X-Music website......Is that it????

Dozyart

I had been following the threads about x-music and was looking forward to the website getting up and running because i doubt ill have the opportunity to visit it any time soon and i would prefer to order from a homegrown site!!So..... http://www.xmusic.ie/ ........is that it???one page???Out of 20000sq foot and three floors all they advertise are seventeen objects????:mad::mad:

brendansmith

Thats pretty poor alright.

Alanstrainor

That site has been up since before it opened, and they added a few prices when it did open. So no that's not "the" site.

Rigsby

They were stock taking yesterday, so hopefully they will put same stock up on the site soon. Though at this stage, after three months of waiting I'm not holding my breath that I'll ever see "the" site. :rolleyes:

IamMetaldave

I heard that they had problems with getting stock in before they opened and it's had a knock on effect with putting up the full site as the stock isn't there.

Smiler

Here's a still of the site, the HTML version anyway.

It will be up shortly, as I said before were waiting for our stock to rise back up after Christmas - nearly there

http://s691.photobucket.com/albums/vv274/XMusic/?action=view&current=Webstill.jpg



Oh and all those prices may or may not be correct..... Still to be finalised

Rigsby

Smiler wrote: »

Here's a still of the site,

That's the way the site's been since you opened.... i.e. "still".

Smiler

Rigsby wrote: »

That's the way the site's been since you opened.... i.e. "still".

Ooooooh.....zinger!!!

Anyway for those of you who haven't visited us yet here's a little video of the shop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYKV7rmo01U&feature=channel_page

Red Sleeping Beauty

Smiler wrote: »

Here's a still of the site, the HTML version anyway.

It will be up shortly, as I said before were waiting for our stock to rise back up after Christmas - nearly there

http://www.xmusic.ie/admin/getfile.php?file=%2FPics%2FWebstill.jpg

Oh and all those prices may or may not be correct..... Still to be finalised

I don't really like either colour scheme

ham_n_mustard

Rigsby wrote: »

That's the way the site's been since you opened.... i.e. "still".

thats harsh.....accurate, but harsh!

Sergio

It is taking a long time for them to get a proper website up and running.its in there own best interest to get it up so people outside of dublin can buy products online.

GazPat

I personally can't wait for it to get up and running properly. I'm too lazy to go all the way out to the red cow!!

God bless the credit card when it does finally get up and running!!;)

Alanstrainor

GazPat wrote: »

I personally can't wait for it to get up and running properly. I'm too lazy to go all the way out to the red cow!!

God bless the credit card when it does finally get up and running!!;)

The thing i can't understand now, is that if you're going to go through the trouble of ordering online, why not order from the uk with the weak sterling and save a ton.

68 lost souls

Well you have very little comeback if you order onine in the UK whereas a shop Ireland you can wont have to pay shipping to return it. Any issues with it you can talk to the people in the shop, and various other reasons.

Ancient1

Cut them some slack guys. They're not only opening a bricks and mortar retail store but an online one as well. Dozyart, creating a functional e-commerce site takes more than just lashing a few pages together.

Rigsby

68 lost souls wrote: »

Well you have very little comeback if you order onine in the UK

Not necessarily true. I ordered a bass amp from "Dolphin Music" last year which turned out to be faulty. I had sent back the old one and had a replacement within a week. They rang me to check if it had arrived, then a week later to check if I was satisfied with the new one.

What shop in Ireland would do that ?

Rigsby

Ancient1 wrote: »

Cut them some slack guys. They're not only opening a bricks and mortar retail store but an online one as well. Dozyart, creating a functional e-commerce site takes more than just lashing a few pages together.

We've been through all this in another thread since last October.

Sergio

I agree about buying abroad.ive bought from the uk loads of times and theres never been an issue.it certainly is alot cheaper now with the euro being so strong against the sterling.

