Silkfair, the online marketplace place where everyone is invited to shop or sell their way, has recently launched the Silkfair Custom Shop platform. This new e-commerce tool, according to the company, is designed to give sellers a way to quickly set-up a Web shop and customize it with their own branding.
Silkfair Founder Albert Wu said the new Custom Shop platform lets sellers build a standalone e-commerce Web site with sophisticated functionality, but he also noted that the platform is also easy enough for a novice designer to use.
Custom Shops give sellers control over their Web shop branding and design.
(Click for larger image).Custom Shop Set-up and Features
With Custom Shop, Silkfair sellers can create their own Web brand and then personalize all aspects of their Web store. They can also take advantage of built-in marketing tools for blogging, customer forums, product videos, Google Base feeds, and search engine optimization (SEO).
“With Custom Shops, sellers can focus on branding and marketing themselves,” Wu said. “Unlike many Web shop platforms, we don’t use our Silkfair branding and logo on the user’s store. Only a single ‘powered by Silkfair’ line of text appears on the bottom of each shop”.
Another Custom Shop feature that many sellers will want to take advantage of is using their own domain name for hosting their shop. If a seller doesn’t have a domain name they can still choose a store name which is included in the default Silkfair store URL.
Easy Importers and TemplatesCustom Shops provides sellers with an online dashboard for managing their store. From one user-friendly interface you can set your store profile, add products and product categories, and see your transaction details, store statistics and other functions. You can activate many Custom Shop features, including the option to use your own domain name, with a single click from within the seller's store dashboard.
When you first open your Custom Shop, Silkfair’s platform lets sellers add new products or import product list using the commonly used CSV format. Additionally, you can also use the platform’s eBay and Etsy importers to get products you currently have listed on those marketplaces added to your new Web shop. To use the automated importers, sellers simply need to provide their Etsy or eBay username in their account profile.
The Custom Shops platform also lets sellers choose from one of ten default store templates, which can be customized to include your own logos, images and colors. According to Wu, the platform was designed to allow any online seller—both novices and people with expert knowledge of site design—to quickly set up their own shop and incorporate their own branding.
“Custom Shops allows sellers to take full control of their store design. Every aspect of the design can be edited using a simple point-and-clink interface,” said Wu. “Sellers can control the HTML code, fonts, style, color and branding of their own shop. “
Savvy designers can choose to edit the store template HTML or upload their own template to achieve a unique store design.
Sellers can add new products, upload CSV files or import existing products they have listed on eBay or Etsy.
(Click for larger image).
Silkfair also supports its Custom Shop sellers by providing additional services including interactive video promotions that let a seller spotlight best-selling products. The platform also offers built-in blogs and forums that will help sellers using the Custom Shop platform to interact directly with their customers.
Pricing and AvailabilityThe Custom Shop platform, fully powered by Silkfair technology, is available now for a subscription fee of $24.99 per month. Silkfair currently offers sellers a choice between two promotions; a discounted Custom Shop rate of $14.99 for the first six months, or sellers can receive the first month of service free.
Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.
