Confusing search engine on Epps' website

[MacUser416]

Okay now you guys are turning this to be what we IT folks called User Requirements documentation. So next will be a high level cost estimate, then go back to the project sponsor (Epps?) to see if there is enough funding for it

To be fair, their site has much more search functionalities than others, they are just missing the last 20% of what you folks expected, plus some data issues. I am not trying to defense Epps, so far I only bought one rifle there, I am just stating my observations from an IT perspective.

 

[luke s]

^^ oh it has plenty of search options, doesnt mean anyone knows what is available or how to search for it

other sites that have a "worse" search are still easier to navigate/find items

 

[steve___]

Ellwood Epps was my favorite gun dealer. Not anymore. And this is because of their relatively new search engine on their website.

For instance, let's try to look for Kel Tec firearms. Kel Tec is not on their left side short list; so you go to "search". You start typing type "Kel" and ... boom, you get the most amazing and useless bunch of options. They give you "Kel Tec", "KEL TEC", "kel-tec", "Kel-Tec", "Keltec" etc. etc., each with tens or even hundreds of items!

Let's say you want to specifically look for the Kel-Tec KSG. You type this and they give you 352 items (!) for "Kel-Tec KSG 12" and 1004 items (!!!) for "Kel-Tec KSG 12 Gauge Shotgun". The most discouraging part is that actually none of these is the actual KSG you were searching for and not even a Kel-Tec of any kind.

I really like Ellwood Epps. I bought most of my guns from them. I used to search for a gun on their website and then drive to Orillia to actually see it. Now this website blocks many customers to buy from them. Like six months ago they said they were going to correct/improve their search engine; nothing has been done up to now. Any chance for a change?

Hey CristianM,

Gah, I apologize a hundred times over for the auto-complete on the
search box. I honestly can't believe I didn't notice it sooner. I
believe the intended functionality was to auto-complete by make. That
functionality has been disabled. We'll see if we can make it better.

-steve

 

[steve___]

That being said, they could do with adding more filters and accurately entering the data.

Hey Cintax,

What filters are you thinking about?

-steve

 

[steve___]

for me no image = no buy, as simple as this

Hi charlesquik,

Photos are coming but it's a big undertaking.

-steve

 

[steve___]

To search for kel tec, you have to type "kel-tec" (no quotes) if you don't add the dash you get every result that includes tec in the title or description

And I agree, the new filters are not perfect, plus they don't list all brands anymore like they used to, I have no idea what brands are in stock except the limited selection of brands shown on the side

Having the auto-complete on the search box work properly might help.
Displaying over 500 makes is a tricky problem. I've seen a few people
mention this and we'll think about how to solve the problem.

-steve

 

[steve___]

Questar has a great site... Others should strive to be that good.

What do you like about their site versus the Epps site?

-steve

 

[steve___]

if you persist in searching for "kel-tec" only it gives a big zero.

'kel-tec' is correct. At the moment there are no kel-tec's in stock.

-steve

 

[steve___]

Hi Epps. Free advice (For the past 20 years I've been getting paid for these types of things)...
2. There are problems with how your data is being pulled and displayed. For example...
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting.html
You will notice that the page says "There are no products matching the selection."
Yet, in the left menu it lists...
Category
Firearms (3275)
Firearm Parts (0)
Discounted Accessories (0)
Archery (0)
Gunsmith Services (0)
Brands We Carry (0)
...
now we know you sell archery equipment, yet it lists "0" items (that's not good).
If we select Hunting > Archery from the top menu we do get a page with archery items...
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting/bow.html

This is a bit of a bug, out of curiosity, how did you find the page
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting.html ?

We're working on having it so the bows can be purchased online.

-steve

 

[steve___]

EE is so busy nowadays, they may not even notice what's happening with their website.

Ha, that might be partly true. There is just lots to do. This thread
is pretty awesome though.

Hell, they might not even care.

Definitely not that. I'd say everyone at the two stores pretty much
lives and breaths all things hunting, camping and fishing. Just
remember Epps is still a Ma and Pa shop; everyone tries their best.

That said, if there are problems with the site either start a thread or
PM me. My friend and I more or less work on the site for fun and
definitely want to make it better.

-steve

 

[steve___]

another problem with the site, you dont know what brands are in stock (besides the small, limited selection of brands on the side bar)

I cant search for smaller brands I never heard of, if they were in a list you can at least check them out

Yeah I hear you. We'll think on this.

-steve

 

[steve___]

The way the old site worked you could pick the new arrivals out easy

The default firearm page (http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting/firearms.html)
should list all the news firearm added to inventory at the very top. It
works the same way the lists did on the old site.

-steve

 

[PorkNBeans]

This is a bit of a bug, out of curiosity, how did you find the page
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting.html ?

We're working on having it so the bows can be purchased online.

-steve

The link is off your top menu Hunting > Archery.

It's good you're looking at these items folk have raised. My experience is that if you hear 1 complaint there are at least 10 others with that same complaint that just aren't voicing it. Bottom line a more usable e-commerce site will make you more money. That's a good thing.

