| Although Anne-Marie Kovacs started the concept for The Succulent Wife 17 years ago, she was getting into something completely new by opening an online version with Volusion’s online storefront in 2005.Kovacs saw the increase in number of online shoppers as an opportunity to expand her business of promoting the work of women artists. When she started thesucculentwife.com, Kovacs featured the works of two artists on her site. Since then, she has featured the works of over 80 different women. The Succulent Wife features an array of unique gifts such as hand-crafted jewelry, beauty and spa items, home accents, stationery, and even men’s and children’s gifts. |  |
Kovacs sought to improve her business by focusing on bringing legitimacy to her site. “You can’t get away with the ‘mom and pop’ look anymore. Sleek is the order of the day”, she says. Rather than trying to improve the style of her site by herself, Kovacs hired Debi McKerchie of www.webtillerdesigns.com to improve the design and usability. “Debi was there from day one and helped adapt all my fancy custom design. I could not have gotten anywhere without her.” McKerchie also implemented Kovacs’s site redesign that was launched just this past month.
How did Kovacs decide on her improved look this season? “I have listened to many webinars and read much on the subject of etailing. From these lessons, the usability of my store has improved bit by bit. The hardest part was letting go of some design elements because they contributed nothing to functionality, or even hindered it. That was the case with my latest homepage redesign.” Kovacs’s store now runs on Volusion’s Version 5.
The Succulent Wife’s latest homepage redesign includes “Shop by” buttons to make finding the perfect gift even easier.
How does Anne-Marie Kovacs prepare each new artist to sell online? “I always preface any discussion with any new artist with ‘the web is not a place where the “build it and they will come” thing happens.’ You’ve got to work at it from all angles, traditional ones included!”
You can see Kovacs’s improved design and holiday gifts at www.thesucculentwife.com.
[tags]E Commerce Designer, Improving Usability, Increase Site Conversions, Online Store Designer, The Succulent Wife, volusion[/tags]