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WHSmith finished joint top with Marks & Spencer, both retailers scored 83% out of a possible 100%.
The report intends to highlight the UK retailers with the most usable sites and uses the list of 20 guidelines below to judge them:
General
- Search function is in the same place on every page and is highly visible
- A link to both the basket and checkout is clearly visible on every page
- Price is always clearly displayed next to any product
- Users are given help in choosing products
- Visited links to products change colour
Search results
- Number of results and search term are clearly displayed at the top
- Option to change the number of products displayed is provided
- Sort and filter options are available
Browsing
- Product categories are provided and clearly visible on the homepage
- Orientation cues are provided
- Navigation within a category is possible
Product page
- Highly visible ‘Add to basket’ button provide
- Product description & enlargeable image offered
- Similar & complementary products available
Basket
- Highly visible ‘Proceed to checkout’ button at the top and bottom
Checkout
- The same form is used for both logging in and registering
- Highly visible progress bar provided during checkout
- Delivery costs are highlighted at the very beginning of the process
- Users are provided with sufficient help when an error is made
- Summary page is used and clearly shows the purchase hasn’t been made
Biggest Winners and Losers
Marks & Spencer showed the most improvement with their newly-launched site, moving from 9th in 2008 to joint first. Other sites showing improvement include Woolworths (now an online only venture), Boots, Mothercare and John Lewis.
Top Shop are still stuck to the bottom of the league table in 20th position scoring just 56%, the same as in 2008. Accessorize are still in 19th, whilst high street giants Next and Debenhams both fall down the table into 17th and 18th position respectively.
Most common areas for improvement
"Visited links to products change colour"
The least well adopted guideline on the list in 2009 is the same as in 2008, "Visited links to products change colour". Web links have long changed colour, typically from blue to purple, and Webcredible suggest that this should be the case for links to products, making it easier for visitors to see which ones they've visited.
"The same form is used for both logging in and registering"
This year both John Lewis and Woolworths have this feature which is intended to prevent confusion when new users try to register for an account and when registered users try to login.
Guidelines adhered to most commonly
"Product description and enlargeable image provided"
All but one site scores a perfect 5 out of 5 for this guideline. Having a product description seems a little obvious and the enlargeable image is now seen on most ecommerce sites, not just the large high street retailers.
"Sort and filter options are available"
Giving your site user the ability to refine their search can help them to locate the exact product they're looking for which is vitally important. Most sites in the study scored a 4 or 5 for this feature. TopShop received 0 showing that they really have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the pack.
How can i benefit from this report?
The report effectively gives you a checklist you can use to measure yourself against the high street giants. We'd suggest going through the report and applying each of the 20 guidelines where possible. If you only manage to apply 15 or 16 of the guidelines that's fine, as long as you're keeping up with the larger Ecommerce sites your site will always have most of the latest functionality and a good level of usability.
If you require Ecommerce site design and development or advice about the subject, feel free to call us today (0845 058 9050) and chat with one of our consultants.
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