Webstore Review: Flemish Linen’s new site brings world-wide linen goods directly to your home

This post is part of a series reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore

Flemish Linen’s new site brings world-wide fine linen goods for the table, bed, bath and kitchen areas directly to your home. Built on Amazon Webstore – their new site allows you to experience the affordable daily luxury of fine linen goods chosen by the world’s most demanding buyers – in just days’ time.

Company Name: Flemish Linen

URL: http://us.flemishlinen.com/

Type of Products: Table, bed, bath and kitchen linen products

There are a few things we like about the new site at us.Flemishlinen.com:

• Powerful homepage hero graphic. The sites homepage displays eye catching images through a large presentable rotating hero graphic. This is a great way to highlight and showcase different product offerings, or also promote online sales to site visitors. This is the first page most users see when visiting the site and they have done a great job capturing and directing your attention toward a specific offering.

• Different online country stores. Live in a different country? No problem, Flemish has easily displayed their different international online storefronts at the top right of the page header – allowing site visitors to easily navigate to a different country online store.

• Amazon Fulfillment highlighted. Flemish puts Amazon’s fulfillment and payment technology to work for you – and they’ve highlighted this by including an Amazon fulfillment icon in their footer. This can increase customer trust and eventually lead to an increase in sales.

Webstore Review: B FROG’s new site brings unique and colorful design to eCommerce

This post is part of a series reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.

B FROG’s new site offers unique, progressive and colorful apparel to consumers around the world. In building their site on Amazon Webstore – they’ve done an excellent job incorporating this unique and colorful design into their new site.

Company Name: B FROG
URL: www.bfrog.com
Type of Products: Apparel, Clothing, Shirts, Polos

There are a few things we like about the new site at BFROG.com:

• The site is crisp, clean and very easy to navigate. Its simplistic store design layout, along with eye catching images allows users to easily understand their brand story and the products they offer.

• Awesome job emphasizing their brand pillar. Directly placed on the homepage and easy for site visitors to see:

• Product focused category pages. While most category pages need product titles and prices, B FROG instead has stripped off the prices and titles on their product category pages – allowing users to focus solely on the products they offer and not the pricing.

• High-quality product images. It’s very clear they have spent the time to capture high-quality product images. You’ll notice when you use the “roll-over zoom” feature it allows you to get a sense of the product almost as if your touching it in person. This can be a key selling point when selling products online.

• Nicely integrated blog. You would never know their blog (blog.bfrog.com) was hosted on WordPress. They have done a nice job integrating the blog into their navigation bar, and applying similar styling to match their site.

In Their Own Words

Christian Cremer, co-founder of B FROG, had this to say:

“Navigating in Amazon’s Seller Central is very friendly and no programming skills are required. Although it’s a lot of information, you can control everything from there.

I’m very happy to be working with Amazon. I decided to work with Amazon for three main reasons:

• Integration: Instead of working with many suppliers I decided to work with one: Amazon.
• Credibility: Being hosted by the worlds biggest retailer gives consumers credibility on the product my website is selling.
• Simplicity: Now I can occupy my time with doing what my business is all about, which is designing and producing unique, trendy and colorful apparel.

B FROG launched its website a few days ago, and we are very excited to be working with Amazon. Before we used to have a website hosted by another company and it gave us a lot of problems—since we started working with Amazon, everything is working great. Happy to be Amazon’s client.”

Webstore Review: Pipeista Brings Serious Style to eCommerce

This post is part of a series reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.

Pipeista offers a carefully curated selection of women’s apparel and accessories on its new site, Pipeista.com—and that same craftsmanship and eye for design has gone into building a clean, sophisticated eCommerce site on the Amazon Webstore platform.

