I surf the web a lot and like to watch how different sites and online stores are built. Now and then this leaves me with a remark or an idea I’d like to share. But I’m not sure what form suits that. I’ll try writing short notes right here on the blog, with no claim at all to being “reviews” or “advice to owners”. Just little ideas. Maybe it’ll be about online store usability. Most likely. Well, we’ll see.
The online bag store http://www.itbags.ru/
What are It Bags? In English (and now in many other languages too), “it bags” means cult bags. Bags everyone knows, bags that show off in every fashion magazine, bags people dream about.
A beautiful, light online store. A bright, spacious design and a fast engine. There’s something to learn here.
The banner announcing the new chat practically begs to be clicked. I poked at it several times without thinking. It should probably open the chat window too.
By the way, at Alisa, our online lingerie store, I’m a bit wary of hanging such an “annoying” chat window. The thing is, you can’t close it: reload the page (go to another product, say) and it shows up again. Personally, the floating tab doesn’t bother me at all, but I do wonder how ordinary users react to these “hanging” chats. In this case the chat is most likely from http://www.olark.com/
A useful feature: “set the item aside”. I noticed long ago how useful this idea is: psychologically, it’s easier to just set an item aside than to add it to the cart. It doesn’t commit you to anything, unlike the cart. Though nowhere does the site explain how it works and what setting an item aside entails.
Am I the only one annoyed by “magnifying glasses” on product photos in online stores? I think nothing beats a lightbox pop-up with simply a large photo. Which, incidentally, is used here right in the catalog section: under each product there’s a magnifying-glass button.
An interesting phrase on every product page: “You are buying exactly the item you see.” It’s clear why the phrase is there, of course: many online stores are guilty of photos that differ from the real product. But it looks somehow clumsy.
Below it, an even stranger note: “Photos by the Moscow studio DEA-Photo.” What’s that for?
Another good find. I once mused on how to get customers to leave reviews. Well, http://www.itbags.ru/ approached the question with effortless ease: “If you are a customer of our store, leave a review and get 5% off your next order.”
The lookbook of products earns this online store a separate gold star.
Something to learn from.