It has surely taken a while, but finally Nutshell's new website at tuff-as-nuts.com has gone live.
Not surprisingly the workload increased exponentially as we worked to make sure all aspects of the site remained relevant to our customers; shipping rates relating to specific countries had to be generated (that was a bit of a pain), and, as usual, getting the head around the intricacies of a new operational environment takes some time.
Luckily we had held off making the migration for as long as possible; although the site still has to undergo some radical changes to reflect our new persona (friendly as always, but DEFINITELY more professional).
Lucky we did hold off though.
With over 600 product matches (Nutshell cases matched to fit specific mobile phones and handhelds) and with each product listing have a bunch of personalizations ( as NetSol refers to options, the past iteration of the site had been a real hassle to maintain. On the last site, once we had generated a product page, that was it - the page became a 'fixed moment in time'.
We had just started the process of working through ALL the products to fit the new format, and I was dreading the thought of having to individually manipulate each product page in the future (if I needed to change an image, or a description, or a price), when NetSol offer us a global personalization template! Yay!! Now, instead of the time consuming hassle previous experienced, it is a snap and a breeze (and a lot of other things as well) to make a personalization change. Thank God someone, someplace listened to the user!
Obviously there are a lot of other new advantages to be mined. For example we can now offer registered customers a discount, just for being registered customers. Make that 2.5% off everything in store. Just because we can!
And from the back-end of the operation, the new environment is certainly easier to use. As Nutshell has several people involved in tracking, shipping and managing both customers and products, a better overview has been long overdue.
Luckily we secured the services of Mark Greentree, a long time web professional who once worked for our web host Network Solutions. Mark's input has been of tremendous help and, as you will soon see, when the new environment goes live, he certainly knows his stuff.
It is amazing how one no longer actually needs to be in the same room, same town or even the same country to get things done. Mark resides someplace outside New York, while Nutshell lives in Auckland.
Distance is no longer a barrier (although at times language can be).
Suffice to say, the next step will be getting this blog liniked to our website, so that everyone, including our customers, have an opportunity to have their say. As I am sure they will.
In the words of the Master: Bring It On!
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