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Since 2008, this week’s Store Spotlight, Oliver+S has been an online resource for unique sewing patterns for children. Over the past four years, the company has experienced steady growth, developing related product lines under the Oliver +S brand, as well as two additional related craft brands. “We chose Miva Merchant because of its ability to be customized to integrate seamlessly with the rest of the site. Back then we were primarily a brand-awareness site with light add-on ecommerce functionality for consumers who couldn’t find our products in their local independent fabric stores,” says Oliver +S Managing Partner, Todd Gibson. “The ecommerce engine we chose had to be easy to use and fully customizable to integrate into the rest of the site. Since then, ecommerce has become a much more important part of our business, and Miva Merchant has been able to expand with us.”  Oliver+S currently carries 50 products, many of which have inventory attributes, resulting in approximately 100 unique store SKUs.  Shoppers can choose from Oliver+S patterns, Lisette patterns, Straight Stitch Society patterns, as well as books and videos. The store’s recently redesigned site, which launched on March 14th, 2012, features a completely updated look and feel.  “We re-thought from the ground up what we wanted the site to do and completely re-architected it using our analytics data. We cleaned up the site’s navigation and placed the site’s focus on the sections of the site that were most popular with our users,” says Todd. “We chose to highlight four main sections of the site in our redesign: our store, our discussion forum, our blog, and a new “play” section of the site that we had decided to develop as a brand building tool to highlight the paper doll illustrations we use on our product’s packaging. These are the signature element of our brand.”    

Since 1946, this week’s Store Spotlight, CopShoes, has sold shoes for military, law enforcement, medical and rescue professionals.  Recently, CopShoes.com underwent a redesign, courtesy of Miva Merchant’s Professional Services Department. Originally founded as a brick-and-mortar Army surplus wholesaler, the business evolved over time into a footwear-only business, and has been family owned for four generations. The ecommerce component of the family business, CopShoes.com, was founded in 2003 by Matthew Alper as a way to sell police and military footwear online part time via a Miva Merchant-powered ecommerce store.  Today, 99% of the company’s revenue comes from online sales. Working with Miva Merchant’s Professional Services Department,  Brian Gold,Vice President of Alper-Gold Websites, spearheaded a site redesign with the goal of improving the overall on-site shopping experience, both in terms of aesthetics and functionality. Many features, including a customer wish list, social media integration, a completely revamped product page, and a streamlined checkout were implemented, and the result, is a site that reflects the expansion of the CopShoes.com online business while delivering the high level of customer service and satisfaction that long-time customers have come to expect. “I had a vision of how I wanted the site to look and function after the redesign,” says Brian. “Miva Merchant was able to take that vision for the site redesign and make it into a reality.”  

What makes one piece of mail stand out from the rest? Aside from size and what the letter or package actually contains, one small thing that can have a big impact is the address label. This week’s Store Spotlight, Address Label Store.com, specializes in providing custom address labels for holidays, seasons, and a wide variety of other occasions and themes. Officially launched in January of this year, Address Label Store.com is one of four Miva Merchant stores owned by Kersten Enterprises, LLC founder, Matt Kersten.  Although the launch of this particular store occurred fairly recently, Kersten Enterprises has been a Miva Merchant user for many years. “We started with Miva Merchant 10 years ago after doing some research,” says Matt.  “Miva Merchant is not just a shopping cart, but a community. They are constantly adding value to their product and are very involved with their customers.  How many other Presidents/COOs of a company can you actually get a response from?” From label themes including Historical, Music, and Sports, to holiday-themed labels for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, and more, Address Label Store’s inventory of over 700 labels means that there is a unique label for virtually every interest and occasion.  Additionally, all label designs are created in-house, and every order placed includes free shipping. “Miva Merchant as a platform is extremely flexible and I have had no problems adding new technologies to the platform,” adds Mark. “Also, I mentioned Miva Merchant being a community, and I want to add that the support is fantastic.”      

With spring officially underway, flowers blooming, and warmer and longer days, many people are preparing for their spring weddings.  Along with all of the necessary preparations that go along with a wedding of any size comes the challenge of picking the right wedding favors to compliment the theme of the ceremony.  This week, our Store Spotlight, Hanson Ellis, focuses on an ecommerce store specializing in unique wedding favors, and unique and custom keepsakes for brides and grooms to cherish long after their big day is done. Originally launched in 1999 under the name Online Favors, Hanson Ellis has grown from a small boutique with ten products in stock to a thriving ecommerce store carrying over 1600 different items.  Over the years, their product line has expanded to include memorable and engravable gifts for corporate occasions, as well as the signature wedding favors and personalized wedding day keepsakes that the company is known for. Among the unique items offered in the store are the personalized Magic Wishing Beans. These beans, which are actual live plants, can be personalized with phrases such as “Love” and “Thank You” as well as the names of the bride and the groom and any other name or phrase, with a maximum of ten characters for each. “We chose Miva Merchant because we wanted a shopping that allowed the flexibility for changes to be made quickly and effortless since most of the items in our product line have many different options, says Hanson Ellis Creative Director Tracy Hoang. “Miva Merchant allowed us the flexibility and the reliability we were looking for to keep our site operating smoothly.”

