Notable Exceptions
Features you won’t find in our initial launch and why
In preparation for the January launch of Really Simple Store, I want to list a few things you won’t see in the initial version.
Every feature and process has to pass this test: Is this as simple and straightforward as it can possibly be?
In some cases, if the process isn’t 100% simple yet, I decided not to launch with it. I don’t want to build another ecommerce platform; I want to build an intuitive way for normal humans to sell things online, from the ground up.
Launching any product requires smart decisions and compromises. Here’s a list of some things that didn’t make launch, why they’ve been omitted, and when you can expect them.
Shipping
Currently, Really Simple Stores only offers free shipping. The reason for this has to do with the unnecessary complexity that shipping can add. Long term, I’d like to change peoples’ preconceived notions of shipping and how we charge for online products.
Amazon is creating expectations of free, fast shipping always, and online stores only add confusion and complexity by offering shipping prices and options. People want their item(s) as fast as possible, without having to pay more or even having to think about it.
We have a plan to streamline shipping and offer a truly simple process. It involves a shipping API and pre-paid labels, one carrier for US, one for outside the US, and pre-priced (not weight-based) boxes. Store owners always know the cost of shipping (one price for domestic, one for international), and they can choose to charge separately or build it into the price of each product.
Until that can be fleshed out and implemented, though, shipping will have to be built into a product’s cost and advertised as free, which can actually benefit the store. We understand there are cases where this isn’t possible, so we’re working hard to add shipping, but ironically it’s takes a long time to make a process really simple. It’s definitely on the radar and high priority.
Discount Codes
Similar to shipping, discount codes add complexity. Discount codes are simpler than shipping rules, so they’ll probably come before shipping, soon after launch. It just didn’t make sense to prioritize finishing them over launching.
Product Variations
At the last minute, I decided to hold off on product variations. This means that at launch, we’ll only support products that don’t have sizes, colors, or other options that a buyer might need to choose from.
If a product doesn’t have options (like a leather wallet that only comes in one size), there’s no problem, but in order to offer options, store owners currently will need to create a separate product for each option and display all of them side by side.
Soon after launch (probably after discount codes and before shipping), we’ll add the ability to create product variations to offer sizing, color, or material options. This would display as a single product with options in the store, instead of separate products for each option.
Checkout Webhooks
In the future, when a product is sold, it will optionally trigger a webhook, which can initiate a third-party action, like adding someone to an email list or triggering a download.
This feature will be really useful to specific audiences, and to make it simple and straightforward, we want to create really easy ways to achieve some common webhook-ish goals. For example, we’ll create a pre-built option to trigger a file download (and provide a link to access later) after buying a product. This would make it really simple to charge for an educational PDF or a client deliverable. There are other examples we’re thinking about as well.
Webhooks are really useful, but they fall into the “advanced user” category, so they’ll probably be low priority to start. However, if it looks like there’s a need or niche and the webhook is the key, plans could change!
Tokens and Collaborative Selling
As mentioned previously (and in the podcast below), the tokens, collaborative selling, and private marketplace won’t be live at launch. Most of it is built, but OST, the “token-as-a-service” we’re integrating, won’t be on the Ethereum mainnet until later in 2019.
I’ve talked about the token economy and timeline before, so I won’t touch much on it here, but here’s a link to an overview of how the token economy will work once it’s running.
Notable Inclusions
I didn’t want to only write about what we’re not including, so let’s end with what is included at launch this month in a Really Simple Store:
- A straightforward online store with only a cover photo, your logo, a short bio, your products, and a contact form
- A fast and secure checkout that’s optimized for user experience
- A simple dashboard to add and manage your products
- A simple dashboard to view and manage your orders
- Email alerts (for you and your buyers)
- A drag-and-drop editor to arrange products
- A mobile-first experience where everything can be done from a phone
- Public and private products
- Product “add-to-cart” links so people can buy directly through blog posts, social media, in emails or texts, or on marketing landing pages.
Stores will cost $5/month plus the standard ~3% transaction fee (paid directly to Stripe for payment processing). Stores will open to our waiting list sometime within the next two weeks (just a few details left to clean up)!
If everything is perfect, we’ll open to everyone shortly after. However, in the likely case everything isn’t perfect, we’ll be talking with store owners and tweaking the product to get it closer to perfect before a public launch.
If you want to join the waiting list and be an early store owner, sign up at reallysimplestore.com!