Dord

Rigsby wrote: »

Not necessarily true. I ordered a bass amp from "Dolphin Music" last year which turned out to be faulty. I had sent back the old one and had a replacement within a week. They rang me to check if it had arrived, then a week later to check if I was satisfied with the new one.

What shop in Ireland would do that ?

Dolphin Music are great. I ordered an Akai Headrush E2 from them last year and the guy rang to make sure I got it ok.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Rigsby wrote: »

What shop in Ireland would do that ?

Xmusic hopefully

Dozyart

Ancient1 wrote: »

Cut them some slack guys. They're not only opening a bricks and mortar retail store but an online one as well. Dozyart, creating a functional e-commerce site takes more than just lashing a few pages together.

Surely a website is just as important.........reaching people who never even knew about the shop!!!

Rigsby

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

Xmusic hopefully

They did n't even notify their customers of their Christmas opening hours !

Red Sleeping Beauty

Musician Inc never had a good site - it was pretty rubbish in fact. The Xmusic site actually has more info than the Musician one did!

I do agree that they should hurry up - lots of people buying from the Uk it would seem

seachto7

Not having a good website is a bit of a f**kup on their part. I don't care what anyone says.
They have an online sponsored ad campaign, so they're paying Google or an agency to put an advertising campaign on Google, which means they also pay when someone clicks on their ads, but the site isn't up to scratch to keep people there, so they're wasting money on internet advertising IMO.

Fair enough , it might be getting some traffic in, but if you could buy stuff on it or view a complete stocklist, it would surely take some of the customers who have bought off UK and German sites in the meantime.....

Just my 2 cents.

paulg1770

I must admit x-music is a cool shop but i dunno how they are gonna cope with online prices and how waltons sells anything is beyond me. eg i bought a sienna sunburst 2008 fender strat recently Waltons wanted 1500, music maker wanted 1300 and x music was irelands cheapest at 1100 fair play to them but i got it brand new off ebay for £700 incl shipping which at the time worked out as 715euros. And yes its a real one.

Doctor J

That has been the situation for almost 10 years, but we're all still here and they're all still there. Some people just don't shop around.

Ancient1

seachto7 wrote: »

They have an online sponsored ad campaign, so they're paying Google or an agency to put an advertising campaign on Google, which means they also pay when someone clicks on their ads, but the site isn't up to scratch to keep people there, so they're wasting money on internet advertising IMO.

This is part of the branding process. It's better to have your name out there while you're still building the site than to only begin brand building once you have a functional site. Google indexing takes time too. All these components need to go hand in hand. Websites are not magical, you need to keep in mind the entire back-end system that needs to be put in place before you can browse, and use, the pages that you see.

I'd rather spend money promoting a single page which says "Coming Soon!" while I'm working on it rather than only begin once I'm ready to do business.

I'm not having a go at anyone, it just seems to me that some of you guys are impatient and overlook the amount of work that goes into websites like that. I'm sure the guys are not creating a static info-site, but an entire sales channel. There's a huge difference there.

Rigsby

Ancient1 wrote: »

This is part of the branding process. It's better to have your name out there while you're still building the site than to only begin brand building once you have a functional site. Google indexing takes time too. All these components need to go hand in hand. Websites are not magical, you need to keep in mind the entire back-end system that needs to be put in place before you can browse, and use, the pages that you see.

I'd rather spend money promoting a single page which says "Coming Soon!" while I'm working on it rather than only begin once I'm ready to do business.

I'm not having a go at anyone, it just seems to me that some of you guys are impatient and overlook the amount of work that goes into websites like that. I'm sure the guys are not creating a static info-site, but an entire sales channel. There's a huge difference there.

OK. So here's a fair question: Considering they opened their doors for buisness back in early October, when, in your opinion, would you think is a reasonable time to have the complete site up and running ?

IMO the "Coming Soon" page just makes people more frustrated when it's still appearing after three months.

