No Turn On Red

Few things on my radar this morning that I want to share:

Great post by Get Elastic that analyzes the checkout login process of several of the top converting sites. New users resist registering and want to check out without creating an account. Very good data and thoughts there for anyone working in e-commerce.

Not all the news about the retail industry should be bad. Seeking Alpha has a list of 10 retailers with stronger than expected first quarter sales. A slight glimmer of positive news in the midst of all the doom and gloom about the economy that is still lingering.

For the designers in the house, I really love going through the sites at Design Meltdown. Always an inspirational gallery site. Last week they posted a new collection of “super clean” websites. Just because the design is clean doesn’t mean it has to be bland. Good inspiration there.

Jeremiah Owyang is live blogging from the Corporate Social Networking Conference in Amsterdam and has a recap of the panel on digital natives. Kids born after 1980, who grew up with the level of technology, should be looked at differently by businesses and brands. This is an important segment of consumers that retailers have to be aware of and cater to. Teen retailers have been forced to get it, but how will retailers react as this generation continues to grow older?

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Valentine’s Day is just a few days away. I wanted to see how various retailers are promoting the holiday in order to see how they are working to increase last minute sales. Below you’ll see screenshots of various e-commerce sites that are ready for the Holiday: from department stores, to jewelry, candy, and lingerie.

I find it interesting to see a holiday like Valentine’s Day play out over the web. On one hand, there is the traditional retail focus on jewelry, flowers, and accessories but they are interspersed with free shipping promotions, shipping guidelines, and gift finders. Throw in a lot of red, red, and more red and you have the state of e-commerce as we run full force into the Valentine’s Day holiday.

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I was curious to see how retailers are handling and delivering mobile content. I decided to visit a variety of e-commerce stores, on my iPod Touch, and captured the results. Consider this a beginning of the year snapshot of the mobile online retail web – I look forward to capturing these sites again in 12 months and seeing what changes.

A few observations:

6 of the 50 retailers redirect iPhone users to a mobile-optimized website: Amazon, Best Buy, Foot Locker, Target, Victoria’s Secret, and Walmart. Ralph Lauren should be on this list, since they offer a mobile-optimized website, but the server doesn’t redirect iPhone visitors.

Way too many retailers have Flash movies with no non-Flash support. Typically these are promotion pieces and don’t interfere with the navigation. However, the Nike shop redirects the iPhone user to a page that tells them they should download Flash with no way to view the site otherwise. I also have to note Ralph Lauren’s Rugby store and Express, both sites are just about completely unusable without Flash.

Kudos to retailers like Gap and J.Crew who have javascript animations for their homepage promotions. The iPhone user still has a pleasant visual experience.

If you are interested or involved with the design, development, or user experience of e-commerce stores, please visit ecommr. ecommr is a website showcasing the best (and sometimes worst) in e-commerce design, with a clear focus on the individual elements that make up online stores.

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  Abercrombie & Fitch
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  American Eagle
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  Amazon
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  Anthropologie
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  Armani Exchange
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  Best Buy
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  Bloomingdale’s
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  Bluefly

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Working in the e-commerce field, I often find myself looking at other retailers to gather ideas on how to best present various elements of e-commerce sites. From design to information architecture, I find it fascinating to see how different retailers tackle the same problems in different ways. I’m often looking at different retailers and constantly looking for changes, no matter how small, and trends in e-commerce design.

I always wanted to see a site that broke down e-commerce stores into their different elements. I wanted a resource that would allow me to see the various ways retailers display their products or style their “Add to Cart” buttons. There are sites that break down general web elements (see: Elements of Design) and sites that highlight e-commerce design (see: Carted Up), but still no resource that broke down the individual elements.

Of course, this is where I looked to do something about it.

Today, I am proud to announce the launch of ecommr. ecommr is a collection of screen captures of e-commerce design and interface elements. From product listing pages to e-mail newsletters, ecommr is a resource to view all of the individual pieces that make up the e-commerce puzzle. Right now, there are 87 elements from more than 20 retailers.

No Turn On Red won’t be going anywhere. I will use the content on ecommr as a jumping off point for larger discussions and spotlights of trends or patterns through e-commerce. Those discussions will take place over here while I try to keep ecommr editorial-free and keep conversations in the comments of each posted element.

I hope others find this as interesting as I do. I also hope that other people within the industry can get some use out of it, like I know I will. If you have any feedback, comments, or helpful advice, please let me know.

Again, the site is launched and available now at www.ecommr.com.

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As always, I’m looking at a ton of e-commerce sites lately. Decided to run through some of the landing pages that I am seeing around the web right now to show off the variety of promotions and marketing going on. Though it’s not as denim-centric as it was two years ago, it’s obvious denim is still the #1 push in the back to school season.

Continue reading this entry

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This morning, Dell announced new styles of their Inspiron series of laptops that will be available in a range of colors. Available in 8 colors (pink, yellow, white, red, black, blue and espresso), the laptops will start out at $749. While this isn’t a typical retail-related post, it is interesting because Dell chose to make this announcement with the backdrop of Macy’s Herald Square.