Company name: Pipeista
URL: http://www.pipeista.com/
Type of products: Apparel
Time to build and launch: “The site took us only a short time to build, we developed over top of the templates/examples that Amazon provided. The largest amount of time was spent entering in our inventory, getting our product shots, and creating other graphical elements.”
Solution providers: Built in-house

There are a few things that we particularly like about the site at Pipeista.com:

• This is web design at its absolute cleanest. The simplicity of the homepage suggests a sophistication that many brands simply can’t reach. They’ve edited down the homepage to just the most basic elements—navigation, good imagery, and, uh, I guess that’s it—and the result is a classy site that is ridiculously easy to use.
• The product photography is just as stylish as the clothes themselves. One of the hardest things about buying apparel online is getting a good feel for how the outfit will look on you. Pipeista gets that much closer to solving this by injecting some attitude into their models and photography.
• It’s a UX dream come true. The categories are straightforward, and the top navigation leaves little question about how to get to them. The brevity of the curated product offering even lends it self to a site further simplified by removing the search box—this is a site for browsing, and it feels completely natural.

In Their Own Words
Craig Bell, co-owner of Pipeista.com with his wife Lindsey, had this to say about working with Amazon Webstore:

“We felt the site was easy to get started with. We looked at a few other services and felt that Amazon’s offering would work best for us. The build and launch process went smoothly, with the normal hiccups that come with building a website. The webstore has allowed us to expand our business outside of just Omaha, NE and reach customers across the country. My wife is the true creative force behind the clothing we offer, she travels to shows in NY to buy clothing that is then featured on our site. We buy in small amounts and try to focus on quality products that will keep customers coming back.”

Webstore Review: Peppa Pig’s Online Toy Shop is a Splash of eCommerce Fun

This post is part of a series reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.

The Peppa Pig World Online Toy Shop is the official online store of Peppa Pig, the popular children’s show in the UK… and it captures the magic of the show in its new eCommerce site powered by Amazon Webstore.

Company name: Peppa Pig World Online Toy Shop
URL: http://shop.peppapigworld.co.uk/
Type of products: Toys & Games
Time to build and launch: 1-2 months
Solution providers: Built both by an internal team and a third-party agency

It’s hard to not like Peppa Pig’s Online Toy Shop—the colors and design are as friendly as can be, and the eCommerce site is easy to use. In addition to the great design, there are a few other things that stand out:

• Terrific use of Amazon Webstore’s built-in upsell widgets. For example, when I’m looking at the George Winter TY Beanie Toy, I can see what other people who viewed it also viewed, and what people who bought it also bought.
• The eCommerce portion of the site is integrated seamlessly into the main site, at http://www.peppapigworld.co.uk.
• The main site—at least leading up to the holidays—greets you with a graphical overlay making sure you don’t miss the store in your shopping for Christmas gifts.
• They’ve also added a new “Gift Ideas” category, promoting a few select gift items,  and are cleverly promoting those on a holiday-themed image on the homepage—complete with a shipping promotion.
• They’re very clear about their policies: they deliver within the UK, returns are free, and the secure checkout is provided by Amazon.

In Their Own Words
Rob Lee, Digital Marketing Executive for the Peppa Pig World Online Toy Shop, shared this about choosing to work with Amazon Webstore:

“After reviewing various e-commerce platforms we decided to choose Amazon Webstore as we were excited about the opportunity to integrate Amazon’s technology into our own fully branded website in a relatively short period of time and at a reasonable cost. The build and launch process only took around a month to complete and the content management system that sits behind the store was very easy to use. We were also particularly pleased with the Webstore help and support that was available for any issues or questions that we came across.”

Webstore Review: The New Fit & Fresh Site is Nice and… Fresh

This post is part of a series reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.

Fit & Fresh has built a beautiful eCommerce site on the Amazon Webstore platform, selling products that are just as clever and cool as their site.

Company name: Fit & Fresh
URL: http://www.fit-fresh.com
Type of products: “We manufacture and sell products to help consumers eat better and live a healthier lifestyle. From lunch containers to insulated lunch bags, shaker cups, entertaining tableware and more, we are all about keeping food fresh from start to finish. Our line includes our Fresh Starts® products that allow parents to make and take their own baby food, our Fit & Fresh line of kid’s products made for bringing healthy lunches to school, and our adult line of work and entertaining food containers. With our removable, built-in ice packs, our products keep food fresh and you fit!”
Time to build and launch: Four months
Solution providers: Boston Interactive, V Group

The first thing that you notice about the Fit & Fresh site is the charm that it exudes, thanks to its great design and photography. Here’s a company that has carefully crafted its brand, from start to finish—and everything on this site, from the colors to the photography to the products themselves, tells the story of healthy living for families everywhere.

