Building Our New Online Shop

We've had the idea.

We've made the plan.

Now it's time to actually build the thing!

This is the point where our new online shop starts going from notes, ideas and conversations into something we can actually see and use.

Starting With a Blank Page

There's something quite exciting about starting with a blank website.

At the beginning, there's nothing there.

Then slowly, piece by piece, it starts turning into the shop we've been imagining.

We're working on the overall design, menus, categories, product pages and all the little details that make the site feel like ours.

Some ideas have worked exactly as we'd hoped.

Others have lasted about five minutes before we've looked at them and thought:

“Nope. That's not going to work!”

And then it's back to the drawing board.

Adding the Products

Of course, an online shop isn't much use without anything to buy.

So another big job is getting our products onto the website.

That means product names, descriptions, photographs, prices, categories and all the other information customers need before deciding to buy.

We're trying to make everything as clear as possible.

Rather than making people hunt around for information, we want each product page to give customers what they need to make their decision.

Building the Checkout

This is probably one of the most important parts of the entire website.

The checkout needs to be simple.

Add something to the basket.

Go to checkout.

Enter your details.

Choose delivery.

Pay.

Done.

At least, that's the idea!

Behind those few simple steps, there's quite a lot going on. We're setting up payments, order confirmations, customer emails, delivery options and the systems we'll use to manage orders once they arrive.

It's Starting to Look Like a Real Shop

There's still work to do, but we're now at the point where we can click around the website and it actually feels like a shop.

That's a pretty big milestone.

But we're definitely not ready to press the big GO LIVE button yet.

First, we're going to try our hardest to break it.

It's testing time.