The Playbook · PROOF
E-commerce examples, and what each one got right
The most useful e-commerce examples are small stores that got one thing exactly right, not the giants everyone copies badly. Three below, each a composite of real stores I have audited, blended so nobody is on blast, and labelled as composites because that is what they are. Each one got one thing right that most small stores get wrong.
Why composites, and not a client store?
Because I do not have a live client store I am willing to dress up as an example, and I am not going to invent one. The work page shows the live builds, and none of them is a catalog store yet. So the examples below are patterns from audits, real in every detail except the name. When there is a client store worth showing, it will appear here with a link you can buy from.
What did the bakery get right?
A composite of small food sellers shipping regionally. What it got right: the shipping cost and the delivery day appear on the product page, above the buy button, before the cart. Most stores hide shipping until the last step, and the last step is where the order dies. Showing it first felt risky to the owner and turned out to be the single change that mattered.
What it got wrong first
Eleven fields at checkout, including a birthday. Four fields is a customer; eleven is an interview.
What did the boutique get right?
A composite of clothing stores with a real storefront. What it got right: guest checkout on by default, and a return policy in one plain sentence next to the size chart. Small stores start with a trust gap against the giants, and this one closed it by answering the two questions every stranger has before buying clothes online: will it fit, and what if it does not.
What did the parts seller get right?
A composite of sellers with hundreds of near-identical items. What it got right: search that understands part numbers and a category structure organised the way buyers think, not the way the warehouse is shelved. The e-commerce service page puts it as catalog organised the way people buy, and this store is what that means in practice.
What do the good ones share?
Shipping before the cart. Guest checkout. Reviews near the buy button. A phone number a stranger can find. And the boring wiring underneath: receipts, inventory and labels that happen without the owner, which the step-by-step play describes. None of them looked like the biggest store in their category, and none of them tried to.
What should you take from them?
Buy something from your own store, on your phone, on cellular, and count the taps and the hesitations. Compare that against the store mistakes play. If you find three or more leaks, send the store through the free audit on the tools page and I will name the first fix; if the fix is a rebuild, the estimator gives the range in six taps.
What else do owners ask?
Are these real stores?
They are composites of real stores I audited, blended so no single business is identifiable, and labelled as such. The patterns are real. The names are not shown.
What do the good ones share?
Shipping shown before the cart, guest checkout, reviews by the buy button, and a phone number. Four things, none of them expensive.
Can you audit my store?
Yes, free, through the tools page. You get three specific things costing you orders and what I would fix first, within one business day.
Your move. Call or text (847) 387-0244, or price your build in six taps and I call you with the exact number.
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