When I look for an eCommerce website to feature for Magento, I look for a few things in order to see if it is worth spotlighting:
– Interactivity
– Ease of Use
– Clean Design
Bonobos.com, a Magento eCommerce site that sells men’s clothing such as pants, golf shirts, shoes and more. It uses offers everything I look for and I think you can learn a lot from this website.
Taking Note of Their Design
This website is designed with the idea that simple is best. By using a lot of white space it allows you to focus on the only thing that matters – the clothing. With a navigation at the top to help you browse your way through the website, you are not burdened with a lot of text or images that interfere with your shopping experience.
While there are moments a website needs to be informative, such as when you are offering information or specialty products such as wine, cheeses or specialty beers, for something as simple as pants or shorts you really do not need to do anything other than allow the user to filter through your catalog and find what they want. This leads to the next key attribute; interactivity.
Interactivity Used Correctly
If you look at the homepage, you notice that you are provided with different options with a slider that provides you with a snapshot of the different clothing options available to you.
To navigate the website you can simply click on the red button that accompanies each slide or you can use the navigation at the top of the page. You don’t have to scroll down to learn about what this company is about but you are allowed to do so if you wish to learn more.
Once you select an option and view their clothing line you will notice that you are able to filter based on sub categories (such as “Tees and Knits” in the “Sweatshirts page) and sizes.
By choosing ‘xl’ or ‘xxl’ you find a list of sweatshirts that are guaranteed to have that selected size. This is handy because you don’t want visitors to come to your site, hoping the item they choose has their size, only to find it is not available. They would have wasted a few page visits just to find out something that this website makes available to you in a matter of seconds.
This is the perfect example of how to use technology to your advantage in order to improve the shopping experience. Shoppers don’t want to lose time clicking through different pages only to find out their size is not supported for the specific item they wish to purchase.
This filter loads quickly and filters products instantly based on selection and ensures the user, should they find a product that appeals to them, will be able to purchase the product with their appropriate size while saving time in the process.
This type of experience will ensure the customer will return and continue to provide them with their business. Websites that force the user to do more work, to place a simple order, or to learn about a specific product, will likely never return to that website again.
Efficient Product Display
If you look at a product page you will notice that there is a nice image gallery to accompany each product as well as a set of tabs to the right of the image. The tabs save space and allow the left side to demonstrate the visual attributes of the product while saving space on the bottom of the page to allow you to write/read reviews and navigate the image gallery.
This product page is a perfect example of how to give the visitor everything they need, efficiently, in a fast loading and easy to use structure. As I said before, like the rest of the website, this page gets to the point and offers a lot of website so you can focus on the things that matter; learning about the product, looking at the image gallery and being able to order. Another thing I appreciate is, no matter where you look on this product page, you cannot ignore the ‘Add To Cart’ button.
By using a light green color it guarantees you will notice it no matter where you look as it is a perfect compliment to the rest of this page. This is also another reason why you don’t want a ‘busy’ product page. Make sure, no matter where the customer looks, they can see the button that reminds them to buy.
Summary
As much as I love technology and believe you can use it to further improve a shopping experience, I also believe simplicity is key. If you are selling something that does not require a lot of background information, such as apparel, I absolutely recommend using this website as an example of how to properly present your product line.
The faster a page loads, the easier it is to navigate your store and find what they want the more likely your visitors will become long term repeat customers. If you have questions about developing a new website with Magento, please leave a comment below so we can help you.
Magento Development Lead
