We are delighted to announce the launch of a new website created for our client The Whisky Barrel, Auction Whisky – www.auctionwhisky.com
This latest venture is The Whisky Barrel’s third ecommerce website with Digital Six. The business already has two websites devoted to selling rare and collectable whiskies all over the world. The opportunity to develop a third website came about following a policy change by eBay prohibiting the buying and selling of alcoholic beverages on their platform.
The Whisky Barrel felt that they were well placed to attract customers both locally and internationally to buy and sell whisky through a new real time auction website.
The Whisky Barrel wanted their new Auction Whisky website to be the first of its kind in the world to appeal to the worldwide market of whisky collectors and include international features such as worldwide shipping, currency and language translation. In order for this ecommerce project to be a successful, the entire process needed to be straightforward for buyers and sellers, but at the same time offer advanced technical features for the management of live auctions by Auction Whisky.
In essence this involved a five step process:
1. User opens an account on AuctionWhisky.com for buying and selling.
2. The Seller will send their bottles to AuctionWhisky.com or a collection is arranged if requested.
3. AuctionWhisky.com vets the Seller’s bottles.
4. AuctionWhisky.com charges the Sellers registered payment card for listing fees and adds the bottle(s) to the auction site.
5. AuctionWhisky.com charges the winning Buyers registered payment card and ships the bottles to the Buyer.
A great deal of time and thought was spent ensuring that all stages in the process, the customer journey and the usability of the website were covered. This involved producing wireframes, storyboards (examples below) and prototypes to guarantee that the process was exactly right prior to development. The website was built using our flexible ecommerce solution Ch-Ching®, where it could be fully customised without the constraints of a stand-alone software package. Our Ch-Ching® ecommerce software is a PHP based solution using the powerful Yii framework that we use on bespoke websites.
Example of Wireframe Storyboard 1
The sign-up process to buy or sell rare whisky online has been fully customised, offering an intuitive experience. Additionally, buyers and sellers are protected, as all customers are required to register valid card details before they can participate in an auction – ensuring that all bids are genuine.
For sellers of collectable whisky, there is a step by step process to submit a bottle. There is clear visibility of all fees, along with the process that a seller must go through. Once a bottle is submitted the Auction Whisky admin team can determine whether or not they want to list a bottle on the website. They use Ch-Ching® customised admin panel to review the details, contact the seller and arrange pickup of the bottle(s) if accepted.
Once the bottle is authorised and received, the Auction Whisky team use the admin panel to quickly add the details of the product for auction. They have control over determining a reserve price, along with an auction start and end date and time
Example of Wireframe Storyboard 2
The Auction Whisky website www.auctionwhisky.com launched in late 2013 and immediately started to experience traffic, with a number of live auctions already registered on the site. While still in its infancy from search perspective, the website is beginning to be visible in the search engines and it is expected that the indexation of the website will improve considerably in early 2014. The website has been well planned for SEO, as “won auctions” do not disappear from the database (or cause 404 errors), but if found on Google simply refer the buyer to other live auctions of similar products that they may be interested in.
This is an excellent example of a bespoke ecommerce auction website that works in real time just like eBay. Please take a moment to stop by and visit and enjoy the experience – www.auctionwhisky.com
Digital Six has recently been short-listed for the Specialist Supplier of the year category at the Scottish Ecommerce Awards 2014 for our work on the Auction Whisky project.
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