Looking for a quality web designer with BMW knowledge

Vedubin01 · 10-05-2020, 05:14 PM

I am interested in talking to someone that does quality web design and has a portfolio to back their work claim. This would be a BMW retail parts site that focuses on certain models. Feel free to pass this along if you know someone as I am interested in talking.

Thank you,

Cyberdemon · 10-06-2020, 02:30 PM

I don't freelance anymore but have 20 yrs exp in ecommerce/design/user experience. Would tell you that "web design" the way you are thinking of it and what your use case is probably isn't as hard as you think.

Your best bet is NOT to try and find a designer that can try to build you something from scratch, find a platform that meets the needs of your business. If you are starting this from scratch, it's a lot easier.

Ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Magneto, etc allow you to build all of this mostly yourself - and you can find a designer to come in and throw in a couple of graphics or pick a template that matches what you want.

Happy to point you in the right direction, but these days a saavy 16 year old can customize most of those platforms to look great. The biggest difference tends to be monthly costs based on volume of sales, international support, integrations etc.

exE36M3 · 10-06-2020, 04:54 PM

+1 to Cyberdemon. With Squarespace, even GoDaddy, the design and commerce platform part is pretty easy. As a Creative Director that helped start HPShopping.com (Hewlett-Packard)... what used to take a team of nearly 40 people can be done now with maybe 3-5. I've been using Squarespace for my own portfolio and been dabbling in their ecommerce backend. It's pretty amazing stuff.

But as an aside, if I recall right, part of WorldPac's partner program includes access to their DB and warehouses. That was 10-15 years ago. I am sure there's an API by now that plugs into anything you can build or use in a platform you choose. I mention WorldPac as I assume you are tapping into a similar warehousing system to provide BMW only parts across the various car lines, models, and years.

My 2-cents. Find a young developer to help you vet solutions based on your goals and set-up the structure from there. A designer can come in once you have plan in place and they can tweak/design the platform for you.

Vedubin01 · 10-06-2020, 05:35 PM

thanks guys for the heads up and will look into this for sure. We are developing some products for the E9x F8x and so on. We are currently in manufacturing. It might sound like the cart before the horse thing but we have been word of mouth for some time. We are looking to showcase our stuff more to the masses and then tie into the wholesaler side to help support our items etc.

Thank you both for the feedback.

Cyberdemon · 10-06-2020, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vedubin01

thanks guys for the heads up and will look into this for sure. We are developing some products for the E9x F8x and so on. We are currently in manufacturing. It might sound like the cart before the horse thing but we have been word of mouth for some time. We are looking to showcase our stuff more to the masses and then tie into the wholesaler side to help support our items etc.

Thank you both for the feedback.

If you're building your own limited set of parts, your best bet is to pick a site that has a template that works, invest your money in a teenager who can do product photography (depending on what you're building) to showcase what it is you're making, and then spend the majority of the budget you'd use on "web development" on marketing, social media, etc.

These days you'll get much more out of some well placed Facebook ads and a basic e-commerce store that lets you fulfill the order quickly and with good customer service than you will with any "Fancy" website.

Vedubin01 · 10-06-2020, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

If you're building your own limited set of parts, your best bet is to pick a site that has a template that works, invest your money in a teenager who can do product photography (depending on what you're building) to showcase what it is you're making, and then spend the majority of the budget you'd use on "web development" on marketing, social media, etc.

These days you'll get much more out of some well placed Facebook ads and a basic e-commerce store that lets you fulfill the order quickly and with good customer service than you will with any "Fancy" website.

totally agree with ya

10-05-2020, 05:14 PM	#1
Vedubin01 Banned 946 Rep 634 Posts Drives: 2013 E92 M3 Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: Orlando iTrader: (0)	Looking for a quality web designer with BMW knowledge I am interested in talking to someone that does quality web design and has a portfolio to back their work claim. This would be a BMW retail parts site that focuses on certain models. Feel free to pass this along if you know someone as I am interested in talking. Thank you,
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10-06-2020, 02:30 PM	#2
Cyberdemon Brigadier General 1578 Rep 3,349 Posts Drives: 2020 X5 40i, 2018 M3 Comp Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Long Island NY iTrader: (3)	I don't freelance anymore but have 20 yrs exp in ecommerce/design/user experience. Would tell you that "web design" the way you are thinking of it and what your use case is probably isn't as hard as you think. Your best bet is NOT to try and find a designer that can try to build you something from scratch, find a platform that meets the needs of your business. If you are starting this from scratch, it's a lot easier. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Magneto, etc allow you to build all of this mostly yourself - and you can find a designer to come in and throw in a couple of graphics or pick a template that matches what you want. Happy to point you in the right direction, but these days a saavy 16 year old can customize most of those platforms to look great. The biggest difference tends to be monthly costs based on volume of sales, international support, integrations etc. __________________ Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette
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10-06-2020, 04:54 PM	#3
exE36M3 BMW CCA Member 496 Rep 808 Posts Drives: 2015 435i M Sport Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: NorCal iTrader: (4)	+1 to Cyberdemon. With Squarespace, even GoDaddy, the design and commerce platform part is pretty easy. As a Creative Director that helped start HPShopping.com (Hewlett-Packard)... what used to take a team of nearly 40 people can be done now with maybe 3-5. I've been using Squarespace for my own portfolio and been dabbling in their ecommerce backend. It's pretty amazing stuff. But as an aside, if I recall right, part of WorldPac's partner program includes access to their DB and warehouses. That was 10-15 years ago. I am sure there's an API by now that plugs into anything you can build or use in a platform you choose. I mention WorldPac as I assume you are tapping into a similar warehousing system to provide BMW only parts across the various car lines, models, and years. My 2-cents. Find a young developer to help you vet solutions based on your goals and set-up the structure from there. A designer can come in once you have plan in place and they can tweak/design the platform for you.
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10-06-2020, 05:35 PM	#4
Vedubin01 Banned 946 Rep 634 Posts Drives: 2013 E92 M3 Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: Orlando iTrader: (0)	thanks guys for the heads up and will look into this for sure. We are developing some products for the E9x F8x and so on. We are currently in manufacturing. It might sound like the cart before the horse thing but we have been word of mouth for some time. We are looking to showcase our stuff more to the masses and then tie into the wholesaler side to help support our items etc. Thank you both for the feedback.
	Appreciate 0 Quote