Ancient1

I don't know, that would depend on their strategy and what they consider their primary sales channel to be. Seeing as they opened a huge retail store, they probably aren't focusing on their website to drive the majority of their sales at the moment. If I was in that situation, I would first make sure to get troops through the door and then give myself 6-8 months to expand my sales through a killer website.

I see this as a good development though. We always have to buy almost everything from abroad, so fair play to them, at least they will have done something more progressive than the established shops in town.

Rigsby

Ancient1 wrote: »

Seeing as they opened a huge retail store, they probably aren't focusing on their website to drive the majority of their sales at the moment.

So how are they driving their sales. AFAIK there has n't been any advertising on the radio or TV. They are getting most of their publicity here on "Boards".

seachto7

I always thought sending potential customers to a landing page with "coming soon" on it was a big no no for online marketing???

I realise that the back end must be fairly comprehensive, but it could have been timed to be live at least before the Christmas.

Ancient1

Rigsby wrote: »

So how are they driving their sales. AFAIK there has n't been any advertising on the radio or TV. They are getting most of their publicity here on "Boards".

I can't say because I don't know how their company is structured, what their strategy is, how many people they have allocated to which areas, what they're focusing on etc.
Perhaps ecommerce wasn't an area the directors are experienced in, perhaps they've had to outsource development which can be expensive, or maybe they bought an off-the-shelf system and are trying to tweak it. There's a million factors that we don't know about. All I get from this is that a couple of dudes had the balls to realize a large project and go "live" before they are fully operational online. As for getting publicity on Boards - it's the best kind of publicity. Boards has an audience larger than all the Irish TV stations combined. And people are talking, aren't they?

I'm not disagreeing with you guys entirely, all I'm saying is go and set up your own retails business and see how you fare. You're gonna have to take some heat, sure, but overall they're doing well keeping all the threads together.

seachto7 wrote:

I always thought sending potential customers to a landing page with "coming soon" on it was a big no no for online marketing???

Not necessarily, if you know what you're doing.

seachto7 wrote:

I realise that the back end must be fairly comprehensive, but it could have been timed to be live at least before the Christmas.

It could have, but it wasn't. I work for a dot com as a non-techie, and I like to think that these are normal dudes doing their best in the circumstances.

The bottom line is that they're in business. The shop is open and the guys are out doing what they set out to do - selling instruments. And hopefully one day they'll be our own Thomann! :pac:

Edit: Hey Smiler, bring your ass back here and stand up for your business so I can go back to watching TV! :pac:

68 lost souls

Rigsby wrote: »

So how are they driving their sales. AFAIK there has n't been any advertising on the radio or TV. They are getting most of their publicity here on "Boards".

There have been plenty of adds on the radio. Cant remember what station but I have heard them a handfull of times.

Sergio

i just think that in this day and age that for a business to survive and thrive they have to have a decent website up and running for doing business asap.
The fact that they dont yet speaks volumes for me personally.
We all live in the land of the internet these days so its the best way to advertise your business!

brendansmith

Colinboy wrote: »

i just think that in this day and age that for a business to survive and thrive they have to have a decent website up and running for doing business asap.
The fact that they dont yet speaks volumes for me personally.
We all live in the land of the internet these days so its the best way to advertise your business!

Absolutely, they are shooting themselves in the foot by not having all their products and prices laid out on webpages.

Its fukkin stupid tbh.

colm_r

For me the big advantage of Xmusic was never going to be their website. We already have Thomann & GAK etc for online shopping, the big plus is that with Xmusic people get to try things out before buying.

I'm guessing that they're doing well enough from the real world shop for the online shop to get put on the back burner....

seachto7

I'm only speaking for myself, but I haven't had a chance to get up to Dublin to the shop yet, so it would be great for me down in Limk to be able to see what they have on a website.

Saying that I've emailed them twice and they have been quick to reply and helpful.

The reason I'd like to see what they have in the shop is so I could drive up and try some stuff out rather than wasting a trip...

Sergio

colm_r wrote: »

For me the big advantage of Xmusic was never going to be their website. We already have Thomann & GAK etc for online shopping, the big plus is that with Xmusic people get to try things out before buying.

