eCommerce Design

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GhostOfDixie

GhostOfDixie

Player Valuation: £70m

Williams-Sonoma looks a bit too busy for me. Too many options at the top/bottom, middle section has a coupe of nice touches, rotating images etc.

Abercrombie is nice and clear and easy to follow. Consistent styling. Maybe a little too sparse. they could have more on there and still have it clearly structured.

Abercrombie i likes better.
 
Well these are my thoughts too. Company I used to work at put loads of stock in a website called eConsultancy. It was basically a bunch of Marketing experts and potential stains for next years Apprentice, and their theories are what you should have above the fold (which doesn't exist because it's a web page and not a newspaper), to maximise profits - with no thought to what kind of experience the customer will get.

Which in my opinion is the most important thing, especially if your looking to build a long-term brand.

The Abercrombie and Fitch operate a really neat way of showing categories, they are almost like a different chapter in a story. Rather than a simple word, like Hats, Scarves, Gloves.

For me eCommerce should be about the experience, and people will pay for that. Although I do see a market for the offer drenching site, but what does it say to you? To me it says are products are [Poor language removed], that's why we need to offer big discounts. Whereas Abercrombie and Fitch say, well we are confident in our own products, we don't need to offer discounts, because we know they will sell.
 
Abercromby don't have to cram everything on the home page. As you say they are confident in their products, methods and sales techniques, so don't flood the reader. Obviously a great deal of consideration is given to the target market too. Their stores also echo the layout and style of presentation. Not overcrowding, giving people space. They know what their customers want and how they want to shop.
 
Different markets though. If I wanted to buy a frying pan and the website was like the abercromby, I'd think "pretentious ******s" and go somewhere else. Plus the links are smaller harder to click on.

You selling cooking things; there's gonna be many people with poorer eyesight (age for one thing). Not enough visuals, text isn't big enough.

Predominantly market dictates design.
 

neonleon said:
Different markets though. If I wanted to buy a frying pan and the website was like the abercromby, I'd think "pretentious ******s" and go somewhere else. Plus the links are smaller harder to click on.

You selling cooking things; there's gonna be many people with poorer eyesight (age for one thing). Not enough visuals, text isn't big enough.

Predominantly market dictates design.
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well yeah to an extent. I actually think they both have it wrong. It's the balance that is required.
 
GhostOfDixie said:
well yeah to an extent. I actually think they both have it wrong. It's the balance that is required.
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yeah but irregardless of space and elegance, if the product appeals to a different market, the kind of experience they want from a website is radically different.

People buying clothes are buying into a brand; otherwise they can get it at Matalan or Primark.

If you're buying a frying pan, its more of a 'market' shopping experience. Price is going to be more pivotal than ergonomics or brand in your decision making process; unless the product being sold is some form of luxury high end kitchen equipment.

If you buy a Bentley the website will be radically different from Fiat Punto. Its about the market demographic you appeal to as much as anything. The website experience has to be good, but only as it relates to the product and the market.
 
neonleon said:
yeah but irregardless of space and elegance, if the product appeals to a different market, the kind of experience they want from a website is radically different.

People buying clothes are buying into a brand; otherwise they can get it at Matalan or Primark.

If you're buying a frying pan, its more of a 'market' shopping experience. Price is going to be more pivotal than ergonomics or brand in your decision making process; unless the product being sold is some form of luxury high end kitchen equipment.

If you buy a Bentley the website will be radically different from Fiat Punto. Its about the market demographic you appeal to as much as anything. The website experience has to be good, but only as it relates to the product and the market.
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Kind of agree to a point, but if the message is lost amongst a multitude of messages than your only going to sell to the bargain hunters, and those who are in the middle who may have purchased your product have gone elsewhere.

Look at this one for an example:

http://www.johnlewis.com/

has offers and potential bargains, but it doesn't cheapen the brand.
 
Abercrombie has the better site, you want simplicity of the homepage but access to everything needed. Instead of having tabs, pull down bars are a better option to avoid clutter.
 
Why take a punt on 1 design? Create several homepages, split traffic equally between each variation using Google Optimizer (for example) and see which one the users actually prefer. That way you're letting the most important people decide rather than the vanity of the designer, or of course marketing experts.
 

Bruce Wayne said:
Why take a punt on 1 design? Create several homepages, split traffic equally between each variation using Google Optimizer (for example) and see which one the users actually prefer. That way you're letting the most important people decide rather than the vanity of the designer, or of course marketing experts.
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In my opinion, the problem with this logic is that people are coming to buy a product, not to take part in an experiment. There's a reason why no business/retail sites give you a choice, it's simply a pain in the rear end for the consumer.
 
davideinstein said:
In my opinion, the problem with this logic is that people are coming to buy a product, not to take part in an experiment. There's a reason why no business/retail sites give you a choice, it's simply a pain in the rear end for the consumer.
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Think you misunderstand me. The user doesn't get a choice, they are automatically served one version of your design. Other customers will be served other versions. You're effectively testing out each of your designs in a live environment by seeing which one converts the most visitors into customers.
 
Bruce Wayne said:
Think you misunderstand me. The user doesn't get a choice, they are automatically served one version of your design. Other customers will be served other versions. You're effectively testing out each of your designs in a live environment by seeing which one converts the most visitors into customers.
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That's a jolly good idea.
 

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