Tattoos have long been a form of self-expression and “wearable art.”  The permanent aspect of traditional tattoos isn’t always desirable, however, which is where businesses that specialize in temporary tattoos, like this week’s Store Spotlight, TattooFun.com come in. From temporary novelty tattoos to custom printed tattoos containing any logo or image, Tattoo Fun has the perfect temporary tattoos for all occasions. Since 2001, Tattoo Fun has worked with clients including Southwest Airlines, Subway, and Target to create custom-printed logo tattoos that are both fun for people of all ages to wear, and serve as effective branding tools. “We needed a solution that was easy to use, yet robust enough to be customized,” says company President, Paul Carey. “Miva Merchant has everything we need at a reasonable price, and a community of developers that can help when needed.” In addition to custom temporary designs, Tattoo Fun also carries over 2,000 different temporary tattoo designs.  Design categories include holidays, animals, lower back and belly-button designs, and more. “Miva Merchant’s greatest advantages are the large number of modules available, and the supportive community of developers,” adds Paul. “The yearly conference is a great asset to us store owners, too!”

Ask any parent of young children and they’ll likely tell you that for every baby and toddler product on the market, there are several different types and brands available. Sometimes, the choices can be overwhelming, particularly for new parents who are searching for toxin-free, organic products. This week’s Store Spotlight, The Glass Baby Bottle, is a comprehensive resource of eco-friendly glass and stainless steel baby bottles, as well as green and toxin-free nursery bedding, binkies, teethers, and more. Since the very beginning, the mission of The Glass Baby Bottle was to provide a safe, organic, and toxin-free bottle and baby products alternative for babies, toddlers, and nursing mothers.  Founded with no outside investors, The Glass Baby Bottle has expanded over the years from a simple online store with a few basic products to a full-fledged Miva Merchant-powered ecommerce storefront, with approximately 720 active products. “We wanted complete control over layout and not be forced into cookie cutter templates. I knew from my experience as a Miva Merchant developer that Miva Merchant would be able to deliver all the store features we’d need to build a competitive store, despite our size,” says The Glass Baby Bottle Owner, Guy Turck. “It was also important to us that our shopping cart software be backed by a stable company and community. The Miva Merchant community is second to none.”  

The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” evokes thoughts of cherished memories, vacations, and milestones forever immortalized on film.  Since 1951, this week’s Store Spotlight, Berger Bros Digital Photography & Video has specialized in helping their customers find the perfect cameras, lenses, and related accessories, both in-store and online via their Miva Merchant-powered ecommerce store since 2001. “We needed a system that could offer rebates, sale items, and free shipping.  Not to mention wish lists, up sell capabilities, and ‘call when available’ option,” says Berger Bros Webmaster, John Mignogna.  “Additionally, these days, it is imperative that the shopping cart pages be found by search engines and have the ability to generate catalog feeds to shopping engines.” In addition to selling a wide variety of cameras, lenses, video cameras, flashes, and more, (approximately 5,000 products are available online) Berger Bros also offers several different photography instruction classes and private tutoring lessons, as well as a number of free tutorial videos. Berger Bros is also an authorized dealer of broadcast, night vision, and projector equipment supplies and accessories. Their brick-and-mortar store has been voted “Best Camera Store in Long Island” for three consecutive years.   “We have been able to create a very compelling site with a small staff and an even smaller budget,” adds Mignogna. “Miva Merchant offers a lot to customers in our position.”  

Earlier this week, on Valentine’s Day, many people around the world proposed or were proposed to.  While exact figures on the number of Valentine’s Day proposals that occur each year vary, it is estimated to be about 10% of the total marriage proposals of any given year.  Once a proposal is accepted, a wedding is planned, which is where this week’s Store Spotlight, Favor Warehouse.com comes in.  As one of the first online wedding favor and accessory suppliers, Favor Warehouse.com carries a wide selection of unique supplies for weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, and many other occasions. Launched in August of 2003, Favor Warehouse currently carries over 10,000 products, including party supplies, favors, and accessories, and most recently, baby gifts, apparel, and stationary. “When we started out our needs were very limited in terms of shopping cart features,” says Favor Warehouse.com Founder and CEO, Dimitri Stefanopoulos. “Our main goal was to find a shopping cart that would be cost effective.  For us, the greatest advantage of using Miva Merchant has been the endless ability to customize and expand the platform.” Favor Warehouse customers can browse products by occasion, theme, packaging, and collection.  Wedding themes include Hearts, Las Vegas, Golf, Love, Asian, Murano Art Deco, and more. “When you build your site on the Miva Merchant platform you gain the added benefit of having a large community of third party developers that specialize in creating custom modules for Miva Merchant stores,” adds Stefanopoulos. “Miva Merchant isn’t just a shopping cart. It’s an active community of talented developers and fellow merchants that are always willing to lend a helping hand.”  

As anyone who has ever taken up a specialized sport knows, finding the proper supplies and equipment needed at an affordable price can sometimes be difficult.  Our Store Spotlight this week, The Martial Arts Store, sells a wide variety of martial arts gear and equipment online.

