PetalsWings — Feature Proposals

01 Smart Product Discovery High Priority

The Problem

660 products in the catalog — 82% are Tall Bearded Iris. The old site made it hard to scan through the catalog and find specific varieties. Customers browsing "Tall Bearded" are still looking at 500+ products with no way to narrow down.

The Solution: Multi-Filter Sidebar + Visual Grid

A persistent filter panel (sidebar on desktop, bottom sheet on mobile) that lets customers combine multiple filter criteria at once:

Filter Panel Wireframe

🎨 Color

Purple (171) Yellow (84) Pink (72) Blue (57) White (57) Peach (40) Red (39) Orange (37) Black (33) Brown (10)

🌸 Bloom Season

Early (33) Early–Mid (138) Mid (189) Mid–Late (154) Late (25) Reblooming (82)

📏 Height

Range slider: 10" – 38" (most are 32"–38")

✨ Special

🏆 Award Winners (145) 🌺 Fragrant (276) ♻️ Reblooming (82) 📜 Historic (12) 🚀 Space Age (11)

💰 Price

Under $10 (272) $10–15 (242) $15–20 (114) $20+ (26)

📦 Availability

In Stock Only Include Out of Stock

Sort Options

Best Selling — social proof, great default
Price: Low → High / High → Low
Newest — for returning customers
Alphabetical — iris growers often know variety names
Award Winners First — surface quality

Search

Prominent search bar at the top of the shop page. Iris enthusiasts often know exact variety names (e.g., "Immortality", "Batik", "Beverly Sills"). Typeahead autocomplete with product image thumbnails in dropdown results.

          💡 Key Insight: Bonnie's customers are a mix of (1) iris collectors who know exactly what they want by name, and (2) casual gardeners browsing by color/look. The filter system serves both — search for collectors, visual color filters for browsers.
        

Technical Approach

All filtering is tag-based (Shopify tags are rich and consistent)
Client-side filtering using Preact island — load all products once, filter locally for instant response
URL params sync with filters (shareable links like /shop?color=purple&bloom=reblooming)
Intersection Observer for infinite scroll or "Load More" button

02 Visual Collection Landing Pages High Priority

Current State

13 Shopify collections exist but the homepage currently shows 6 generic placeholder cards. The real collections have rich descriptions that tell a story.

Proposed Collections Hierarchy

Collection	Products	Type
🌸 Tall Bearded Iris	539	Primary — needs sub-filtering
♻️ Reblooming Iris	82	Primary — unique selling point
🌺 Fragrant Iris	276	Primary — cross-cuts TB
🏆 Award Winners	145+	Primary — trust/quality signal
🌿 Standard Dwarf Iris	36	Secondary
🎌 Japanese/Ensata Iris	33	Secondary
📐 Border Bearded Iris	7	Secondary
🧬 Intermediate Bearded	11	Secondary (empty in Shopify — needs products added)
🌷 Lily Bulbs	~15	Non-iris — separate section
👕 Apparel	~5	Non-iris — separate section
🎁 Gift Cards & Deals	~5	Utility

Recommendation: Feature 4 primary collections on homepage (Tall Bearded, Reblooming, Fragrant, Award Winners). Secondary types live inside the "Shop All" page with the filter system. Non-iris products (lilies, apparel) get their own small section below.

Each Collection Page Gets:

Hero image + collection description (Shopify has great descriptions already)
Product count + filter panel (same as proposal #1)
"Related Collections" suggestions at bottom
Growing tips specific to that iris type (SEO + helpful)

03 Wishlist / Favorites Medium Priority

Current State

Cookie-only favorites on the existing site. No cross-device persistence. Bonnie wants this improved.

