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CASH ART Review

October 21, 2007 at 2:23 pm · Filed under Reviews, Shopping, Sites

Cash Art Logo

I have been asked to visit and give Cash Art an honest review of my own. Although I like to pick the sites to review to avoid spammy requests, this recommendation was for an online fashion art shopping site that is a kind of new concept in Kuwait and I decided to shed some light on. Now before I go any further I want you to rest assured I am not a fashion guy at all and I hardly bare to shop for clothes few times a year. So I will leave the quality of the art review to you and focus on usability and service of the site.

Cash Art is the initiative of Fine Arts graduate from the American Intercontinental University in London named Alia Al-Naqeeb. The main idea behind this project is T-Shirts with artwork design on them driven from different currencies. Below shown is a sample back view of a Hummingbird T-Shirt that is priced at 27 KD.

Cash Art Sample

If you ask me, I wouldn’t spend that much on a T-Shirt. But then again, I am not into fashion as a whole. The site allows you to see each Shirt from 3 different views for better feeling. You get to select the size of the Shirt, while some come in only one size. Payment is possible by Cash (inside Kuwait only), Knet, or Credit Card. Only item exchange is possible for Cash payment inside Kuwait. So if you are buying from Kuwait, perhaps Cash is your best choice. I don’t understand why other payment options don’t have exchange with them, even though I know Knet payments come with online interface for the merchant to reverse transactions pretty easily. Shipping inside Kuwait is FREE, but takes from 1-3 business days. My advise, in Kuwait, if you want to please your customers, guarantee next day shipping at the most. Worldwide shipping is also an option, that’s first time I see it inside Kuwait. International Shipping is through DHL and as per standard DHL shipping rates.

Site is mostly based on Flash, not my preferred choice. It’s pretty easy to browse though and the collection is not huge yet so you wouldn’t find problems finding your item. I think the Flash part though is adding a bit to the response time, and it could be improved.

To sum the goods and bads in clean list, we look first at the Pros:

  1. Nice new idea to be implemented online in Kuwait.
  2. Various payment options made available
  3. Site browsing is relatively easy although I don’t like the small FRAME in middle with scroll bar. Most of the screen size is not used
  4. International Shipping: She is thinking global so that’s nice.
  5. Multiple sizes and thumbnail views

Cons:

  1. Flash Based: For a shopping site, customer is coming to complete his transaction and the Flashy stuff will not make his job easier. Also, it will affect the Search Engine Optimization. Click here to see only 3 links are indexed by Google. That means most people searching the internet would not land on this site. SEO is an excellent way of continuous free traffic. I would suggest a light-weight text-based version option to users (and search engines). I think showing the T-Shirt in Flash 360o would be cool, but not browsing the site.
  2. Price: This is just how I feel about it.
  3. Return Policy: Online exchange for Cash inside kuwait.
  4. Not utilizing the whole screen enforces the use of scroll-bar to browse even a single item. Not very convenient.
  5. When adding an item to the cart, moving your cursor over it would display a friendly pop-up message with item description. That message flickers most of the time.
  6. Registration Form: A bit long and blurry within the small border of the page. Also no highlight of required fields. Some people may not wish to put their mobile or home number. I suggest also a preferred way of contact: Email, mobile, home number.
  7. Shipping speed in Kuwait is a bit long.

Sorry if I’ve been a bit harsh, but I was asked for fair review :) . I like to see new online businesses popping in Kuwait and review is hopefully a small way of helping them move forward. Good luck!

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6 Comments »

  1. Rayboy said,

    October 21, 2007 @ 8:11 pm

    Bashar .. its fair and right .. Your comments were more of positive opinions than “harsh”(as you mentioned) . it has given room for much more improvement … im quite glad for it :-) will inform my friend to accomodate most of your requests .

    Thanks Again

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    October 22, 2007 @ 6:15 am

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  3. Kuwait » Blog Archives » CASH ART Review said,

    October 22, 2007 @ 6:54 am

    [...] CASH ART Review shopping site that is a kind of new concept in Kuwait and I decided to shed some light on. Now before I go… come in only one size. Payment is possible by Cash (inside Kuwait only), Knet, or Credit Card. Only item exchange is possible for Cash payment inside Kuwait. So if you are buying from Kuwait, perhaps… transactions pretty easily. Shipping inside Kuwait is FREE, but takes from 1-3 business days. My advise, in Kuwait, if you want to please your customers, guarantee next day shipping at the most. Worldwide [...]

  4. Q8Ba7th said,

    October 22, 2007 @ 7:24 am

    Rayboy: Welcome for more such suggestions from you and let me know of any site I am missing from my index. I know there is at least a lot I am missing :)

  5. CASHART said,

    October 22, 2007 @ 5:15 pm

    Dear Q8 Ba7th,

    I really like your blog, especially how you put time and effort into doing your research. Thanks for your support and your honest feedback. I have a few comments on the “Cons” section of your feedback, which I would like to share with you here:

    1- Flash sites: As you know, I’m a graphic designer, and i couldn’t settle for an html website. It would’ve looked simple, and would not have been compatible with the quality of my designs and work(Logo, t-shits, rack, etc). I wanted something fun, unique, and fresh. It might not have been as “easy” as an html website, but I think I succeeded in making it user friendly and fun to browse and shop. As for the search engine, I think you have a point there, and I’ll be looking into your suggestions.

    2- The price: this is a product that is very high end and a lot of time and effort has gone into designing and producing this clothing line, assuring the highest quality and the use of the best methods available, all in accordance with copyright laws (I even have an official letter of consent from the Bank of England approving the images used in our clothing line). The designs are quite unique and cannot be found anywhere else. The t-shirts are not simple iron-ons onto ready-made t-shirts from “fruit of the loom” or “American Apparel”, they are hand-designed cuts made from scratch. Even the buttons on the clothing are imported and carefully selected. This clothing line is targeting customers who appreciate fashion design and “wearable” art.

    3- Return policy: since this is a first-time website, and it is a small business, I didn’t want to expose myself to the risk of online fraud. I plan on expanding the return policy once the site develops and the business grows.

    4- Not utilizing the whole screen: 2 reasons, (a) it makes the website load faster, and (b) people with smaller screens will have problems viewing the website, if it were bigger, they would be annoyed with all the scrolling, because my website is designed for 1024 resolutions , people with 800 resolution will get an ugly scroll.

    5- Moving your cursor over an item in the cart: You have a good point there, and this has been annoying me too. We thought we had this matter fixed before the launch, but we are still working on it. Good catch.

    6- Registration Form: Another good point. I agree, and am looking into implementing your suggestion.

    7- Shipping speed in Kuwait: I made it longer on the website to allow for holidays, etc. In actuality, the delivery speed is much faster, and most of the time would be same if ordered in the morning.

    Thanks again,
    Alia

  6. Q8Ba7th said,

    October 23, 2007 @ 12:14 am

    Thanks Aliaa for taking the time to read the review and get back with your opinion on them.

    For the Flash part, I am so much no-designer so if you look at my sites you will see they lack any artistic touches. Your choice for normal user could be as you said better experience in terms of you showing your graphic touches over it.

    Price: I am very much happy to read this part [all in accordance with copyright laws (I even have an official letter of consent from the Bank of England approving the images used in our clothing line)]. Many business in Kuwait are run on non-legal basis so to see you taking that care is something I really respect. As to how much time and money is put into creating them, you’ll have to excuse me I just gave my fashion-less taste of comment on it.

    Shipping Speed: I thought you want to avoid holidays delay, but since you mentioned it as Business Days, that means 3 business days excluding holidays :) .

    Thanks again for visiting and good luck with ur work.

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