Some stories I’ve been reading over the past few days:
SmashingMagazine shares some e-commerce design advice with their article, Improve Your E-Commerce Design With Brilliant Product Photos. Not only do they share examples of good product photography in e-commerce, but they also share tips and advice for e-commerce site owners who are looking for better photography.
Last year, Nordstrom rolled out a new inventory management system that allowed the retailer to combine web and in-store inventory. This new inventory system is one of the driving factors behind the retailer’s sales growth in 2010. It is also making for more satisfied customers. It’s a win for both parties.
The Retail Doctor, Bob Phibbs, has a great analysis of one retailer who used daily deal site Groupon and saw less than stellar results. Through all of the hype of Groupon and the sites that are starting to follow, this is a good cautionary tale about the downfalls of large price discounts in retail. The blog post is also followed by some great comments that offer some additional views on the matter.
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Read more about: customer satisfaction, Customer Service, Design, discounting, e-commerce, gap, groupon, inventory, nordstrom, Photography, Retail, smashingmagazine, theretaildoctor
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Mother’s Day is just over a week away and e-commerce promotions are in full swing. According to a survey by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation, spending on gifts for Mother’s Day will be up slightly this year, with total spending projected at $14.6 billion.
I’m seeing plenty of promotion for the holiday from retailers that you would expect to see promote the holiday: Kohl’s, 1-800-Flowers and The Body Shop all have great homepage call outs for their holiday promotions. It’s nice to see several retailers using homepage space for shipping deadlines (see: Ralph Lauren and Macy’s).
(Click on each screenshot for a larger view.)
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1-800-Flowers
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Ashley Stewart
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Read more about: 1800flowers, ashley stewart, bloomingdale's, boscov's, Design, e-commerce, ecommerce, fossil, jets shop, Kohl's, Macy's, mother's day, ralph lauren, screenshots, the body shop, zales
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Last year, I took a spin through the web on an iPhone and noted the results in a post called 52 E-Commerce Stores on the iPhone. Now, I’m doing it again — but this time, with the iPad.
In designing and developing stores with the iPad in mind, there are some unique challengers that will be faced. I’m happy to see that most retailers (except for Walmart) are serving up dynamic, relevant, and functional non-Flash content on their homepage. Walmart was the only store that has a big DOWNLOAD FLASH banner in lieu of a homepage hero.
It’s also interesting to see how the different sized pages scale or adapt to the size of the iPad screen. In the screenshots below, all of the sites were captured in a portrait orientation. I do understand that some layouts are better suited for portrait orientation and some are better suited for landscape. I went with portrait because that’s the way I find myself browsing the web most often. Stores with longer layouts, vivid graphics and large promotional areas seem to really shine on this device. I really like how the American Eagle and PacSun stores look in the screenshots below.
Here’s the first batch of 24 e-commerce screenshots that I’d like to share:
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Abercrombie & Fitch
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American Eagle
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Aeropostale
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Amazon
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Read more about: amazon.com, Design, e-commerce, ebay, ecommr, ipad, kenneth cole, Kohl's, newegg, old navy, screenshots, sears, ui, ux, victoria's secret, walmart, Zumiez
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Few things on my radar this morning that I want to share:
Great post by Get Elastic that analyzes the checkout login process of several of the top converting sites. New users resist registering and want to check out without creating an account. Very good data and thoughts there for anyone working in e-commerce.
Not all the news about the retail industry should be bad. Seeking Alpha has a list of 10 retailers with stronger than expected first quarter sales. A slight glimmer of positive news in the midst of all the doom and gloom about the economy that is still lingering.
For the designers in the house, I really love going through the sites at Design Meltdown. Always an inspirational gallery site. Last week they posted a new collection of “super clean” websites. Just because the design is clean doesn’t mean it has to be bland. Good inspiration there.
Jeremiah Owyang is live blogging from the Corporate Social Networking Conference in Amsterdam and has a recap of the panel on digital natives. Kids born after 1980, who grew up with the level of technology, should be looked at differently by businesses and brands. This is an important segment of consumers that retailers have to be aware of and cater to. Teen retailers have been forced to get it, but how will retailers react as this generation continues to grow older?
Valentine’s Day is just a few days away. I wanted to see how various retailers are promoting the holiday in order to see how they are working to increase last minute sales. Below you’ll see screenshots of various e-commerce sites that are ready for the Holiday: from department stores, to jewelry, candy, and lingerie.
I find it interesting to see a holiday like Valentine’s Day play out over the web. On one hand, there is the traditional retail focus on jewelry, flowers, and accessories but they are interspersed with free shipping promotions, shipping guidelines, and gift finders. Throw in a lot of red, red, and more red and you have the state of e-commerce as we run full force into the Valentine’s Day holiday.
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Read more about: 1800flowers, coach, Design, ecommerce, express, flowers, godiva, jared, jewelers, jewelry, kay, Kohl's, Lord & Taylor, mrs. fields, proflowers, redenvelope, screenshots, urban outfitters, valentine's day, victoria's secret, zales
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