Shimu website gets a refresh

If you're a regular visitor to the Shimu website then you'll have noticed quite a few changes over the last week or so. We've been busy behind the scenes working on a big refresh, and after weeks of design, implementation and testing, the new site went 'live' last Friday.

With some beautiful product imagery and room set photos, we wanted to show off our lovely products in all their glory, so you'll see larger thumbnail and product photos, as well as more use of room set shots. If you'd like to see the full range of photos showing our Chinese antique and newly made furniture in situ, then check out our image gallery.

As well as the redesign, there's a brand new, more visual blog - updated regularly by myself and the team with details of new products, my regular visits to China, interior design ideas and lots of other news.

We've also added some useful new functionality to make it even easier to navigate through the site and find what you're after. You can filter furniture on dimensions if you have a specific space to fill in your home, or narrow products down by colour, finish or material. There's also an improved search facility with a more visual look and you can revisit recently viewed products at a single click.

There's also a new 'wish list' feature, allowing you to save your favourite products and even share these with your friends and family by email or social media. Great for birthdays or for creating a wedding list!

If you're outside the UK then you can choose to show prices in dollars, euros or other major currencies without having to worry about conversion rates, and we've also improved the checkout process, allowing you to create an account for faster order processing later on.

Finally, we've further improved the responsiveness of the site, so whether you are browsing on a desktop, tablet or mobile, you should have a smooth, easy-to-use experience.

What has stayed the same is the huge array of products on offer, with our ever expanding range of Chinese antique and oriental furniture, lighting and home accessories.

I hope you like the new site and would love to hear your feedback as to any further improvements we can make. Feel free to get in touch with me directly at james@shimu.co.uk or contact us through the site.

James Cottrell
Director, Shimu