The Latest: Harlequin Beads & Jewelry - Beads, Beading Supplies, Classes and More!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the website for Harlequin Beads & Jewelry! Stacy Bierma, owner and operator of Harlequin Beads & Jewelry shared this of her new e-commerce site:

 

"We love our new website! I enjoyed the creative process, working with Kathy [HEROweb Lead Designer] and Staci [HEROweb Co-Founder/Owner], and learning how the site manager and back end work. We carry over 9,000 items that require different layouts, different kinds of information and different search and filter criteria. The site manager is amazing and it is great to be able to control and update the content and look of our site in-house. We feel that the search, filter and SEO capabilities of our new site are going to make us more competitive in today's market."

 

As Stacy alluded to, Harlequin Beads benefits from several advanced features available in the MightyMerchant platform, such as:

• Advanced Faceted Search Filters: Harlequin Beads sells over 8,000 individual beads and helping customers find the right bead is a critical requirement for the site. Harlequinbeads.com uses the MightyMerchant "Faceted Search" feature to allow shoppers to easily narrow any selection of products by Color, Shape, Brand, Material and Finish. The MightyMerchant Faceted Search feature works with ANY type of attribute so it can be configured to work with any product line and is an ideal method to help shopper's find the product they want quickly.
  
  Try it out here: http://www.harlequinbeads.com/swarovski
  Search through Harlequin's diverse array of Swarovski beads, for example. Note the "Narrow Your Search" filter on the left side of the page that allows you to view and search by Shape, Color, Size, Material and Finish. Of the more than 3,000 beads in the Swarovski collection you can explore all of these characteristics for Crystal Beads, Pearl Beads, Bead Mixes, Pendants, Rhinestones or Closeouts.
   
   
   
  
• Integrated Calendar and Class Registration: Harlequin Beads offers classes and wanted an easy way to display the schedule and allow people to register. The site features a visual calendar that links to each class and event. Visitors can click any class in the calendar, register and pay for the class. The events, class schedule and pricing are all managed with the MightyMerchant Site Manager so Harlequin can easily keep their offerings up to date.
  
  Try it out here: http://www.harlequinbeads.com/classes-sales-and-special-events
   Browse the calendar to see all of the sales, classes and special events that Harlequin provides. Click on any entry in the calendar and you will see the various offerings listed in chronological order including a registration option. At-a-glance you can see the Class Title, Instructor, Time, Cost, and Space Availability. If you click on the Class Title you can view an extended description of the course, register and pay for the class. Classes you register for are added to your Shopping Cart, which allows you to combine class registration with any other shopping purchases you make on the site.
     
  
• Promo and Coupon Manager: Harlequin Beads frequently runs promotions and has opted to use the MightyMerchant Promo and Coupon Manager. This allows Harlequin to run timed promotions, place all items in a category on sale with a few clicks, place individual items on sale, set up coupon codes, offer Free Shipping coupons, require order minimums to qualify for discounts, run a site wide promotion and much more.
   
  
• Data Integration: Harlequin Beads uses Filemaker as their in-house database system for managing their large and frequently changing inventory. Manually changing the web site each time their inventory changes would take an enormous amount of time, so HEROweb created a custom integration for them that allows them to easily update the web site catalog using their Filemaker database. Using the Data Import Tool, Harlequin can add and remove items, categorize, set attributes, pricing, descriptions and more. HEROweb can work with just about any data source to automate updates to the web site catalog.
   
  
• Shared Bulk Price Discounts: Harlequin Beads want to encourage volume buying and offers generous discounts based on the quantity ordered. It’s a common requirement, but the MightyMerchant implementation has several standout features that Harlequin has put use:
   
  
  • Percent off Quantity Breaks: Harlequin sets a price for each item and MightyMerchant calculates a discount based on the quantity ordered.
  
  
  • Shared Pricing: Harlequin has set up several discount schedules and then assigns products to use them. So, for example, a bead is priced at $10.00 for a pack of 25 and is using “Discount Schedule A”, which is configured to give 5% off in quantities over 10, 7.5% off in quantities over 24, etc. There may be 500 beads that use “Discount Schedule A”, each with it’s own unique base price. If Harlequin decides they want to change their offer to require people to order 12 instead of 10 to get the first bulk discount, they can change the pricing on all 500 products using “Discount Schedule A” by changing exactly one number in the MightyMerchant Site Manager. MightyMerchant’s Shared pricing feature can be used to configure complicated pricing options that can then be shared across many products, making it simple to update and maintain.
     
    Try it out here: http://www.harlequinbeads.com/wood-beads
    Browse through the various Wood Beads that Harlequin has to offer and notice the pricing structure. You'll find an image of each bead next to the name and size of the bead. Under 'Price' you will find "per x beads", where 'x' is the minimum number of beads you can purchase. Notice the quantity breakdown to the right. Harlequin typically offers four discount levels related to quantity: 1-9, 10-24, 25-99, 100 - + (based on a minimum batch of 'x' beads).
    
   
  
  •   Aggregate Quantities: Harlequin wants to offer the bulk discount no matter what combination of products is in a shopper’s cart. If the first price break on an item is for a quantity of 10 or more and the customer has a total of 10 items in their cart, then they will get the discount on all products in their cart that have a bulk discount starting at 10. MightyMerchant has the ability to “aggregate” quantities based on any criteria (for example, order 3 of this brand, 4 in this category, 12 of this type). MightyMerchant will add up the quantities and calculate the discount.
     
    Try it out here: http://www.harlequinbeads.com/bead-tools-looms-storage
    If you start in the Harlequin tools and select a variety of tools that you may need to get started on your beading project, you can see your discount for aggregated quantities very easily. For example, select from Bead Boards, Bead Mat, Bead Stoppers, Bead Storage, Bead Trays, Cutters, Misc. Tools, Pliers and Scissors. Notice that when you have 1-9 items the price per item is priced at the 1-9 price -- but once you add at least a 10 item volume you begin to realize a discount where the price is now the 10-24 price.
    
    Here is a screen shot example of a cart with 28 items in it. Notice that the price of the Bead Board 20 Inch Channels Grey is displaying in the cart with the price discount for the 25-99 order volume. Even though the buyer is only ordering one of the product, because of the overall quantity of items in the shopping cart, the discount for that (and all products in the cart) are realized at that shared rate.
     
    
• The Component Products and Cross-selling/Up-selling: Harlequin Beads offers kits that are made up of several individual products. Harlequin allows visitors to buy a kit, but also makes it easy for shoppers to buy individual components of the kit. Additionally, every individual product page in the Harlequin catalog features a “You may also like…” list of related items to help shoppers find the right product and encourage them to buy more.
  
  Try it out here: http://www.harlequinbeads.com/page_21821_9267/czech-charlotte-size-8-cobalt-transparent-silver-lined
  Let's look at Seed Beads, for example. If you like the Czech Charlotte Size 8 Cobalt Transparent Silver Lined Beads, you will notice that at the bottom of the page is a list of "You may also like..." items. In this case, other Czech Charlotte Beads are listed such as Size 11 Light Blue Opaque Luster, Size 11 Dark Red Opaque, Size 13 Royal Blue Opaque, Size 8 Green Iris Opaque Iridescent, and Size 11 Dark Green Transparent -- each of which is relative in size and a brilliantly vivid color.

 
We hope you found this launch summary informative about what Harlequin Beads & Jewelry has to offer, as well as how HEROweb's staff and the MightyMerchant platform contribute to the success of their web presence and business.