie Ellie is a sustainable giftware brand, which I started from my living room in 2006. I decided to upgrade to Storefront because it allows me to compete with major online retail websites at a very affordable price. My Storefront site is so easy for customers to navigate, compare products and purchase – I’m especially looking forward to getting more Google hits now that I have been able to add SEO meta tags to every page and product. That in itself will change my business massively! I’ve also found being able to create product variants so helpful – for example, one product I have has around 170 different variations! And because a lot of my products are one off, it is important to me to be able to delete and update variations on a daily basis, and Storefront allows me to do this very easily. The feedback from customers has been great, too; one commented that it looks like my business has gone up a gear and another said it looks like a ‘grown up’ version of the website before.

The Storefront package is literally a dream come true – I could never afford to get this quality of website made without it.