MAGUIRE'S Barbershop is coming back!

To be fair if they aren't ready to bring back the online shop its better than rushing and not being able to offer the right level of service. The only criticism would be that perhaps they were a little hasty in making the original post. However, all sorts of things crop up in business so we shouldn't make any sweeping assumptions.
 
Have to admit that I was one who stopped ordering from Maguires. I ordered three things from them, the first turned up OK but the second (a bottle of aftershave) turned up smashed, with the packing horrendous (the post office asked me to come and collect it, as they had had to repack it themselves) and a third order just never arrived, so I'm dubious about using them again. Will be watching with interest.
 
Hello again,

I was alerted to some new activity on this thread, so I thought I would stop by and update you with what Jonathan and I are doing at Maguire's Barbershop, and answer some of the questions I've seen raised here.

First of all, yes, I am Richard and I will be one of the people picking, packing and dispatching orders from the new website. I'll also be the person answering any queries and questions about the new website, entertaining you on Facebook (maguiresbarbershop) and Twitter (@maguiresbarbers), and generally making sure you have a smooth and enjoyable shopping experience.

As to the premature 'launch' post, this was certainly not the intention. We wanted to keep an important group of shaving enthusiasts up to date with progress ahead of the launch! We're keen to ensure that everything is correct before we come back to the market and these are just some of the jobs we've been completing over the past few months:

Stock take: Even dormant, we haven't stopped being in contact with our suppliers, and indeed haven't even stopped ordering! Our strategy has always been to maintain stock levels as we operate in an industry where the manufacturer's supply chains are ‘erratic' to say the least. In fact we are now stocking more lines and more stock on each line than ever before. Our new smart inventory alert system needs those initial figures input however, so it was a week in the warehouse counting everything out the old fashioned way! With 49 brands stocked, it wasn't the MOST fun week I've ever had I have to be honest.

Photographs: With an inventory of around 400 items, and an average of 3 images per item this has been another big job. We want you to really be able to SEE the items you are looking at (a little taste of a fine retail experience), so have tried out hardest to provide you with excellent quality images that really show what you are going to get when you open that parcel from us. As anyone who works with bulk images knows, it has been a l-o-n-g couple of weeks of straightening, cropping, sharpening, editing, renaming, uploading and allocating! We're almost there and overall we're VERY happy with the result so far.

Design: Selling fine quality traditional shaving products (among other things) through an off-the-shelf website just wouldn't have felt right somehow. We've had some pretty long meetings with our design team to get the site looking just right. Not just colour schemes, but icons, layouts, headings, navigation – basically all the stuff you tend not to think about in this day and age of ‘1-click themes' and the like. That said, we think the new site reflects 'us' and what we want to be known for. We're sure you will see the benefits of the efforts.

Behind the scenes: Any online seller lives or dies by the quality of their logistics. We've invested in new IT and processes to ensure our order management and dispatch procedures are in place and running smoothly right from the off. We've also carried out some ‘soft' testing to prove our systems. If they are automated and working properly: result, if they fail and we have to do them manually...everybody loses! (Particularly me!)

Also behind the scenes of course is the pricing and the descriptions, both pretty vital! While I know a lot of people from this forum might just need to look for 'names' or even images for that matter, we want to help out the newbies and the adventurers (again, back to our full retail experience agenda).

Getting social: I'm not sure there is ANY new business that doesn't have a social network plan in place before they launch – and we are no exception. Our Facebook page (facebook.com/maguiresbarbershop) is going to be a place for us to spread the wet shaving message, and hopefully have a bit of fun along the way. If you prefer tweets, you can follow us @maguiresbarbers. We've also given a lot of thought to reaching people who are sick of the 21st century fascination with 24/7 information, and that is why at base level we will have a regular email newsletter that just have shop news and special offers: no muss, no fuss (you can sign up for this right now via www.maguiresbarbershop.co.uk).

And that's us really. My background is in online retail and I am really enjoying working with the shaving products and looking forward to dealing with all of our customers.

We ARE almost there, and we appreciate that you are almost as eager as us for the launch...

Kind regards
 
Thanks for the update Richard, Jonathan has been great with my orders via the trial website and I look forward to future offers for TSR members.

Best of luck.
 
I just tried to follow these people on twitter and find that the address is actually @maguiresbarbers not as listed on the post above
 
Norfolkdick said:
Greetings

I take it this new trading website will not in any way be connected to e-bay?

Regards
Dick.
Click to expand...

Hi Dick,

No, our new website is completely stand-alone. All of the standard search functions, menu functions etc will be there, and payments can be made via Paypal or Credit Card (via SagePay).

Oh, and thanks for the good luck messages guys!

~ Richard.
 
I'm not too prolific on there but I like it for keeping an eye on my not so close, by distance, friends.

The last three updates if your interested. :)

Yesterday:
Whether it be a young Mac Culkin screaming after his first splash of aftershave or John Rambo going ballistic at the thought of a wet shave without his favourite foam, there are some classic shaving sequences in the archives of cinema. To start our Silver Screen Shaves sequence however, I'm starting with a true classic! An unfairly forgotten star of the stage and screen, Todd Slaughter was from Newcastle upon Tyne, just like us! His 1936 film 'The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' is something to behold!

“That man was the greatest exponent of the razor the world has ever known!”

Monday:
'Just back from the photographers. Couple of reshoots needed, but more importantly 2 NEW BRANDS being shot! The natural wonder of Speick, and the very cool looking Alt-Innsbruck. I hadn't heard of Speick before - it comes from a plant apparently:

Friday:

One of the newest product ranges we will be stocking on our new website!
Vie Long.
 
Hi everyone,

We've been promising an early July launch, so here it is! We're starting with the people that know us, so basically you guys are getting the first look. At 12 noon tomorrow (6th July) we will be pressing the 'live' button!

Registering on the site for the first time will get you a discount code you can use on any order you like (not just your first one), and all orders over £40 will be dispatched free to a UK address. Orders under £40 will still be dispatched via the Royal Mail signed for service.

We've got 59 brands listed now, and 552 products, all competitively priced and ready for shipping.

Just one thing, we are still awaiting a few images and a couple of deliveries, so there are a couple of spaces but this has no bearing on the payment and order processing system within the site, this is all completely self-contained and secure.

Hope to see you all soon.

~ Richard
 
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