Black Sheep Legging came to Panda Rose in need of a new website.
For those of you who do not know, Black Sheep Legging is a clothing company. They rely on the Internet and representatives to sell their product. They emphasize on being unique and owning your style. Based in Alberta Canada, this company is taking the legging market by storm.
Black Sheep Legging’s last website was having issues and they were ready for a freshening up. Panda Rose was able to create a completely new website using Shopify as the store provider without purchasing any extra apps but still equipping Black Sheep Legging with all of the many specific features necessary for the shop.
Here are the features we created for our client:
Panda Rose was able to create an advanced collection filtering by multiple simultaneous criteria system. This component would be similar to applications that can be found on shopify but now our client doesn’t need to pay about $20 a month.
We added “VIP Pricing” which are custom discount levels depending on the specific permission level according to the tag possessed by the individual. If we didn’t make this feature ourselves, it would have cost our client $30-$50 a month for an application found in Shopify.
We also created an internal customer credit system that fit our exact needs opposed to finding an app that isn’t customizable and or costs money.
Panda Rose also resolved a commonly reported problem as Mailchimp’s scripts often conflict with some of Shopify’s. This problem is usually solved by installing an app from Shopify that can cost around $5 a month. But a developer can solve this quite simply just like we did for Black Sheep Legging.
An affiliate system was required and was integrated with commission tracking. The “Rep Portal” also gives reps the ability to customize their personal rep storefront. We looked through the following apps to integrate into Black Sheep Legging’s shopify:
Refersion almost worked but it would not switch customers to reps automatically when they completed the signing up process along with the inability to define different tiers of affiliates. We were hopeful, but it wasn’t a perfect fit for our client.
Affiliatly was attractive in that it was very straightforward and its prices were not bad. But this app left us no room to customize and fit the needs of Black Sheep Legging. Again, we had to look elsewhere.
ReferralCandy was not for a rep program like we needed but looked like it would thrive strictly as a referral program.
Ambassador was difficult to work with, in that we couldn’t really test it without being on the phone with one of the representatives. It’s price tag was also too much for our client and so this affiliate program didn’t quite cut it either.
So we created our own affiliate system. It does everything our client needs it to and it will not cost an extravagant amount every month.
The following three features were created by Panda Rose without an app in Shopify to compare them to:
Panda Rose was also able to use the existing basic tagging feature Shopify provides and built off of it to automate the addition and removal of tags based on events within the store. This enabled the ability for anyone new signing up in the site to be labeled as a “Customer” in our system. This tag is then replaced if the customer chooses to become a rep and will alter according to the rep tire they become. Again, this adjusts automatically.
The cart content checks hold the ability to modify contents on the fly before checkout. This means that Black Sheep Legging did not want customers reaching the checkout if they have more inventory in their cart than there is currently in stock. Upon adding inventory to cart, it’s automatically adjusted down to stock levels, and Black Sheep Legging is notified of the change.
An internal “free shipping” code system was created for rep usage to allow greater control for Black Sheep Legging opposed to Shopify’s discount codes.
If each of the features I have listed were apps that were integrated into Black Sheep Legging’s Shopify, it could potentially cost $15,000 a year. Which is obviously not necessary.
Maybe your company has the money to pay all of these apps to run your store. But can you handle all of the complications that come with having multiple apps piled all over you store? All of their different formats and requirements? Are you able to customize the apps to fit all of your company’s needs?
A developer can integrate all of the features your store may need and ensure that the features fit your specific needs exactly. A developer can prioritize you opposed to giant companies and app creators where you are just another business that is using their product. You can have real conversations with your developer to get your thoughts, questions and concerns addressed. Plus, no monthly fees to last you as long as you have the online store! Hiring a developer is without a doubt a wise investment for your business.
Tess Houcher
