Ready, Done, January Sale!

Sort: Standard

Does anyone know what “Sorting: Default” really is? Then I'm thinking of you as a perfectly normal consumer, because there are probably some programmers out there who have an explanation of what that sort really means.

Let's say you visit a webshop, and are served a selection of products in a seemingly arbitrary order with “Sorting: Standard”. Very many online stores do it this way. I wonder why? If you find the drop-down menu with sorting options, there are usually options there that are more relevant. Personally, at least I always end up sorting by things like price, latest items or what's on sale, and often find what I'm looking for in the end. But the road there is usually unnecessarily long.

Think about what the user is looking for and create the view accordingly! Great with lots of sorting choices, but you don't have to include everything just because it's technically possible. Rather, choose a few that have relevance and with it make it easier for users.

Show 6, 12, 24, 48

Based on the number of online stores that display very few products at a time, I wonder if it's just me wanting to see more than six products at a time, and preferably far more. Every single time, I look forward to this navigation, and click on “View All” or the highest number of products possible. Because who loves clicking “next” all the time? Or hitting on the wrong page number in the microscopic view at the bottom of the page, which even I struggle with despite my eyesight and fine motor skills being perfectly fine?

Of course, the technical aspect plays a big role here, because there is also a problem that the page can become too heavy to load.

If you have the opportunity, expose the user to many products at once -- it takes so much more of the user to get him/her to do this on their own.

What does it cost — in the end?

Discount codes abound and most often you can enter them already in the shopping cart. However, some people want to create a user or log in to see the total price after the discount is deducted and the shipping has been added. I find that barrier high, especially if you consider buying the goods at other online stores and are still in “probe-off-road mode”.

Be sympathetic and transparent, it creates credibility. Tell the customer what the price will be in the end as early as possible.

Use keywords and categories wisely

A good example of that is former mail order giant, now online retail giant Ellos. Here we have managed to create a hierarchy for the categories that are actually to be found out:

— Children
---Baby
———Little Boy
————Overshares
-------------T-Shirt

Often it's just like this:
-- Baby
——Upholstery

Of course, it can work well where the inventory is not so large, but with a high number of products it is imprecise and requires a lot of exploration on the part of the user.

or like this:

— Children
——Upholstery
———cardigan
-------cardigan
-------sweater
-------sweaters
-------t-shirt
-------tee
-------t-shirt

This is problematic because many duplicates occur and it appears messy, and with many categories. Second hand market Trendsales is an example of this, and in this case is due to the fact that users themselves can enter new keywords.

Find out what the category hierarchy should be like from the start and help the user find what they're looking for.

What sizes are left?

When it comes to clothing, it is relevant to the user what sizes are in stock. There is nothing more annoying (or yes, it is, but hyperbole promotes understanding) than clicking into a product and then not having it in stock in the size you want. Many people show this detail as a hover effect, e.g. the children's clothing store Armer og Ben.

Show which sizes are available already in the product listing, and you will save the user a lot of work. Also feel free to create filtering options on sizes, but remember cf. the previous section on categories and keywords — let it make sense and avoid duplicates such as “S” and “Small”.

Buying without feeling

Shopping in a physical store has an obvious advantage: You can touch and feel the products before you buy. With that in mind, it is important to get as close to this as possible in the online store. H&M had a virtual rehearsal room a few years ago, where I could customize a person who looked the most like myself, thus trying on the items of clothing, which I think was a good idea.

Good photo material, videos and complementary product information are therefore the alpha omega for a good buying experience that removes some of the uncertainty. Good return arrangements can also be communicated at this stage so that the barrier will be lower to buying.

I want to pay, now!

The scenario is the following: I have filled in all the info about where the goods are going to be shipped, and then something is cropping up. Wrong password, most often. What often happens then is that all the fields reset and I have to fill everything in again.

Consider that user patience is not necessarily very high in this situation, so make this process as fast as possible. Choose only fields that are strictly necessary, avoiding unnecessary steps.

Responsive design

Very many online stores do not have a responsive page and are thus difficult to use from, for example, mobile phones. The payment service Klarna figures that 36% of all purchases was done from a mobile phone or tablet (2014), and higher the number is likely to be. Users expect it to be possible to shop on mobile phones and tablets, and then you need to facilitate it both with interaction design, technology and a payment solution that works.

Probably it costs to redo an existing online store, but given these figures and future prospects, one can assume that it costs more not to.