I'm guessing that they're doing well enough from the real world shop for the online shop to get put on the back burner....

For people like me living outside of dublin it would be great if they had a good website so we can see what products are available before we make the long trip up to dublin to visit the store;)

raindog.promo

Ancient1 wrote: »

This is part of the branding process. It's better to have your name out there while you're still building the site than to only begin brand building once you have a functional site.

I disagree. Clicking on the webpage to see the site coming soon sign after 6 months (i think? nearly anyway) really pisses me off and that causes a negative association to the brand.

I want them to succeed, and I'd rather buy Irish but this feck up with the site does nothing for their reputation or for buyers confidence (I think). As it is out of the way, I'd like to check if they sell such and such a thing (in my case, a cheap harmonica ) and then zip over in the car and pick one up if they do. I'm not going to use the phone, I'm lazy. The less a customer has to do the more they'll do it.

Anyway, here's hoping.

raindog.promo

All your posts are for the music outlet? (that's not important by the way ) I calls SHENANIGANS!

Helix

Ancient1 wrote: »

I would first make sure to get troops through the door and then give myself 6-8 months to expand my sales through a killer website.

to be fair, the website shouldve been in development from the very start of the x-music store project. that wouldve meant only a single database of stock wouldve been required, rather than all these "stocktaking" announcements as reasons why theres no site yet

youd have to assume that what theyre doing webstore-wise is going to be very very basic, and id imagine it wouldnt take a decent developer all that long to build them a solid backend for it. it shouldve been populated before the bricks and mortar even opened

the way they appear to be doing it is very very messy, and so far as i can see, making work for themselves while costing them customers

feylya

raindog.promo wrote: »

All your posts are for the music outlet? (that's not important by the way ) I calls SHENANIGANS!

If you want to call Shenanigans, use the Report Post function and don't offer them free traffic by posting their URL!

raindog.promo

bah

Darkstrike

Helix wrote: »

the way they appear to be doing it is very very messy, and so far as i can see, making work for themselves while costing them customers

Between November and now, I have spent 2/3000(closer to 3000), bucks on music gear, all of which would have probably gone to Xmusic, if they had an operational site so I could see what they had/prices.

Even what they have now makes zero mention of basses.:rolleyes:

Welease

feylya wrote: »

If you want to call Shenanigans, use the Report Post function and don't offer them free traffic by posting their URL!

I'm not argueing with a mod but ...

is there a need to delete the web address of another music retailer in Ireland? X-Music and AudioWarehouse.ie post here regularily (and i have no issue with that) without being censored...

In fact X-Music have posted several times about upcoming events etc (which again I like seeing ).. I don't see what the difference is..

Just my 2c. no offence meant

feylya

The difference is X-Music didn't sign up to pimp their shop. They are providing Customer Service and are not pretending to be anyone else. Signing up just to pimp your company is strictly against Boards rules.

In future, Helpdesk is the correct forum for questions like this.

raindog.promo

Welease wrote: »

is there a need to delete the web address of another music retailer in Ireland? X-Music and AudioWarehouse.ie post here regularily (and i have no issue with that) without being censored..... I don't see what the difference is..

I thought it was funny that the guy had this backstory prepared to get the advertising out there rather than being upfront about it. IT's the backstory thing that makes me laugh, especially when it was obvious to see.

Welease

Ahh apologies.. I understand now.. No offense meant

i57dwun4yb1pt8

68 lost souls wrote: »

Well you have very little comeback if you order onine in the UK whereas a shop Ireland you can wont have to pay shipping to return it. Any issues with it you can talk to the people in the shop, and various other reasons.

wrong - ive returned faulty gear to uk shops before - no issues .

Ravelleman

So the site is actually live now. And the prices are still krud.

No thanks.

Zangetsu

LET THE CRITICISM BEGIN!


Oh wait it has...


w00t!