NEW WEB PRESENCE & ONLINE MAKERS MARKETPLACE DIRECTORY

Chicago mainstays Wolfbait and B-girls have expanded considerably since opening their doors in 2006. The Logan Square boutique boasts now more than 300 local Chicago based makers and women-run fair trade companies, and is home to many pop ups and community events. Online access to information is now more vital than ever, and Wolfbait wanted to expand their digital presence with an entirely new website, complete with an ecommerce gift shop and online marketplace directory for their vendors. Since the website had so many components, it was completed in multiple phases, resulting in the creation of over 20 pages, as well as a marketplace featuring over 50 of Wolfbait’s vendors.

PHASE ONE: WEBSITE REDESIGN & ADDITIONS

Being an integral part of the Logan Square and Chicago community, the owners of Wolfbait wanted their online presence to reflect that in as many ways as possible, from new pages promoting local events and businesses to their updated branding. The resulting website redesign featured multiple upgrades and new pages:

Updated branding featuring Wolfbait’s iconic framed antique map of Chicago and updated logo;

Logan Square page with a map of the neighborhood complete with links to various locally owned businesses, as well as a list of reasons indicating the importance of shopping local;

Events Calendar with the capability to sell tickets, in order to host workshops and events both at Wolfbait and other local businesses;

A blog featuring opportunities for makers to sell throughout the city;

Mutual aid page with links to all local charities Wolfbait has worked with;

Press page complete with links to all articles to feature Wolfbait;

A gallery page with photography of Wolfbait’s past designer collections.

PHASE TWO: MAKER’S MARKETPLACE

With so many individual makers at Wolfbait, the owners needed a creative way to showcase their constantly rotating handmade collection online. With a unique stocking structure and consistently updating list of vendors, the owners of Wolfbait wanted to create a way for the vendors to manage their own online presence, while still showcasing their unique items to customers who may not be able to shop in store. To combat this problem, the idea of creating an innovative affiliate marketplace was born. Wolfbait’s Maker’s Marketplace gives each vendor an individual storefront and storefront manager, where they can upload their products that link to their respective e-commerce shop. Ease of use was key, since some vendors had limited experience using WordPress, a separate front end storefront manager was used to give vendors easy access to the features they needed, while limiting access to more sensitive website data.

PHASE THREE: GIFT SHOP

While the Maker’s Marketplace showcased each invidivudal vendor and linked to their respective e-commerce shops, Wolfbait also wanted to be able to sell a handful of locally made gifts, directly from the shop. A gift shop was created with different categories of locally made goods. Instead of using affiliate marketing, stock was tracked and sold directly from the website, resulting in a brand new stream of revenue for Wolfbait via e-commerce.