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UK Street Scene
http://www.ukstreetscene.co.uk
UK Street Scene is a new local retailer of skateboards, skating and scooter equipment on the south-coast of England. Shortly after opening their shop, they decided they wanted an online presence.
We worked with UK Street Scene on an ExpressionEngine website. With a bit of research and experience under our hat, we knew that just another online shop wouldn’t cut it with this audience. Using the power of EE we built a CartThrob store with rich multimedia functionality, reviews building upon EE’s comment system and a robust but easy-to-manage related products function using Playa.
But the focus of the site was to also provide a space where a community could flourish. Their premises serves drinks and acts as a general hang-out space, and we wanted the site to have that same spirit. A mix of blogging, reviews and image galleries provides the underpinnings which will, over the next 12 months, build to become a niche social space integrated with Facebook and Twitter.
The gallery was built using SAFECracker - pictures are uploaded as ‘closed’ to a channel and the store owners are notified. If approved, they become publically visible and can be shared and commented on at Facebook. The best pictures can be selected for the homepage hero; the site will automatically do photo manipulation for them and they then provide a voucher code to the customer.
ExpressionEngine’s channel and template model is invaluable to the site’s development. Integration with Google Shopping was a breeze and upcoming Facebook integration would have been almost impossible on their budget with another platform.
An unfortunate shortcoming of the EE eCommerce space currently is a lack of a robust tax platform. Because UK Street Scene’s products span various VAT (Value-Added-Tax) brackets (safety products, like helmets, are on a reduced rate) we had to build a custom solution for CartThrob that allowed the shop owners to manage tax brackets within channels and using relationships. Because of the power of ExpressionEngine, the limitations of third-party software made way for an easy-to-use bespoke solution for the customer.
Other Add-ons
CT Admin, Red Carrot Addon Suite, Assets, Red Carrot CT Tax
Company: Red Carrot Web Design
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