Like the furniture it sells, Edge*Modern's new e-commerce Web site is
state-of-the art, with form and function dovetailing nicely in a format that its
customers find not only appealing, but practical.
But it wasn't always this way. The company’s entrepreneurial founders --
Drew Sanocki and Sina Djafari – built Edge*Modern, an online retailer of
contemporary furniture, on the premise that it would be as virtual as possible.
This meant becoming totally committed to minimizing overhead, leveraging the
cost-effectiveness of outsourcing, and using open-source technology. Thus, its
e-commerce Web site had to embrace those ideals as well.
First, they explored Yahoo's out-of-the-box e-commerce solution, but
found it offered only limited functionality and customization options.
"It was a one-size-fits-all package that didn't let us produce the look
and feel we wanted, nor did it fit the way we envisioned ourselves doing
business," Djafari said.
Next, they used Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX 2004 to build the second
iteration of Edgemodern.com— a custom-designed catalog that integrated with a
shopping cart offered by their hosting company. But they still weren’t happy.
"We were quickly frustrated with just a front-end catalog because we had
to maintain two separate databases – one for the catalog and one for the cart,"
Djafari said. "Also, the order information was in a proprietary format and
difficult to access."
At that point, they decided to build the whole thing themselves. Using
Dreamweaver’s potent CSS capabilities, they were able to ensure their site was
not only streamlined but was also exceedingly easy for search engines to find.
"CSS separates the function of a page from its design, which cut our page
sizes in half and improved download times by about 60%," Djafari said. "CSS also
makes our site more search-engine friendly as there is 80% less HTML code for
engines to scan. The browser doesn't have to examine and 'understand' nested
tables anymore. This will improve our rankings, in turn leading to increased
sales."
The two say that Dreamweaver helped them avoid many of the common bugs
developers run across when hand-coding. The application code Dreamweaver
generates helped them get started quickly and learn PHP coding as they
developed, while the cross-browser validation tool saved much time in QA. It
also made the site easier to support.
"The difference in maintaining and updating this site compared to a
traditionally-built site with tags is immeasurable," Djafari said.
The bottom line? The site is run by them and is easy to update and
revamp, enabling the founders to react quickly to comments and requests from end
users – a key to any successful furniture business.
"We try to respond to every customer suggestion with a process
improvement," Djafari explained. "Dreamweaver has helped us do that far more
quickly than anything else we imagined, allowing us to rapidly develop new
features and make design changes. For example, we received some complaints about
the lack of product back-order information available— a problem we never knew
existed. Within an hour of deciding to display back-order information on our
site, we were able to create, test and implement a pop-up window showing the
back-order date of a product and with a 'notify me when it's available' sign-up
form."