They’ve done some nice things under the hood, too. Instead of choosing to host their whole site on Webstore, the Fit & Fresh folks have seamlessly integrated the eCommerce portion of their site—powered by Amazon Webstore—with the rest of their site, which is powered by Kentico CMS. You’d never know, clicking around on the site, that there are two different technologies at play behind the scenes.

As for me, I think I might need to order one of these hot lunch bowls for kids, with a spoon built right into the lid. Not for my kids, though—for me.

In Their Own Words
Cindy Barlow, Vice President of Marketing for MEDport LLC, who makes Fit & Fresh products, talked to us about building their site on the Amazon Webstore platform:

“We looked at several different avenues for launching our ecommerce site; including different storefront and fulfillment providers. Upon running the numbers for each scenario and liking the fact that we could have all of our selling and fulfillment done by one resource, we ultimately settled on Amazon as being the best choice for our needs. We also liked the fact that it was scalable and the Amazon checkout option added credibility for our consumers.

We are quite happy with our decision to use Amazon and hope to continually build our business with you on many fronts (Seller, Webstore, FBA, Vendor).”

Webstore Review: Beantown Bedding Keeps its Site, And Your Sheets, Nice and Clean

This post is part of a weekly series, reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.

Beantown Bedding has new, interesting products—in short, they’re disposable bedsheets—and they’ve done an impressive job of telling their brand story in a highly-customized site built on Amazon Webstore.

Company name: Beantown Bedding, LLC
URL: http://www.beantownbedding.com
Type of products: Laundry-free linens
Time to build and launch: Two months
Solution providers: Site built by Explore Consulting

The joy of the new Beantown Bedding site is that it exudes the entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm of its founders. Their story? Two moms, about to send their oldest children to college, are inspired to create these new “laundry-free linens” that are friendly to the lazy college student lifestyle. A page of compelling “gross stats” (people can perspire up to a liter per night!) adds to the story-telling.

Site design-wise, there are a few points that stand out:

• They’ve made the site their own. It’s clear that they started with their own vision, and customized the Amazon Webstore templates until they had what they wanted. The result? A unique, great-looking site.
• It’s sophisticated. Beantown Bedding has managed to keep the focus on their products without making the site overly commercial—they didn’t sacrifice any aesthetics to promote the commerce. By building all the content on the Webstore platform, the transactional part of the site fits in seamlessly.
• There’s some SEO effort, too. While there aren’t a lot of pages on the site, having a separate “sustainability” page may bring in a set of search traffic they might not have had if they’d lumped everything together on the “about” page.

In Their Own Words
Joan Ripple, co-founder of Beantown Bedding, talked to us about choosing Amazon Webstore as their retail channel:

“We chose Amazon.com because we are a startup company and need to generate awareness and scale as quickly as possible.  Given Amazon’s reputation, as well as the bundle of services available, it was an easy choice for us.  We opted to use FBA, Webstore hosting with Checkout by Amazon, and selling on Amazon.

We expect Amazon Webstore to be instrumental in helping us gain national recognition in a short period of time as it is currently our only channel for retail distribution. Other online retailers have told us that Amazon helped them achieve rapid growth, and we hope to have a similar experience.”

Webstore Review: JBavarian Makes Auto Parts Look Good

This post is part of a weekly series, reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.

The stunning look and feel of the new JBavarian site, built on Amazon Webstore, gives site visitors everything but the roar of the engine as they shop for BMW parts and accessories.

Company name: JBavarian
URL: http://www.jbavarian.com
Type of products: Automotive Parts/BMW
Time to build and launch: Approximately 30 days
Solution providers: Site built by http://www.OCDesignsonline.com

It only takes a moment to see that JBavarian has captured the essence of what it means to drive a BMW. Here’s a few things we think they’re doing particularly well on their site:

• The template is tight and clean. It feels like there’s no wasted space, and that everything on this site is pixel-perfect to where it needs to be. It reflects an attention to detail that will help shoppers trust the brand.
• Photography shines. The site design is excellent, but the best thing it does is stay out of the way of the great photography.
• It’s extremely searchable. The company has put BMW model numbers right in the product titles, making it easy to use the search box to find the right products for your particular car. This is likely also helping people discover the products through search engines.
• Shipping info is prominent. A callout in the left sidebar, consistent across every page, reminds shoppers that shipping to anywhere in the U.S. is free.
• The homepage, while visually impactful, is also very functional. Notice how the layout of the site starts to show you product categories above the fold—getting buyable products in front of you as quickly as possible. They’ve even put some featured products at the bottom of the homepage, moving the transaction that much closer to site visitors.

In Their Own Words
Jamie Gilman, owner of JBavarian, spoke to us about choosing Amazon Webstore for his business:

“My experience in getting started on Amazon Webstore was one of simplicity. When I first joined I decided to start selling on Amazon first to learn the way of the land. When I began building the Amazon Webstore I simply did not want to spend valuable time on all the design work so I hired out (someone else may be doing the work, however it is imperative to stay involved to create your vision). After the store was created I made quick work of adding the text, for example the FAQ segment. All your Amazon products are there… just connect them to the proper category and publish. So simple.

Getting out into the online market place can be a daunting task. I write from experience. I chose Amazon Webstore store as a way to venture out into the very large internet market while still having the support of Amazon. I like the way Amazon does business and see the benefits in staying connected.”

Webstore Review: OASE Makes a Splash With Pond Guide, Great Product Info

This post is part of a weekly series, reviewing new sites launched on Amazon Webstore.The folks at OASE have put together an online store that’s easy on the eyes—but even better is the staggering amount of information they provide their customers.

Company name: OASE Living Water
URL: http://store.oase-usa.com
Type of products: Premium pond and water garden products
Time to build and launch: 8 weeks
Solution providers: None; built all in-house

Pond Guide
Let’s jump right to the star of this site—clicking on the “Pond Guide” link in the site’s navigation takes you to an interactive tool for discovering what equipment you’ll need, based on the size and purpose of your pond.

The Pond Guide is built using HTML widgets in Amazon Webstore, but the clever part is that they’ve loaded a series of Product List widgets into the page, one each for all the different permutations of product needs. When you change the options on the left, a snippet of custom-written Javascript shows the right Product List on the right while hiding the others. Well played, OASE.

Other Highlights: Sidebar Info and Product Data Graphs
In space that might otherwise be empty, or dedicated to a side navigation panel, the OASE team has instead included some “Did You Know?” info in an HTML widget to guide customers to the right products. See that on their category pages.

If that wasn’t enough, they’ve then added data graphs in place of additional product images for products that need them. See this cool idea here on a product page.

In Their Own Words
Andrea Szabados, Managing Director of OASE North America, Inc., had this to say about choosing Amazon Webstore:

“When we decided to offer a platform for consumers to buy our products directly from us (we are the globally leading manufacturer of pond products), we started looking at a variety of solutions including building our own platform. In the end, Amazon Webstore was chosen for the following reasons:

1) Security: We used credit card processing systems in the past, but really felt like we wanted to insulate ourselves from data breaches etc. that would potentially expose customer payment data. The Amazon payment system functions as a firewall between us and the customer and allows us to focus our efforts on usability of the store, marketing and logistics rather than payment processing.

2) Reliability: We looked at options where we would have had to host a significant part of the web store infrastructure on our own or leased equipment. We felt that Amazon’s infrastructure would be far superior to anything we could build/host ourselves.

3) Ability to customize/maintain the site: the Amazon site building process is extremely powerful, due to the underlying structure. Once our dev team learned some of the principles, they were able to very quickly progress in building the site and incorporate spec changes during the dev process. The customizability also allowed us to have the Webstore match our brand identity and the Corporate Identity of our main site.”