Shop Junction Blog

It may be time to stock up on wine for Christmas or even buy a few wine gifts for friends and relatives (perhaps in the hope that you’ll be able to drink some of it yourself….!). If that’s the case, you cannot go far wrong with the website for wine retailer Majestic. They are the UK’s biggest mixed case wine retailer with over 140 stores nationwide and their website does a grand job of making it dead easy to pick and mix wine from all areas of the world. I do like a website that is attractively designed and the whole Majestic website is fantastic to look at with high quality images throughout. It’s clear that Majestic have put a lot of hard work into this.

One useful idea in this pre-festive season is their Gift Solutions section where you can buy up to six bottle gifts with your own message attached. Sounds like a good idea for a few friends of mine….

I’m particularly drawn to the champagne section for New Year’s Eve. I know the credit crunch/recession/downturn is here but that’s no reason not to have a bit of a party, I reckon! After the Pre-Budget Report today, it looks like we are a nation heading into debt. I need cheering up!

Left: Veuve Clicquot champagne gift with wooden case

I bought my mountain bike a few years ago and it was a pretty good specification at the time. However, last weekend, I had the chance to compare it with my riding buddy’s new bike, the Kona Kula 2008 ..and I think I need to buy a new mountain bike!

Firstly, the 2008 Kula is great value because it is approximately £300 cheaper than the 2009 model. While next year’s bike may be better specced. I’m not sure if it is £300 better?

Secondly, the bike has a few ‘technical improvements’ that I could only dream of when I bought my bike. It has disc brakes which seem to have crossed over from the car world in my absence from mountain biking shops. It has more gears than my mountain bike (boy, do I need extra gears sometimes!) and it has front suspension as standard.

It all seems to be in a different league to my trusty old Specialized Rockhopper!

Seasalt from Cornwall sells bright, fashionable and fun organic cotton clothing and accessories for men, women and children. Seasalt has high ethical standards and the clothing they sell includes many eco-friendly products wherever possible. In fact, Seasalt was the first fashion brand to have its clothing certified to Soil Association organic standards and in 2008 was ranked equal first UK fashion company for Ethical Conduct by the Ethical Company Organisation.

The Seasalt website has a brightly coloured theme that reflects the products that it sells. The home page make good use of attractive images and includes a subtle image slideshow. The website is easy to navigate and the products are organised into sensible categories.

All the familiar ecommerce features are there and I was also slightly surprised to see some other web geek features like the ‘Add This’ button. Good idea though!

The product pages are well thought out. In addition to the normal product description, each page has alternative images of the product and other useful information such as related products, a size guide, and delivery information, closely positioned next to each main product.

The website also has a lot of related content including Seasalt Stories, an online magazine, and community articles, for example about the retail shops that have adopted and cleaned local beaches. This is a good idea because it establishes the company in its niche and provides interesting content for new and existing website and retail customers…meaning that customers are more likely to return!

It’s all very professional and gets high marks from me.

Info: Yes, Shop Junction is a shopping affiliate of Seasalt but this article is an honest opinion of their website.