Wine convenience store project: WineEleven.com

I’m working on a development project for a relative of a good friend.  It’s really low budget, because he has a lot of family obligations is not in a position to invest in anything right now with this economy,  but I am happy to help him get something started. It’s an online wine store intended to be a “wine convenience store”. It’s like 7-11 in that it’s drive-by, open all the time, and has a simple collection spanning the spectrum of cheap rose through unoffensive table wines, with  one or two “top shelf” wines in the $40 range. The whole idea is one-stop, limited number to pick from, and something to please everyone “common” enough to shop at a 7-11 for wine.

This is a small project with very limited budget.. we’re talking a few hundred bucks to get everything going (and I mean everything!).  I’m thinking Magento shopping cart for easy of implementation and because traffic won’t be huge (so a slow Magento won’t be a problem).  I have been reading up on Magento SEO and my dev cart is working great.

I’ll probably also be given the job of building a blog about the store, so I can skin WordPress to match the Magento store. I’m looking forward to it, even if it’s not a very profitable job given the budget. It’ll be my first wine site.

Update: We have a domain now, WineEleven.com!