by Elizabeth

We want to thank the person who took the time to let us know today that several products in our catalog had been sold out on our retail partners' sites.  I'm happy to say we started working on it immediately, and three and a half hours later, we've removed every sold out product in our catalog.  Although we constantly check Shiny Orb to make sure it's running smoothly, we do miss things and really appreciate your letting us know about issues.  Even if something is not amiss, we'd still love to hear from you so we can continue to improve the user experience on Shiny Orb.

             

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Shiny_Orb_website_update_tags_.zip (276 KB)

By Elizabeth
It's been a few weeks since we launched Shiny Orb, so it's time for an update. We want to let you guys know that we're constantly pushing ourselves to improve the site so you can have a better experience. From your feedback, here are a few improvements we've recently implemented.

1. More dresses, more dresses, more dresses, and more dresses!  We know that more and more bridesmaids want to wear their bridesmaid dresses again. So with this in mind, we expanded our dress selection on Shiny Orb to include some fun party and prom dresses with bold prints, jeweled embellishments, fashionable cuts, and more. Why not go beyond the traditional bridesmaid dress and find some affordable, yet exciting, wear-again bridesmaid dresses?
2. Going further, we've added a couple more dress categories beyond bridesmaid dresses. We've added flower girl dresses, maternity bridesmaid dresses, mother of the bride/groom dresses, quinceanera dresses, and traditional Chinese dresses. What other dresses would you like to see?
3. We've also made a bunch of changes to our dress results page to make it easier to find what you like. You can now view up to 64 dresses at once, and once you find a dress you like, one click will take you directly to the retailer page to provide you with detailed information about the dress and allow you to order it.  You can also sort the dresses by "Most Popular" to see what the top dresses are today.
4. Finally, we want to hear from you! A few minutes from you for a quick survey would be greatly appreciated. We want to know how we can make your experience even better.

by Jennifer

1/31/2010 Update: Per user feedback, we've decided to temporarily take down the social features on Shiny Orb.  We're in the process of iterating them to provide you with the best user experience possible.

                   

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Co-shopping_for_bridesmaid_dre.zip (433 KB)

The driving force for creating Shiny Orb was a desire to provide an easy avenue for a bridal party to select bridesmaid dresses together while on different computers. To that end, we made it a priority on Shiny Orb to allow you to browse thousands of inexpensive bridesmaid dresses with your friends in real-time. We call this kind of shopping co-shopping. With our co-shopping tool developed by Parrotview, Inc., we wanted to help you save time, save money, and most of all, have fun while shopping. Remember what it's like to be social and shop with your friends at the mall? We're bringing that to you.

Let's get you started. Here's how it works.

1. On shinyorb.com, click the "shop with friends" button to start co-shopping.
2. You'll be taken to a new webpage, where the co-shopping tool will load in the bottom right corner of the page. To get started, log into your AOL, MSN, Google, or Yahoo chat account. 
3. Your buddy list will appear. Invite online friends to co-shop by selecting the checkboxes next to their usernames. 
4. Your selected friends will receive IM invitations in their respective chat accounts asking to join you to co-shop bridesmaid dresses.  
5. Once they click on the link in the IM invitation, they will be taken to the same webpage as you, and co-shopping begins. Each person in the co-shopping session has a small "window" at the bottom right corner of the webpage that shows what he/she is viewing in real time. There is also a chat window that allows the group to chat together.
6. Now, move to any bridesmaid dress webpage. The small "window" labeled with your username will have a picture of the dress you're currently viewing.
7. Your friend(s) in your co-shopping session will also see the dress you're viewing on his/her screen in the small "window" labeled with your username.  
8. Likewise, if your friend(s) goes to a different bridesmaid dress webpage, you'll also be able to see what he/she is viewing in real-time. So while you're both independently browsing bridesmaid dresses, you can see what everyone else in the co-shopping group is viewing in real-time and chat together.  
9. If you see a bridesmaid dress you like in your friend's small "window" and want to get a better look, you can click on his/her small window and be taken to the same bridesmaid dress webpage.
10. It's easy and fun to shop for bridesmaid dresses with friends on Shiny Orb.  No downloads, no new accounts, no hassle. Try it today!

by Elizabeth

By Jennifer

On Shiny Orb you can browse thousands of inexpensive bridesmaid dresses on a single website. When you first arrive on the results page, all of these dresses will appear in your search results. To easily navigate this large selection, slide the price bar to fit your budget and uncheck the style-icons to narrow your selection to the dress length, sleeves, and neckline of your desire. You can also filter by designer by clicking the "Choose Designer" link.

We also wanted to offer some additional information and tips to help you search more effectively.

• Cocktail and Tea length: Typically, cocktail dresses fall above the knee while tea length dresses fall right below. However, dress manufacturers often interchangeably use these two categorizations. So, if you're looking for dresses with lengths around the knee, choose both cocktail and tea lengths in the search.

• Straight and Sweetheart Necklines: Sweetheart necklines can come in different strengths of "sweetheart-ness." Often what is called a "modified" sweetheart is a very gentle sweetheart curve that may sometimes be categorized under Straight.

• V-neck and Sweetheart Necklines: V-necks typically have straight sides to form a V while sweetheart necklines have a curve. Occasionally, the curve may appear straight or the straight may appear curved so you may want to select both categories to capture these borderline cases.

• Off-shoulder and Cap sleeves: Off-shoulder straps are usually categorized by the width of the strap. However, very wide off-shoulder straps may be found in the Cap sleeves category.

• Short and Long Sleeves: Short sleeves that reach no farther than halfway down the upper arm are categorized under Cap sleeves. Any sleeves longer than that can be found in the Other straps/sleeves category.

• Spaghetti straps and Strapless: Many strapless dresses have optional spaghetti straps, so if you are set on a spaghetti strap dress, be sure to look through the strapless dresses, too. Sometimes these spaghetti straps can also be converted into halters.

• Focus on style, not color: Most bridesmaid dresses are made to order and can be made in a huge variety of colors. Designers are well aware of the need to color-coordinate a wedding. Focus on finding the dress style you want, then click over to the vendor page to see the colors available.

What if a dress is miscategorized? If a dress has slipped into an incorrect category, notify us by going to that dress' product page and clicking on the "Miscategorized?" link on the left side. A box will pop up with a textbox, where you can let us know how you think the dress ought to be categorized. We'll then personally re-categorize the dresses. Thank you for your help!

   

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Searching_for_Inexpensive_Brid.zip (143 KB)

By Jennifer

By Jennifer

Elizabeth and I are proud to announce the launch of Shiny Orb, a new online store mixing real-time social shopping with bridesmaid dresses.