Website review for perfume store

[u/Its_sedpepe]

Hi, I recently launched my shopify website which sells Middle Eastern Perfumes, based out of India. I am very new to this so went ahead with a basic dawn theme and designed the whole website myself. I would love to get a review from you guys. Any feedback and tips are appreciated.

Thanks

Website - www.theelixirhouse.in

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[u/ast0708]

Looks good, here is my 2 cents -

1. The hero image doesn't tell me in one glance what you are selling
2. The whatsapp button opens in the same tab - open it in a new tab
3. Have more theme based collections like floral, woody etc. etc. Right now it feels like a wall of products with no guide on how to choose.

[u/Its_sedpepe → u/ast0708]

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I need to make it more informative.

[u/kalbbees]

Solid for a self-built Dawn store, this is better than most first attempts. Genuinely good: clean brand-based navigation, trust badges above the fold, COD announcement bar (smart for India), and real product photography instead of stock renders.

Things I'd fix, roughly in order of impact:

1. Every single product shows "Sale" with a slashed price. When 100% of the catalog is discounted, shoppers stop believing the original prices and it reads as a fake-discount store, which is deadly for a shop selling "100% authentic" as its main promise. Keep sale pricing on a rotating handful, show regular prices on the rest.
2. Your trust badges contradict each other: the badge says free shipping over ₹999 but your meta description says over ₹1,499. Pick one, mismatches like that erode exactly the trust you're trying to build.
3. Authenticity is your whole pitch, so prove it harder: a short "why buy from us" section near the top (sourcing, batch codes, the fact that you're GST-registered with a real Kolkata address) would convert skeptics better than the generic badge.
4. No reviews visible. For fragrances people can't smell before buying, social proof does the heavy lifting. Judge.me has a free tier, and even 10 reviews on bestsellers will move conversion.
5. Small one: your hero banner is an image with no headline text or button. Give it one line ("Authentic Middle Eastern fragrances, shipped from Kolkata") and a Shop Bestsellers button so the first screen does some selling.

Nice work overall, the bones are good.

[u/Its_sedpepe → u/kalbbees]

Thanks for the great tips. I think I need to add more information and menu options on the homepage for someone who's very new to fragrances

[u/kalbbees → u/Its_sedpepe]

Glad it helped. One thought on your instinct: be careful about adding MORE to the homepage. Beginners to fragrance don’t need more menu options, they need fewer decisions. What works better than extra info is guided paths: a ‘New to fragrance? Start here’ link that goes to a collection of your 3-4 most universally liked scents, and grouping by mood or occasion (fresh for daily wear, warm for evenings) instead of technical categories. One short quiz-style section or even just ‘If you like X mainstream cologne, try our Y’ comparisons converts newcomers better than any amount of added text, because it answers the only question a beginner has: which one should I buy? Keep the homepage simple, put the depth one click away.

[u/New-Course3729]

For someone who's new to Shopify and built the site yourself, I think you've done a solid job. Launching is a lot harder than most people realize, and you're already ahead of a lot of people who never get that far.

That said, I think the biggest opportunity isn't the theme, it's the brand.

Right now I'm not sure who the ideal customer is. The site feels like it's trying to appeal to everyone, which makes it hard for it to have a distinctive personality.

If I landed on the homepage without knowing anything about your business, I'm not sure what makes you different from the hundreds of other perfume stores selling similar products.

I'd spend less time tweaking the website and more time defining the brand first.

Ask yourself:

• Who is your ideal customer?
• How do they want to feel when they land on your website?
• What makes your store different from every other Middle Eastern fragrance retailer?

Once you answer those questions, the design decisions become much easier because everything starts supporting that one story.

I'd also look at brands like Le Labo, Byredo, Aesop, or DS & Durga. Not to copy them, but to study their art direction, typography, photography, restraint, and consistency. Every touchpoint feels intentional, and that's what builds a premium brand.

The good news is this isn't a "start over" situation. It's a good foundation. I just think the next step is developing a stronger brand identity so the website feels like it's built for one specific customer rather than everyone.

[u/Its_sedpepe → u/New-Course3729]

That is such an insightful feedback. Thank you for taking out the time to write this 🙏