Live Designer

[clint]

Hello Everyone. I was wondering if anyone had anything to share about Melco's new Live Designer software? We have just started looking into it and were looking for others comments.

[TinaK]

I too was looking at this and was wondering if anyone has any good or bad comments about it!

[clint]

I have been speaking with the techs from melco and have set up a live webinar presentation for next thursday. I'm pretty excited about it.

[levelbest]

Interesting - saw it at the NJ show but I would imagine the cost of $2k a year and $800 setup will put it out of the reach of most on the list when added to the other costs of machines, software, supplies etc.

If they can get the cost down to about $50 a month, host the web application and offer a 90-120 day free trial to existing Melco users, THEN I could see giving it a shot.

I think it's overpriced for what it is right now... and of limited use to smaller companies looking to build a business as it lacks the personal touch... but that's just MHO. Your mileage may vary.

I can see the usefulness expanding as the product matures however and the framework is there to do some interesting things down the road. I'll give it another look at version 2.0

[Juli in Kona]

As a comparson, try calling a web designer and have him take a look at Melco's sample store and then get a rough quote to develop such a site. Melco's Live designer is very sophisticated. And you probably can personalize it. It is a very slick site!

Juli in Kona

[levelbest]

I hear what you are saying Julie - I also am a web designer (I don't play one on tv)

$2000 as a one time charge might be ok, but 2 grand every year gets pretty darn expensive and there has to be a return on investment from orders directly resulting from the site.

Also, the most expensive web site in the world isn't going to guarantee business if you don't market it right [img]smile.gif[/img]

I do think it has potential and is worth looking into. I also have to wonder when this thing hits critical mass and a bunch of folks are using it - how special it will be. Will the guy down the street be able to have the same store I will online?

I also think that this will become more commonplace from suppliers (like SanMar, Broder, NES etc) with private branded sites... already some are close. The more they can get you to use their products, the more you buy.

[veena]

I am working on some thing similar to Live Designer (the designer part is not implemented) but the CRM, ERP and E-Commerce integrated together. We also have QB module for all your invoices. We can publish to google and Ebay & Amazon (in progress). If any one is interested, send me a email and I will send out the pdf.

Veena.

[Mr. Sew & Sew]

I have to agree with John.

I saw the demo at the NJ ISS last weekend and while it was pretty slick, what's the benefit if they are selling it to a thousand people. Soon everybody's site will look almost identical. A few folks I talked to said "wow it's really neat, but too expensive".

The pricing is a bit steep. I would assume most big shops already have customized sites and the smaller ones that could really use a product like this will be priced out the market by using Live Designer. To me, it's like some great new gadget that everybody wants to fool around with but can't really afford.

Just my thoughts....

Tom

[signman]

I'm looking at something similar for a website for my graphics...it's a 'template' website-with full 'shopping cart' functions, multi pages, etc.
And the price will floor you...I think setup is less than $200, and monthly fees (including hosting!) are based on the number of 'products' you list- starting at $49 a month or something. Another sign shop friend started using it, and had orders the first week and it has been paying for itself since.
Here's her website-I haven't got the direct link to the company itself handy.
http://www.crazyeddiesdecals.com/Pro...iver_Name.html

[veena]

NetOptimal is completely customizable. It is made user friendly and pretty inexpensive. It has a template that you can add products into and customize it the way you want it to look. Set up is included for orders $49.99 and up.

In addition to that, there is a Win - Win pricing for an initial period for you to get familiar and you only pay when you make X times the subscription fee. That should be pretty attractive for small business who are starting up.

In addition to it, we also have Resource scheduling. You can schedule your amaya as a resource and schedule your jobs and times that it would be used. So, a customer can exactly know when his job will be done.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me [email protected], or [email protected] or [email protected]

Veena
Iris Embroidery
510-226-6171

[Keith - eCommerce Melco]

Hello everyone,
This is my 1st post here, but I thought I should in order to explain some of Live Designer Suite's value as opposed to other (very good, but not Industry specific) eCommerce systems.

I know I met some of you at Tradeshow's or have talked to you on the phone, so I will skip the boring intro.

In reading the posts so far, I see much is price related. I think it's a fair to say the cost of the system is significant for the audience we have developed it for (you included). The value of the tool is not so much Internet related as it is production related though. The system was (and is being) developed to save time. Helping customer select apparel, working with them on the creative side of applying embroidery, stitching out samples, and digitizing are just a few ways you spend your time. This system is meant to streamline all that. We estimate a 35min average savings of time per each order. If you think you need that, that alone could justify the cost.

Now, we also know that it will increase sales with existing customer and facilitate orders from new customers as well, but we don't want to make any promises because levelbest is right, it all comes down to marketing. If you CAN market, this will make it a lot easier and profitable as the system is set up to handle existing customers as it is new ones.

As far as comparing the Melco System to others that don't have an online designer, or don't produce embroidery files on-the-fly, it is like comparing a Ford Ranger to a Transfer Truck, yes they both do the same job, but some people need the Transfer Truck to save some time and make more money.

I think it is a little early to worry about everyone having the same site. I WOULD worry about your competitors have the same site though (although I would worry more if they had it and you did not). Melco will roll out more look & feels for its customers, but that will be after it add other things that add more value than a new template (by the way, the current template was designed to maximize getting people past the 1st page, not to look shiny and original).

So, at the end of day, it is an investment in cutting edge technology and is not for everyone. I hope this offers a bit of insight.