eCommeceKnow-How.com needs your web design know-how...NOW!

eCommerceKnow-How.com

eCommerceKnow-How.com will be a community where online retailers go to get expert advice, learn best practices, share ideas and research eCommerce vendors. It is the next generation of an existing site called FitBase (http://fitbase.fitforcommerce.com). eCommerceKnow-How.com takes the underlying information/knowledge base and wraps it in an attractive community and marketplace. As a new product off-shoot of FitForCommerce, the most well-known and respected name in eCommerce technology selection, we want to explore leveraging the existing FitForCommerce color palette (see http://www.fitforcommerce.com).

The eCommerceKnow-How.com brand is all about being the straight-talk, rubber-meets-the-road resource for real eCommerce practitioners. Think of us as a different kind of consulting/analyst group. We’re not the Ivory Tower pundits who pedantically spew forth ethereal pontifications. Nor are we mired in the minutia down at the tips and tricks end of the spectrum, either. We are the “every man’s” expert and we stand squarely at the vital intersection of real business requirements and technology selection decisions.

eCommerceKnow-How.com can be described and defined with words like: approachable, practical, trust-worthy, passionate, particular, expert, unbiased/objective, professional, thought-leader, business casual, friendly, helpful, scrappy and hard-working.

eCommerceKnow-How.com is being created specifically for the time-starved online retailer who is confused about what needs to be done to improve customer experience on their site and ultimately sell more. We enable eCommerce practitioners to quickly access the know-how and the how-to's they need to become more successful in their efforts. We aggregate everything in an easy to use, centralized community that delivers clear insights, best practices, expert advice, and practical tools/resources. Online retailers no longer have to spend weeks searching for answers - it's all right here in a single marketplace of helpful knowledge, ideas and expertise. Our site needs to be a place that people in eCommerce want to come to – again and again.

Who is our audience?

Primary: Online retailers (primarily apparel, consumer electronics, beauty, home, shoes) + manufacturers who are just now getting into direct-to-end-consumer eCommerce

Secondary: Technology Providers (all of the categories that play in the eCommerce space and sell to online retailers) – software, infrastructure, services, etc.

Within these target companies, we typically target the CMO, VP/Director/Manager of eCommerce, VP/Dir of Marketing, VIO/CTO/Dir of IT. The more marketing oriented the title the more female the audience tends to skew, especially on the retailer side. The more technology focused, the more male-dominated.

1) Website Design – Create a Home Page and a secondary page that demonstrates a graphical treatment, color palette and type treatment. See attached file for an example. You can use the nav tabs and elements in there, but they are just placeholders until we finish building out the site map/information architecture. Looking for a clean design with clear calls to action (e.g. sign-up) and merchandising of information (e.g. see Essential Know-How navigational elements).

Note: The attached file is directional. Not saying that it has to look like that, but we like the elements and the flow of it.

2) Logo treatment for eCommerceKnow-How.com (powered by FitForCommerce)– Create identity for the site name. See treatment in mock-up and improve. Also, debating whether to include a hyphen between the ‘know’ and the ‘how’ in the name. Leaning toward using the hyphen, but convince us what we should do by making it an easy decision with your masterful design.

3) Extra Credit: Mascot – In the mock-up you probably noticed the androgynous character connecting two network cables. We’re looking for some kind of mascot like this to use in different scenarios doing different things tied to messaging. Could be a person-like form or a nebulous character of some sort. We like the overall feel and 3D rendering. Also like the white/subdued color of the figure. Would love to get an example of your idea.