eBay sellers Norma Bermudez and Daren Wymes are transforming their New Day Eclectic website into a new site called "Bixley Heath, Exceptional items for Mind & Home." The aim is to combine the classics with a fun modern twist, and the two are looking for feedback on improving their ecommerce website.
Norma has a background in publishing and advertising in the New York tri-state area and has turned to a new career - Interior Design. Daren Wymes is an expert at antique procurement and professional restoration with over 15 years of old-world craftsman experience in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
Norma and Daren want to expand their site to be attractive not only to designers, but also to professional home/business stylists, set designers and home stagers, whether they need basic home furnishings or to fill a need through decorative accessories. They are growing their Art, Books and Furniture sections in particular, but also are looking to expand the decorative areas to appeal to those with a more global theme.
Norma said they are looking for feedback in four areas.
- The browsing experience. "We have a lot of inventory, we sell as New Day Booksellers as well so we welcome advice on how to make the search/browsing more "user-friendly."
- The layout. "We like our design layout, but it never hurts to ask if anyone else does."
- The inventory. "Perhaps a good question is about the inventory itself. What are people buying? We're changing in an effort to be a bit different at a time when I think we're saturated by the same old things. We want to offer quality items with an edge. And price structure? Is it "all over the map"? We think so, ergo the change."
- Marketing. "What type of advertising brings people to the site? Email marketing, blogging, prints ads? The trade papers are filled with ads for sites that deem to sell "antiques" or decorative items. As far as we're concerned, we see an awful lot of "average" inventory that doesn't sell. How do we bring in those customers/clients looking for that "something else"?"
If you would like to be considered for an AuctionBytes "Critique My Site" feature, let me know by emailing me at ina@auctionbytes.com.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
