Auto Store Case Studies

To display sold items on the website our client had to do:

• Mark an item as out of stock
• Remove it from all the categories, then add it to SOLD category
• Remove it from the Related Products category
• Switch “is featured” attribute to No

Our client wanted to optimize this process and add SOLD button in the admin panel to process all these steps in one click. Also, all these items should have been removed from the Related and Recommended Products block.

We’ve developed the script that works in the following way:

• The admin presses SOLD button on the product page in the admin area.
• The product moves to the SOLD category and is removed from the other categories.
• The product is removed from the Related and Recommended Products blocks.

This module cuts down the time required on operating sold products and eliminates the necessity to do it manually.

Spambots were the main reason why the admin area was so slow. A spambot is a specific type of bot that sending spam messages. Spam includes irrelevant backlinks, unwanted advertisements and what is more horrifying — malware and scams.

We had to take urgent measures to prevent the spread of the plague. Ignoring spambots means jeopardizing customers’ data and the whole business.

We’ve analyzed log files and revealed the problematic URL. Spambots were sending a huge number of requests to this URL. It was significantly slowing down the work of the website. We have set up the server to prevent such issues in the future and cleaned up the database from the harmful files.

When we set up the server and cleaned up the database, there were no speed drops that were slowing down the work of the website.

Client’s competitors were checking his products and dumping their prices. The client provided us a list of IP addresses he wanted to ban.

This list was rough, so he asked was it possible to check the veracity of these addresses by sending them fake letters and pushing them to answer them.

Theoretically, it was possible but on one condition – they should have answered from using a desktop e-mail client.

Firstly, we persuaded our client no to waste time sending fake letters to verify his competitors IP addresses. We offered him two variants of how we can forbid access to his competitors:

1. Ban these addresses manually. This is a temporary measure as his competitors will continue spying using public proxies.
2. Ban the whole city with GeoIP. The result will be the same but with some negative consequences. Client’s customers would be also banned what isn’t right.

In the end, we set up the client’s server and forbade the access for the addresses from the client’s list.

The website had a low number of purchases, calls and forms submissions. We build an absolutely new website design based on the client’s vision and our own experience. 

We designed the site’s theme, built custom blocks and added all the necessary features that enhance the UX. To place and design “Add to cart” and “Contact us” buttons we used the best web and UX design practices.

We also optimized the website for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

First of all, we designed and built new “Add to Cart” button. It’s essential as it helps customers to make a purchasing decision. A user adds every product of interest to it, compares price, technical specifications, makes a decision and remove all the unnecessary ones. 

To increase the number of phone calls we’ve added contact numbers of our client. If the client is still dithering between options he can contact the sales department without any extra clicks. 

We’ve also improved the site’s search box by including a sample search query in the input field. It facilitates the search process as it gives a hint when users don’t know how to accurately formulate a search query. As a result, the conversion rate went up by 28 %.