The sales generated the first few days are over 50% larger, due to less confusion and clutter. Customers feel confidant doing business since we tied the eBay user feedback ratings ensuring customers this is a reputable business. Using PayPal also ensured confidence since most eBay users are also PayPal users. Browsers turn into customers because pages load fast, are clean, neat and items are easy to find: it's easy to spot something cool to buy. Payment is convenient and flexible allowing all major credit cards or PayPal accounts to be used. Customers buy more items because again, the pages are fast, items are easy to see and it's quick to see the many designs. Less labor is required to fulfill orders because customer input is verified, payment is immediate and emails are generated with all the information in one place. Inventory is simple due to XML text file. The new site costs only $10.00/month to run and we closed Yahoo! Stores for a major savings.

The experience: design, responsiveness, colors, layout, sound, secure shopping cart. We were thinking about the customer's experience when they arrive at the web site. The items are prominently displayed all the time, ensuring the customer sees something interesting that's for sale. There is little to distract the customer from buying. Customers will naturally click on the items for sale to see a bigger picture. At this point, we add a sound track that explains the item in an exciting way. The page features the item for sale with a small amount of text. Ultimately the image is what sells the item to the customer, not a ton of information and distractions.

The solution uses very basic and clean HTML with a little Javascript added to make the menus work clearly. Style sheets were used extensively to give the look we wanted and also to reduce the HTML necessary to create the look. This ensures a fast responsive page load. We didn't want the customer to get frustrated and leave. We wanted the site to look right even when ad blockers and cookie stoppers are turned on, ensuring that the most people can use the site. Again, we put no banners, ads, popups or anything to distract customers from buying. No fancy frames or script tricks are used so search engines will find the site and index it properly. The images were all optimized to be as small as possible for fast page loads while still looking as good as possible. Notice the lack of animation and Flash. An intentional design: don't distract from the designs.

The whole look of the site ties into the eBay store so customers feel confidant when they buy from eBay and then go to the Sxeco store, it is the same business.

Since a big part of the customer experience is responsiveness. We chose to host this site on a fast web server with a high speed connection to the internet. Studies show time and again that customers leave a site that isn't responsive. Sxeco is shutting down the Yahoo! Store to save $50/month or $600/year plus the sales commissions. More sales will be generated from this new site, reducing the eBay listing fees and final value fees. The savings alone will pay for the new site in less than three years. We expect the new site to be paid for in 6 months due to the cost savings, repeat orders and larger orders. The plan is to continue to use eBay and the new site. eBay will introduce and attract new customers to the Sxeco line. The main site will expand the offerings and provide repeat business. Satisfied customers will tell their friends and they will go to the main site to buy.

One of the problems with using eBay is that after the auction ends, people don't pay right away or at all. This creates more labor costs following up on the post sale. The new web site eliminates this waste since people shop, buy and pay all at once. The savings are significant.