Update on the Martial Arts Shop

This weeks blog is a massive plug on what we are doing with the online store. I wont even try and cover my tracks with flowery words. I will just be honest. However, it does serve a very good purpose in that we are involving you guys every step of the way with how we develop the site such as the look, feel and your attitudes towards customer service and secure online shopping.

A few weeks ago we started a thread in the martial arts forums with regards the store and what your thoughts were on the idea generally! Below I have listed the questions we asked and highlighted some of the feedback to show you how this played a crucial role in designing the basic layouts.

1. Do you shop online for martial arts products, if so, where do you shop, and why?

The overwhelming response here was a site that you felt comfortable and secure with. Essentially the IT team have constructed from scratch our own online store incorporating the latest anti spybot/spam security measures and of course threading the clean design throughout that makes for a straightforward online shopping experience.

2. Do you have any praise for existing online stores if you use them, or any negative points of why you dont currently shop online?

Here it came down to payment methods. We have looked at various suggestions and products that are currently on the market. In the end we went for a system called protx - allowing you to process secure credit and debit card payments online, over the telephone or via mail order. This had major advantages over systems such as PayPal or Google Checkout. To give you a little technical jargon to make you feel even safer about the online shopping experience In June 2006, Protx was one of the first payment service providers to achieve Level 1 compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Also Protx continues to employ the most stringent levels of fraud screening and security standards, and updates its PCI compliance on an annual basis. In other words something you can feel safe and secure using.

3. What sort of products would you buy in an online martial arts store?

Quite simply we are offering a range of 600 high quality products, available on next day delivery:

Sparring equipment and Protective Gear, Fitness and Home, Workout Bags Kickshields, Pads and Training equipment, Boxing and Kickboxing equipment, Martial Arts Uniforms and Belts, MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, and Official UFC merchandise, Martial Arts DVDs and Books, Training Weapons, Martial Arts Kids, Martial Arts Clothing, Shoes and Bags

4. How long do you normally expect products to arrive and does this influence your buying decision?

The thoughts from you guys here was that as a general rule 3-5 days or 2 weeks for an international delivery. The system we have put in place is around 1-3 days depending on the size of the item. That puts the Martial Edge online store up there with the best in the industry.

5. If you could order the following, the first being most important and the last being least important, how would you rate the following when making a decision to purchase a martial arts product online: price, quality, delivery time, customer support, trustworthiness of the site (or any other factors?)

Quality and customer satisfaction came top here. Again to reiterate we have sourced 600 products of the highest quality -I will release pictures in next weeks blog. With regards customer support there will be telephone, email and live chat (UK BUSINESS HOURS ONLY FOR THE LIVE CHAT) where you can talk to a customer representative online as and when you have questions.

6. If the shop had a Google checkout or PayPal payment system, would this put you off (with these you need to register before buying). Would you do this, or do you normally only buy from stores where you can pay via credit or debit card directly?

Resounding answer was credit card. As I mentioned at point number 2 we have addressed this issue with Protx that offers complete fast and secure payment methods just as if you were in a shop making a sale at a cash register.

So there you go a quick low down of how we listened to what you wanted and then took that information and incorporated it into our design process.

Pete Mills

Senior Editor/Co-Founder

The Worlds Largest Online Martial Arts Community