In addition to the new laptop colors, they’ve unveiled the ultra-thin XPS M1330 laptop and have extended the Inspiron line (traditionally a laptop line for Dell) into desktop PCs and monitors. The new Inspiron desktop line will feature “clean arctic white and silver design”.

One of the secrets to Apple’s success over recent years has been in providing consumers with well designed and exciting devices. Dell has lost market share, in the PC laptop field, to HP and they are trying to reclaim it by employing a tactic similar to what has been successful for Apple. By using Macy’s, as part of the unveiling, they are trying to reach out to a fashion-forward customer (who wants a pink laptop).

More information on the Inspiron notebooks is available on the Dell website.

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In one of the odder pairings of retail giants in recent memory, Dell computers has announced that they are going to be unveiling new consumer products tomorrow morning at Macy’s Herald Square location:

In a unique event at Macy’s Herald Square in New York, Dell executives will unveil several new and exciting products that deliver a hi-def entertainment experience, true mobility with broadband connectivity anywhere, and style and self expression.

Interesting combination of retailers. Speculation from CNBC is that this could be the announcement of a new line of image conscious laptops that has long been speculated by Engadget (see CNBC’s Margaret Brennan’s blog for more information and Engadget for photos of in-development Dell laptops).

I’m looking forward to see how Macy’s is playing in to this. Will they merely serve as the backdrop for the announcement or is there something more coming out that will surprise a lot of people?

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This weekend, the New York Times ran a pretty interesting piece examining how some supermarkets are changing to a one line for all registers approach, versus the traditional one line for each register. Called A Long Line for a Shorter Wait at the Supermarket, they explain:

By 7 p.m. on a weeknight, the lines at each of the four Whole Foods stores in Manhattan can be 50 deep, but they zip along faster than most lines with 10 shoppers.

Because people stand in the same line, waiting for a register to become available, there are no “slow” lines, delayed by a coupon-counting customer or languid cashier. And since Whole Foods charges premium prices for its organic fare, it can afford to staff dozens of registers, making the line move even faster.

This approach has worked well for banks for years and has been adopted by some retailers and department stores. I believe that it (usually) a great way to expedite the checkout process, as I hate when I get in a line and realize that a person is paying by check and making a dozen exchanges and has questions about all of the merchandise.

My local Old Navy usually maintains a single line for all registers – but I’m not sure if it is by Old Navy’s design or whether the customers who frequent the store have adopted the practice on their own. I’ve yet to see the same thing happen at any other Old Navy.

I know Kohl’s has their stores running a similar program during the holiday season and it works. It not only helps to create a (more) efficient checkout experience, but it also cuts down on the confusion that would be created from long lines for each register. On the busiest of busy days, I know it even cuts down on arguments between customers!

So, I support the single line process but I wonder how well it will translate to supermarkets. I can see some supermarkets adopting this policy, but on a whole, traditional food retailers will shy away from this innovation. Fact is that the majority of supermarkets aren’t designed for a system like this and a single line would eventually force customers down aisles and block merchandise. If a retailer redesigns their supermarket layout, with a single line concept in mind, they can get it to work. But the majority of supermarkets will never see this.

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From the New York Post:

August 9, 2006 — OLD Navy had better go to battle stations. A Baltimore punk band, Oxes, claims the kitschy clothing chain owned by Gap Inc. ripped off one of its concert fliers to use on a T-shirt sold in Old Navy stores. “This is indefensible,” said lawyer Carmen Giordano, who’s filing a trademark infringement suit in Manhattan federal court today on behalf of Oxes, who have opened for Cheap Trick and the Breeders. “Old Navy has exploited their hard-edged image. The connection is completely contrary to their fiercely anti-establishment philosophy . . . and sullies their image.” Old Navy did not return our call.

Here’s what the t-shirt in question looks like and here’s The Oxes’ Myspace page.

One trend popping up over the past year in fashion is “rocker chic”. From Dolce & Gabbana to, well, Old Navy, you’ve seen rock-inspired apparel. The problem with being a mass market retailer trying to co-opt a rock or punk aesthetic is credibility. There is a fine line between something that is authentic and something that is not. In this case, an Old Navy designer may have gone too far when going for the punk/rock look by lifting directly from a flier or using a band’s name that would give it an authentic feel.

This case was brought up a few months ago on one forum I read. I haven’t seen solid proof, one way or another, whether this design is exactly from a flier that promoted this band’s show or even influenced by an actual show they did play. But that doesn’t stop them from having to protect their brand identity. Bands, at all levels, need to be cognisant of their brand identity. And, at the end of the day, it will garner them some publicity, which is always a good thing.

It remains to be seen whether Old Navy can be directly held responsible for the design. In a rumored past case involving design infringment on an Old Navy t-shirt, it was the designer from a third party company that was held responsible for the offending design. In their contract with Old Navy, Old Navy was cleared of any possible liability for their designs.

More coverage from Punknews.org.

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I’m a fan of the T-Mobile Sidekick, developed by Danger. I know they’re increasing in popularity, especially with the recent launch of the SK3, but I still find it cool whenever I see someone using one in public or on television.

But now they’re in the new Back-to-School graphics package at Kohl’s:

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