 

[steve___]

Thank you for these clarifications. I tried them and I think they help, although there is still room for improvement.

I don't see anybody here trying to put you guys down; on a contrary, I see that people who are eager to continue to be your customers need your help in doing this.

Yep, I get this.

1. Display all makes you sell at any point not only the main 12. Many people mentioned here that they do not know what makes you have, in order to be able to search for items. Today, for instance, you have 3299 firearms for sale but someone would have to browse through 33 pages at 100 items/page to see what makes you have. If you then link under each make its respective items it would be even better.

Right now there are 452 makes in inventory. We'll think on how best to
display these.

2. Provide on your website a Help menu or just Q&As that would include instructions like the ones you provided here.

I agree

3. Please, ask your web developer to `polish` the search engine. For instance, I arranged the 3299 items by make and then I selected `Type: Handgun` on the left menu to look at the 796 items there: it searched for 10 minutes before I gave up.

Can you tell me what you searched for? Can you reproduce this? This
might be a bug.

-steve

 

[steve___]

The link is off your top menu Hunting > Archery.

That takes me to this page -- http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting/bow.html I
was curious to know how you got to this page:
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting.html

-steve

 

[Cintax]

Hey Cintax,

What filters are you thinking about?

-steve

More filters by main brands - I know you have a lot of stock with maybe one or two guns by some manufacturers so this isn't entirely possible, but you could add a few more of the mainstream brands like CZ and Mossberg.

Some filters are entirely wrong when entered. You have groups for over/under and SxS but most of the time the guns get entered as 'hinged multi-barrel'. I think a major issue is data entry, you guys need to be more consistent with the way you classify each firearm.

Another thing that would be excellent is filtering by actual calibre as opposed to 'large shotgun', 'small shotgun' or 'big game'.

I have just adapted my searching to accommodate these short comings but a few suggestions in this thread can really get the site to be that much better.

 

[CristianM]

Hi Steve,

Thanks a lot for your energetic approach.

With the clarifications "Harrier .45" provided and with removing the weird auto-complete feature I find it already much better.

Can you tell me what you searched for? Can you reproduce this? This
might be a bug.

-steve

As I said, I had checked on the left side the "Handgun" box under "Type". At that time it worked for 10 mins with no result. Later on it displayed all handguns in store, as it was supposed to do.

 

[PorkNBeans]

That takes me to this page -- http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting/bow.html I
was curious to know how you got to this page:
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting.html

-steve

That would be from your breadcrumb trail above your inventory list...
from http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting/firearms.html
I would select "Hunting from...
"Home / Hunting/ Firearms"
which takes me to...
http://ellwoodepps.com/hunting.html

 

[steve___]

1. Category- MAKE,
You have listing for Hi Point firearms, but not for Smith Wesson, SIG, CZ, Glock... etc?
How about adding more listings for most popular handgun makers, as opposed to mostly hunting firearms?

Right now we're working on refining the search results and the
auto-complete on the search box. Once we have this working better we'll
work on a better solution for the makes and possibly the calibres.

2. Category- TYPE- handgun- got 770 results
Baikal MP-153 HARDWOODS HD CAMO $599.00 Semi-Automatic 12 GA X 3 1/2" is listed as handgun.

Ah good find. This was a data error error. It has been corrected. If
you find anymore errors, let me know.

3. Category- CALIBRE GROUP
- medium size game
- big game
- small shotgun
- large shotgun
- small handgun
- large handgun
- etc...

Large handgun, and small handgun... just amazing.
As if it was written by CFO bureaucrat, or someone with zero firearms knowledge.

Who is the voice of wisdom in the store who gets to decide which handgun is small enough to fit in 'small' handgun category, or which one is large enough to merit consideration in 'large' handgun group?

Small shotgun---- large shotgun... you got to be kidding us here.

Many customers come in wanting a firearm for groundhogs, others will
come in asking which firearms are best for Moose. I can't remember off
the top of my head what differentiates a small and large handgun or
shotgun but I'll either add a definition to a 'help' page or re-think
it.

How about listing all calibres, instead of amateurish firearm descriptions?

Have you guys had a chance to look at Wanstalls Online, SFRC, Wolverine, Frontier and various other sites?

The problem here is the same as the models; right now Epps has
approximately 254 unique calibres in stock. If we can figure out a
decent way to display all the makes, then we'll try to apply that
solution to the calibres. Also if you find a site which has a nice way
to display 200+ calibres, let me know.

Thanks for the help,
-steve

 

[steve___]

The link is off your top menu Hunting > Archery.

It's good you're looking at these items folk have raised. My experience is that if you hear 1 complaint there are at least 10 others with that same complaint that just aren't voicing it. Bottom line a more usable e-commerce site will make you more money. That's a good thing.

Oh I hear you. Computers are the most fickle things known to man. You
fix one thing only to find out down the road you've made something else
worse off :-/ Some days it feels like a giant game of whack-a-mole.

-steve