Labella Bridal & Consignment Boutique in Occoquan, Virginia, carries both new and consigned wedding gowns, formal wear, business wear and chic casual wear. Despite having an attractive site, it was static, showing only stock images to suggest the types of items available. They wanted instead to show the actual items being sold in the store, both new and consigned. After discussions, we agreed that they needed the ability to easily add new and consigned items to an on-line catalog, and then remove them again once they were no longer available. Moreover, they needed to have staff members do this, rather than pay a web master to continually update the site.
We rebuilt their existing site using the open source content management software Joomla! and the e-commerce extension VirtueMart. As part of this process, we converted their existing site design to a Joomla! template and applied it to the site, maintaining the established branding.
By disabling the shopping cart features of VirtueMart and creating custom templates for displaying the merchandise, we created a catalog system that Labella's staff can easily maintain. Items are categorized by type (wedding gown, cocktail dress, etc.) and can also be added to other categories, such as "Sale", allowing the staff to highlight certain items. The categories themselves can be added, removed and modified by the staff, using VirtueMart's user friendly administrative interface.
In addition to the catalog of merchandise, the site allows Labella to publish the following:
- Testimonials from customers
- Events in which Labella is participating or which they are sponsoring
- News articles and broadcasts featuring Labella
