#23180
Good Information Architecture Increases Online Sales
This article explains how information architecture can impact the sales process, and how and effective information architecture can help a site flourish.
Walsh, Ivan. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>E Commerce
#14840
Toward the Optimal Link Structure of the Cyber Shopping Mall 
This study aims at identifying the optimal link structure, which is an essential requirement for convenient and pleasant cyber-shopping. To achieve the goal, this paper presents a research framework in which different types of links are hypothesized to cause different patterns of customer navigation, which in turn is expected to influence cognitive convenience and emotional pleasure of cyber shopping. Based on two dimensions of links, link direction and link target, various links are classified into five types; NBR(Neighborhood), PAR(Parent), TOP, NEP(Nephew), and IND (Index). Two consecutive experiments were conducted in order to evaluate the cognitive and emotional usability of various combinations of the five link types. Experimental results clearly indicated that different combinations of link types influenced customers’ navigation patterns, which in turn effected the convenience and pleasure of shopping. It was found that the combination of NBR, TOP and IND generated the optimal link structure, whereas PAR and NEP rather decreased the degree of shopping pleasure and convenience. This paper concludes with its limitations and implications on the construction of effective cyber shopping malls.
Kim, Jinwoo and Byunggon Yoo. Yonsei University (2000). Design>Information Design>Web Design>E Commerce
#33201
97% of sites included global links to the site's top-level categories. While global links to top-level categories help reinforce the breadth of a site's offering, they also consume significant screen real estate for links that arguably are not as relevant to users as page-specific content. This is particularly true at the lower levels of the hierarchy, where there is a larger amount of semantic distance between the global links and the page content.
Adkisson, Heidi P. Web Design Practices (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>E Commerce