Three Options (Increasing Complexity)

Option	How It Works	Pros	Cons
A. LocalStorage + Optional Email Sync	Favorites saved locally. Optional: "Save your list" → enter email → we store their list server-side (Cloudflare KV or D1).	No login required. Simple. Covers 80% of use case.	Not truly cross-device without the email step.
B. Shopify Customer Metafields	If customer has a Shopify account, store favorites in customer metafields via Storefront API.	True cross-device. Leverages existing Shopify accounts.	Requires login. Many casual browsers won't create accounts.
C. Hybrid (Recommended)	LocalStorage for anonymous users + auto-sync to Shopify metafields when they log in. "Email your wishlist" for sharing.	Best of both worlds. Works for casual browsers AND account holders.	More complex to build, but not dramatically so.

          💡 Our Recommendation: Option C (Hybrid)

          Start with LocalStorage (instant, no friction). Add the Shopify metafield sync once Sahara builds the customer API layer. The UI stays the same either way — a ♥ heart icon on every product card.

UI Concept

♥ heart toggle on every product card (top-right corner)
Header badge showing favorites count (next to cart)
Dedicated "/favorites" page showing all saved items with "Add All to Cart" option
"Share Wishlist" button — generates a link or emails the list
Prompt: "Want to save this across devices? Create a free account" (gentle upsell to Shopify accounts)

04 Back-in-Stock Notifications Medium Priority

Why This Matters

231 products (35% of catalog) are currently out of stock. That's 231 potential "Notify Me" signups — each one a warm lead for when Bonnie restocks for shipping season.

This is basically free marketing. Every "Notify Me" is an email Bonnie collects without having to run ads or promotions. Iris season is cyclical — items that are out of stock now will come back July–September.

Three Approaches

Option	Cost	Complexity	Best For
A. Klaviyo Back-in-Stock	Free (up to 250 contacts) / $20+/mo	Low — Shopify app + API	If Bonnie plans to do email marketing anyway
B. Custom Build (Cloudflare D1 + Workers)	Free (within CF free tier)	Medium — we build it	Full control, no monthly cost, fits our stack
C. Shopify Flow + Webhooks	Free (included in Shopify plan)	Medium — Shopify automation	If Bonnie wants to manage it from Shopify admin

          💡 Our Recommendation: Option B (Custom Build)

          We're already on Cloudflare. Build a simple system: collect email + product ID → store in D1 → Shopify inventory webhook fires when product restocks → Cloudflare Worker sends email via Resend/SendGrid. Zero monthly cost. Sahara handles the webhook plumbing, Vegas builds the UI.

UI Concept

Out-of-stock products show "Notify Me When Available" button instead of "Add to Cart"
Click → email input modal (pre-filled if they have a Shopify account)
Confirmation: "We'll email you when [Variety Name] is back in stock!"
Optional: "Also notify me about similar varieties" checkbox

05 Enhanced Product Cards High Priority

Every Product Card Shows:

Photo — large, fills card (Shopify images are good quality)
Variety name — large, Lora serif
Type badge — "TB" / "SDB" / "RE" / etc. (color-coded pill)
Key attributes — height + bloom season in small text
Price — prominent
Availability — green dot "In Stock" or "Notify Me" badge
♥ Favorite toggle — top-right corner
🏆 Award badge — if product has "Award Winner" tag
🌺 Fragrant badge — if product has "fragrant" tag

Quick View

Click/tap a product card → slide-out panel or modal with:

Image gallery (swipeable)
Full description
All attributes (type, height, bloom time, awards, fragrance)
Add to cart or Notify Me
"View Full Details" link to product page

Why this matters for 660 products: Customers need to evaluate varieties fast without loading a new page every time. Quick View lets them scan 10-20 varieties in the time it used to take to look at 3.

06 Data-Driven Homepage Sections Medium Priority

Replace Placeholder Content with Real Shopify Data

Once the Astro build is wired up, these homepage sections pull live from Shopify:

Section	Data Source	Logic
Best Sellers	Shopify best-selling sort	Top 8 products by sales volume
New Arrivals	Shopify created_at	Most recently added products
Award Winners	"Award Winner" tag	Random 4-6 from 145+ tagged products
Fragrant Favorites	"fragrant" tag	Curated or random from 276 tagged products
Collections Grid	Collections API	Real collection images + product counts
Back in Season	Inventory webhook	Recently restocked items (seasonal excitement)