Information Architecture of the Shopping Cart

This white paper explores the principles of design for process-oriented information architectures by illustrating the best practices in the design of e-commerce ordering systems commonly referred to as 'shopping carts.'

Bidigare, Sarah. Argus Center (2000). Articles>Information Design>E Commerce

Is There a Way Out Beyond Google to Bring in Revenues?

No webmaster worth his salt can rule out the indispensability of Google for enhancing the prospects of one's business potential the online way. The ways and means to augment your business statistics are fine as long as they are paving the way in your business interest. The fact is that end results are always important and determine the continuation of a set of strategies or tactics in the future. Notwithstanding the enormous benefits accruing from top positions in Google's rankings, you will end up to lose sight of the long term survival if you drive your business on a Google-only focus.

Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Search Engine Optimization

Issues You Will Confront When Using Third Parties To Build Out Sites

Nearly every ecommerce site revolves around a database to support inventory, listings and transactions. Building out the database can be a challenge. Here is what to expect.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>E Commerce

Keyword Perspective: Avoid This Mistake At All Cost

In this article, we are going to discuss a major problems involving keyword selection for existing businesses. It is a simple mistake, but one most people do not think about. The two prime Internet marketing platforms are pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. The issue we are going to discuss today applies equally to either of these platforms as well as any other internet advertising you undertake.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>E Commerce

Keyword Research and Product Lines

As you have probably heard over and over, keyword research is a pivotal step for success. Taken a step further, it can develop your product lines for you.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>E Commerce

The Latest Hot Trend Tests Usability of Web Sites

E-tailers grapple with everything from out-of-sight marketing costs to troubles with shipping. But another problem is close to home: Sites are hard to use, and that's turning off customers. Thirty leading e-commerce Web sites are riddled with flaws, concludes a soon-to-be-released site usability report. The study by Forrester Research and User Interface Engineering, a Bradford, Mass., usability testing company, is based on the experiences of 18 customers who were given $50 to buy things online. Amazon.com, L.L. Bean's site and REI.com were among the 30 sites surveyed. Forrester will issue the full report card later this month, but all sites had flaws. Shoppers in the test ran into dozens of problems that ranged from locating products to finding enough information to make a purchase decision to checking out.

Riedman, Patricia. AdAge.com (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Lessons in Internationalization  

By examining some of the mistakes his company made while implementing an e-commerce Web site, Larson demonstrates the complexity of internationalization.

Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Localization>E Commerce

Live or Die on the First Screen

Pick up a Sears catalog and you can flick through the pages and get pretty close to the exact product you want in less than 5 seconds. Now visit an unfamiliar e-commerce site and you'd better put aside a few minutes to figure out where to find what you want, if it's there at all.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2002). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

The Money Page

Low tech, high yield: A funny thing happened on the way to the shopping cart. One Web designer found a simpler way to make e-commerce pay. Alan Herrell shows you The Money Page.

Herrell, Alan. List Apart, A (1999). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce

Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death

A few years ago, experts thought a new pricing model would sweep the Internet in which users would gladly pay a few cents a page for the content that they liked. It was a costly misjudgment.

Anders, George. Fast Company (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Micropayments

Online Persuasion: Seven Ways to Persuade People to Buy

Persuading people to do what you want them to do on your website isn't as hard as you think. Read through these top tips and so your online conversion rates can soar!

Halabi, Lisa. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

The Persuasive Power of Design Elements on an E-Commerce Web Site    

There was $3 billion [USD] lost on the Web last year because of poor design—sites not realizing that if they just make it easier for the consumer to buy, they'll make more sales'. James Daly, editor-in-chief of Business 2.0, echoed a similar view: 'Design is the channel for bringing a new spirit into an online shop ... creative, customer-centric, humanizing design will ultimately distinguish the winners from the losers.' Because the computer interface is often the only contact the customer has with an online company, good Web design is undoubtedly key to a company's success.

Winn, Wendy and Kati Beck. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Preparing for the Holiday Shopping Season

Reduce the bounce rate for organic landing pages, collect data to manage PPC for maximum ROI, and take five other steps to maximize your site's holiday sales potential before it's too late.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Putting a Face on B2B Websites

How do you lead your business-to-business clients down the right path without sacrificing every design, usability, and information design principle you’ve ever learned? And how do you make these websites engaging for users? Nancy Carl offers advice for creating successful B2B websites.

Carl, Nancy. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

RBC Royal Bank’s Online Banking Initiatives: Usable Design Now and in the Future

Discuss their initiative to make user-centered design a central part of RBC Royal Bank's Online Banking.

Schaffer, Eric M., Carolyn Burke and Nicole Poirer. Human Factors International (2006). Presentations>Usability>Web Design>E Commerce

Security and Trust: Taking Care of the Human Factor

In the e-business chain, the last link that needs to be convinced of the security of an online transaction is the end-user. That is why this article puts forward a user-centred perspective of the problem of trust in online payments, derived from the discipline of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). We will first offer a general account of e-commerce system design, showing that there is more to trust than only security. The last part gives some recommendations on what can be done to increase consumers' trust.

Egger, Florian N. and D. Abrazhevich. ECommUse (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability

Show Prices for Common Scenarios

B2B sites often have overly complex pricing structures or can't show prices at all. To help prospects with early research, list representative cases and their prices.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Silent Partners: Selecting The Best Web Host

Web hosting companies are the ‘silent partner’ of every online business. A good partner makes going online a natural extension of your business. A bad one costs you time, money, and customers.

Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2005). Articles>Technology>Hosting>E Commerce

The Slow Tail: Time Lag Between Visiting and Buying

Users often convert to buyers long after their initial visit to a website. A full 5% of orders occur more than four weeks after users click on search engine ads.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability

Supporting Customers' Decision-Making Process

When people buy things, they engage in a decision-making process. Research shows that one of the major problems with commerce sites is that they fail in supporting the customers in this process. By understanding their needs and concerns as they progress through the decision-making cycle, we can build better and more successful commerce sites.

Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2003). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>E Commerce

The Best and The Rest: Rating Web Developers

When you've got the budget to implement a web project, there is no shortage of vendors who want to be your friend. But how do you determine the best choice?

Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2005). Articles>Internet>E Commerce>Web Design

Top Ten Mistakes of Shopping Cart Design Revisited: A Survey of 500 Top E-Commerce Websites

A list of common mistakes with e-commerce shopping cart design were identified in a previous issue of Usability News. This article revisits that list and reviews how 500 of the top Internet retail sites of today implemented their shopping cart design.

Naidu, Shivashankar and Barbara S. Chaparro. Usability News (2007). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability

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

Trust and Online Purchasing

The success of web retailing depends to a large extent on gaining and maintaining the trust of users. 'User experience' certainly includes elements of usability, but it goes beyond this to encompass the entire customer interaction process. When focusing on the online experience, there are certain key recommendations for organisations seeking to improve user experience.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Twenty Tasks in E-Commerce

Suggested tasks for testing of ecommerce sites such as compare product features for products A and B.

Bohmann, Kristoffer. Bohmann Usability (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce