UK E-Commerce Losing Half Its Local Business

UK e-commerce businesses could be losing as much as half their local business, if they opt for a 'dot com' web address.

Usability by Design (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Understanding the IBM Basic B2B Profile

The IBM Basic Business-to-Business (B2B) Profile 1.0 is a profile that, in the fashion of the WS-I profiles, enables basic B2B integration scenarios using Web services technologies. In this paper, author Chris Ferris explain the profile's purpose and technical content.

Ferris, Christopher. IBM (2005). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce

Usability and Online Bookmaking

One industry that seems to be weathering the current online storm – and which has a reputation of being ‘recession proof’ in any case – is bookmaking. A combination of established offline players (William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power for example) and online-only companies (such as Blue Square) continue to provide plenty of choice to punters. This in itself is hardly surprising, as bookmaking is one industry tailor-made for the Internet environment.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Usability in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

In CRM, user acceptance is a huge issue. End users, who are rarely the same people who choose applications in the first place, can be extraordinarily resourceful when it comes to undermining or working around new products or implementations introduced by manager. All this means that creating applications that are efficient and enjoyable to use is imperative for both ISVs and CRM implementers.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability

The Usability of eBay's Checkout Feature

The article briefly highlights some frustrations sellers have with eBay's Checkout feature.

Rhodes, Matt. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Usability Testing of Travel Websites    

A usability study was conducted to identify usability problems as well as recommendations for improvement for three travel sales websites. The study performed testing on twenty participants, between the ages of 19 and 65, recruited from the university campus consisting of students, faculty, and staff. The three websites tested were Expedia.com, Orbitz.com, and Travelocity.com. Each participant was given general instructions and a pre-survey to determine their demographics and level of Internet experience. The usability study tested participants on the task of finding the same itinerary on each travel website. The participant during testing was under observation of the experimenter that maintained an observation log. A post-survey along with a debriefing session was conducted to gather additional feedback. The average testing time for participants was 30 minutes. The results of this study are presented as well as a future research discussion consisting of the development of usability guidelines for designers of travel websites.

Carstens, Deborah S. and Pauline Patterson. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

User Experience and E-Commerce

Slowly but surely the importance of 'user experience' to any e-commerce initiative is being understood. It is becoming apparent that simply ensuring that the goods are in the shop and the customers can find the door is not enough in the ultra-competitive online environment. 'User experience' is the difference between one-time visitors and satisfied repeat customers. It is also the area in which e-businesses can learn most from their offline equivalents. 'User experience' certainly includes elements of usability, but it goes beyond this to encompass the entire customer interaction process. But focusing on the online experience, there are certain key recommendations for organisations seeking to improve user experience.

Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Using the Internet for Public Relations

With the advent of the Internet and World Wide Web as an evergrowing and interactive media, Public Relations has a wondrous new tool in its arsenal for managing perception and attitude. Here we discover the leading edge of thought, opinion, and activity in using this new tool to accomplish Public Relations goals.

Stickler, Dwight. Blogspot (2005). Articles>Communication>Public Relations>E Commerce

Utilizing a User's Context to Improve Search Results  

This paper describes some design practices for providing a scoped search interface for an e-commerce site.

Gremett, Peter. Earthlink (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>E Commerce

What Causes Customers to Buy on Impulse?  

This paper studies the design elements within e-commerce sites that motivate impulse purchases online.

Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2003). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>E Commerce

What I Learned From Television

Despite the increasing number of website ads, consumers aren’t necessarily getting their feathers ruffled more, they’re getting smarter.

Danzico, Liz. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>E Commerce

What Makes People Trust Online Gambling Sites?  

A validated model of trust was used as a framework for an empirical study to identify on- and offline factors that influence gamblers’ perception of an online casino’s trustworthiness. The results suggest that the quality with which casinos address gamblers’ trust concerns by providing appropriate content is the prime factor. However, designing for trust must be part of a consistent strategy that also involves customer service and usability.

Shelat, B. and F.N. Egger. ACM SIGCHI (2002). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability

What's the Skinny on Weight Loss Websites?

This study reports on the usability test of three weight loss websites. In addition, eye tracking patterns were observed for initial exposure to each site home page. Results indicate that participants were able to search the Atkins diet site more efficiently than the Jenny Craig website or Weight Watchers website and preferred this site overall. Analysis of eye-tracking data suggests users first fixate on graphics and large text even when looking for specific information. Interface issues contributing to overall satisfaction and preference are discussed.

Shaikh, A. Dawn, J. Ryan Baker and Mark C. Russell. Usability News (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping

'Experience design' doesn't just apply to online design. Paco Underhill's 'Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping' explores customer experience and consumer behavior as they affect retail and offline environments and in turn provides dozens of lessons for those in web development.

Lash, Jeff. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Online Travel Booking: What Influences Consumers?

An overview of what influences consumers when booking a holiday and what travel companies can do to offer the best user experience.

Alexander Baxevanis. Webcredible (2008). Articles>Web Design>User Experience>E Commerce

Screen-Reader Usability at a Standards-Compliant E-Commerce Site

An E-commerce site was redesigned with Web standards in mind. The revised site used semantic HTML markup that usually passes validation tests and also incorporated many common accessibility features. A study was carried out with screen-reader users to determine how well compliance with Web standards and accessibility guidelines translated into actual usability and accessibility.

Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>E Commerce

Revisiting Toys’R’Us

How could an $11,000,000,000 company fail so miserably in its e-commerce efforts that it had to turn its storefront over to a relative newcomer? And what is the Big Lesson we can learn from Toys'R'Us' difficulties?

Rosenfeld, Louis. CIO Magazine (2000). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Case Studies

Learn From Your Customers for Usable Web Applications

Usability consultant Paul Englefield takes you on a journey to demonstrate that listening to your customers is the only way to provide the ultimate usability when designing an e-commerce site or Web-based applications. Through examples, the article weaves user-centered design techniques into the steps of designing an effective business site, focusing on gathering data about your customers' (and their customers') usage behaviors, offers two design models, and demonstrates how to integrate customers' input into the testing and evaluation process.

Englefield, Paul. IBM (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

Your Website is for Your Most Important Customers

Well-managed websites tend to be those that are narrow in their focus. They do a few things really well rather than attempt to do lots and lots of things.

McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2006). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>E Commerce

Retail Ecologies, E-Commerce, and Information Architecture

This white paper discusses information architecture in terms of retail ecology theory and how it translates to e-commerce. It begins by defining what a retail ecology is, and then discusses how the information architecture of e-commerce sites can change for four different types of retail ecologies.

Schleicher, Dennis and Jennifer Kush. Argus Center (2001). Articles>Information Design>E Commerce

Global Navigation

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

E-Commerce on the Go: Selling Through the Mobile

A series of best practice guidelines for removing potential barriers between your customers and your mobile e-commerce site.

Baxevanis, Alexander. Webcredible (2008). Articles>Web Design>Wireless Web>E Commerce

Turning on the Lights in Your Online Business

Ecommerce websites are typically set up as if they were just glorified catalogs: a list of products, some pictures, brief descriptions, and an order form. No human interaction at all.

Oxer, Jonathan. Internet Vision Technologies (2007). Articles>Web Design>User Experience>E Commerce

Close the Sale With Persuasive Design

Persuasive design techniques focus on "getting the lead" or "closing the sale". Here are some techniques to help you do just that.

TechRepublic (2007). Articles>Web Design>Persuasive Design>E Commerce

Designing Personalized User Experiences for eCommerce: An Information Architecture Perspective  

You can think of the information architecture as the “glue” that holds a web site together - the part that hooks the content up with the user interface. It provides the large buckets to place products into and that users can browse by. It specifies the meta-information that ties pieces of content together and enables things like cross-selling.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2003). Articles>Web Design>Personalization>E Commerce