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Topic: Horse website - need advice from equine lovers

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turtle10312001 avatar
Subject: Horse website - need advice from equine lovers
Date Posted: 7/24/2012 8:53 PM ET
Member Since: 8/12/2009
Posts: 88
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Hi! I am trying to help my friend build her online business. She has done everything herself and I really want to see things pick up for her. Im trying to figure out some new ideas to help her. Equine fans, would you mind looking at this website and giving feedback? What items does she need? What would attract people to her site? Thanks on advance for the advice! www.bainbridgeandcompany.com
okbye avatar
Barb S. (okbye) - ,
Date Posted: 7/26/2012 6:54 PM ET
Member Since: 3/14/2011
Posts: 5,767
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I really like the way the site is set up, it's easy to get around, clean, attractive, organized. Someone did a good job on it. It's easy to get through the products and you can maneuver around without extra clicking, I hate when you have to go through hoops to get somewhere or back where you were. The permanent link bar across the top helps a lot with that. 

The way the products are shown in a list does make it a little harder to compare if you're considering two things but it's not bad. I am partial to a grid formation of thumbnails where a more detailed description opens up when you hover over something. It helps you see more things at one time without being cluttered. That's probably the only thing I wasn't totally crazy about. Even if the individual entries were a little smaller and a larger picture opened when you hovered over it would be easier to see more things at once. 

The product lines seem a little limited but that's pretty normal for just starting out. I started at the begining looking at the products and there doesn't seem to be that many horse themed items at first. In the jewelry and accessories mainly. There were more in other lines but my first impression was there weren't many horsey items for a horse themed shop. I think stock wise I would add items that people who have horses would use, not just things with horses and their accessories on them. Like in the hats section, add a few riding hats. In the outerwear add some riding clothes. Add some totes that you could put your gear in. Boots maybe. Adult people who are that into horses usually have them, if I were to expand those products I would go into more usable stuff. One stop shopping. You can keep it fancy, like show clothing. Maybe some fancy tack. http://www.backinthesaddle.com/ This is a larger place that Inhave shopped at before, maybe look around there for some new product ideas. You'll find a lot of things the horse person can actually use on there as well as things that are just horse themed. 

I would have at least one sale item featured on the front page or a link to a sale item other than the regular clearance tab, make it look like there's something special going on. People like a bargain and it makes them start looking. 

 

Overall I think it's a really good site. It looks very professional and has an air of being classy stuff but not too pretentious. I get more of an English riding vibe than a Western. 



Last Edited on: 7/26/12 6:56 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
turtle10312001 avatar
Subject: Thank You
Date Posted: 7/27/2012 9:51 AM ET
Member Since: 8/12/2009
Posts: 88
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Thank you so much for looking at this, I really appreciate the feedback, I'll be sure to pass it along to her. 

One thing I should have maybe said in my original post is that she's not looking to become a tack store, but rather a store for people who love all things equine to still have apparel and accessories outside of the barn.

Thank you again for your feedback! And the balance between Enligh and Western gear is something she has mentioned and I think will soon be changing. :)