Founded in 2000 by Stephen LaBar, a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Yoshukai Karate, the store’s mission is to provide martial arts equipment and gear, as well as superior customer service.  Currently, the store carries over 1,000 products from a variety of vendors, such as TMAS, Golden Tiger, and Adidas.

In order to provide a personalized customer experience, The Martial Arts Store also uses several different modules, including Toolkit, Power Search, Basket Price Combination, Gift Certificate Manager, Welcome and Password Email, and Coupons.

“Back when Miva Merchant was first released, it was one of the few inexpensive ecommerce systems with full customizability. Like a chameleon, Miva Merchant is able to adapt to change in the ecommerce/online environment without costing a fortune, says LaBar. “

 

This week, we are taking a departure from our usual Store Spotlight format to recognize all of the great ecommerce stores that participated in our Fall Fan Promotion last month.  Our promotion was a great success, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of the Miva Merchant community!

Pipeline Gear

Kicking things off, and winning the distinction of being the Miva Merchant store with the most items donated in the promotion wasNatural Healthy Concepts,   which donated a bottle of Energy Vitality capsules to our promotion, and specializes in natural herbal supplements, and vitamins, our lucky winner can stay revitalized naturally throughout this busy time. You can read more about NHC in our Store Spotlight.

PCI Net

To many Miva Merchant store owners, PCI Net is synonymous with one very popular module, ToolBelt.  Over the course of our promotion, four storeowners won a free ToolBelt module from PCI Net. You can read more about PCI Net and the ToolBelt module in our ierisch Exclusiv (Dog Collars.Net) generously donated two online coupons to our promotion, giving two dog owners the opportunity to purchase a unique collar for their pets.

WonderBrains

Children of all ages appreciate the value of high-quality, educational toys and Mansoura Pastries specializes in some of the best, including Baklava, Sponge Candy, and their contribution to our Fall Fan Promotion, chocolate covered pretzels.

Thank you again to all of the merchants who participated in our promotion!

 

Thanksgiving is almost here, and so is the official start of the holiday season. During this time of the year, many people prepare seasonal treats in their homes, and many restaurants offer limited edition menus.  Our Store Spotlight this week, Mission Restaurant Supply is full-service restaurant equipment and supply company, offering sales, service, leasing, custom fabrication, home kitchen supplies, and more. 

In 1988, Jack and Liza Lewis formed “Mission Ice Equipment,” a San-Antonio-based company specializing in leasing ice makers and refrigeration equipment.  Over the years, the company expanded its operations to include food service equipment, and in 2001, Mission Ice Equipment officially became Mission Restaurant Supply.

In 2003, Mission Restaurant Supply launched its online store, using Miva Merchant as its ecommerce platform.

“I was looking for a shopping cart system that could grow with us and Miva Merchant had all the features we were looking for,” says Mission Restaurant Supply Ecommerce Manager, David Limon. “There is so much value in those two reasons alone.”

Currently, Mission Restaurant Supply has approximately 10,000 products online, from electric mixers to full commercial kitchen ranges.

“The Miva Merchant platform encourages you to be creative,” says Limon. “The possibilities of what you can achieve using Miva Merchant are almost limitless. Miva Merchant has allowed us to go from a startup ecommerce website to a multi-million dollar generating machine with ease.”

 

The right greeting card can be a gift in and of itself. Our Store Spotlight this week, Lydia’s Land, LLC, specializes in handmade greeting cards and PlaqueCard greeting cards for a variety of occasions.

Since 2005, Lydia’s Land has used Miva Merchant as their ecommerce platform, selling both individual greeting cards to customers and wholesale orders of cards to retailers nationwide.  To date, the store carries approximately 200 products.

“I was looking for a shopping cart that was reasonably priced and could give me the ability to feature unlimited products,” says company founder and owner, Lydia Land.

Both the greeting cards and the Plaque Cards, the Lydia’s Land signature products, are made from 100% post consumer paper. Plaque Cards consist of handcrafted wooden plaques with paper backings which can be written on, and then hung as a keepsake.

  Customers can choose from several different categories, including International, Graduates and Teachers, New Baby, Congratulations, Holidays, New Home, Bat and Bar Mitzvah, Patron Saints, and more.

Anyone who has ever had to buy supplies for an office knows that this can be a complex, and often expensive task. Our Store Spotlight this week, The Office Dealer, a leading source of discounted office products and furniture, specializes in saving customers time and money by providing a wide selection and low prices online.

The Office Dealer

From ballpoint pens to office furniture collections, The Office Dealer has been an online one-stop-shop for many business essentials since 2009.  Currently, the store has approximately 40,000 products in stock, and orders ship from 40 different warehouses across the United States, ensuring fast delivery.

In addition to traditional office supplies and furniture, the store also carries janitorial supplies, cameras and scanners, and printers, and printer accessories.

“We first got involved with Miva Merchant in the infancy of ecommerce,” says The Office Dealer Sales Manager Bret Sutherland. “The ability to modify the shopping cart, both in appearance and functionality, has always been the most attractive feature of Miva Merchant for us. So the best feature is that you can add features!”