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As a consumer, I think footwear is one of the harder categories to shop for online. Shoes tend to have more unique fit, fabric, and features than apparel. Two shoes may be the same size but fit entirely differently and it makes the buying process harder.

(Or maybe those are just my experiences and that explains why I stick to Converse and New Balances for most occasions.)

Thinking about buying sneakers online got me thinking about the buying experience, online. I wanted to do a study of footwear e-commerce retailers and see how they present their products. I want to see what features are being used, what information is being presented, and how this all lays out to create a good (or bad) shopping experience.

The retailers that I think are doing it well all share three key elements: combining manufacturer provided details and user provided feedback/reviews, large photography, and clean design. Educate the consumer, paint them a picture, and lead them to the cart as quickly as possible.

(Click on each screenshot for a larger view.)

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  Aldo
  Basic UX flow of product photography, product information, and then the color/size picker. I think it is a loss to have the size guide hidden behind a tab, but the information is still readily available to the consumer so it isn’t a huge negative. Callouts for return, delivery, and payment information on the page create confidence with the consumer.
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  Converse
  Good looking site, but it’s all Flash. I really do not like Flash e-commerce sites. Visually this works well, but functionally is falls a bit flat and slow at times. Not a lot of product information, but then again, the average person buying Converse probably already knows what they feel and fit like. (I’ve been wearing them for 15 years, myself.)
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  DSW
  It shouldn’t be a surprise that DSW, a leading shoe retailer, has a great layout for their footwear product detail page. Large photograph, thorough alternate shots, tons of product information, integrated user reviews, and a clean and organized color/size picker. The product reviews are a great way to give the customer more information that they need to make an informed purchase.

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Comp sales for June are out and it is a mixed bag, as expected. The winners for the month look to be Abercrombie and Fitch (showing strong gains across A&F and abercrombie kids stores, making up for a poor performance from Hollister), Nordstrom (up 14.1) and Zumiez (up 10.9)

This is a run down of the same store sales / comp sales for the retailers we track, for the month of June (five weeks ended July 3, 2010).