Gift ecommerce site review

iamyoohoo · #1 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 02:25 PM

Hello,

This is an ecommerce site focussing on unique gifts.

http://www.trendsforever.com

Please provide your expert reviews based on usability, site design, navigation, general user experience and how likely (or not) are you to purchase from such a site.

It would be great if you could go beyond just the home page and try to get into checkout as well.

There is also a poll attached to this post if you don't have time for a detailed answer.

Thank you all.

davebarnes · #2 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 02:41 PM

1. Do you really want to expose your discounts?
For example:

Code:

case "SAVEBIG":
case "20save":
case "10SHOPPINGCOM":
case "10SHOPZ": 
case "15WELCOME":
case "20SAVENOV1":

2. I see a blank white bar in the middle of the red boxes on the homepage.

3. I went almost all the way thru the checkout process and it told me I had an error when completing the form, but the exact error was not marked in red.

4. It is a very professional looking site. My only negative is related to product offering. I did not find any items that I was interested in purchasing.

,dave

iamyoohoo · #3 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 02:49 PM

Thank you Dave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebarnes

2. I see a blank white bar in the middle of the red boxes on the homepage.

Hmm, browser compatibility problem. Please let me know your OS, browser, browser version please. I've tested on IE 5,6,7, Opera 9 and firefox 1.5 and 2 and it looks good there. You may be using a Mac ? Safari maybe ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebarnes

3. I went almost all the way thru the checkout process and it told me I had an error when completing the form, but the exact error was not marked in red.

Thanks, please tell me which form element you think was wrong. It should tell you that the error is marked in red and the field name that has the error should be red. A screenshot would be most appreciated if at all possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebarnes

4. It is a very professional looking site. My only negative is related to product offering. I did not find any items that I was interested in purchasing.

We are still working on increasing our product mix. What types of products do you think fall in this niche of "unique gift" items. What would you have liked to purchase ?

,dave

davebarnes · #4 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamyoohoo

Please let me know your OS, browser, browser version please.

What types of products do you think fall in this niche of "unique gift" items. What would you have liked to purchase ?

Mac OS 10.4.8, Firefox with AdblockPlus.
Mac OS 10.4.8, Safari with Safariblock.
Mac OS 10.4.8, Opera (no ad blocking)

Products of interest to me:
Computer stuff. See www.newegg.com

rbirdsall569 · #5 (**permalink**) 01-14-2007, 05:33 AM

I think the site has way too many images. It took over a minute and a half for the home page to load. I went to the candle holder page, same thing. Then I went to an individual product page thinking that would be lighter -- over two minutes to load. Obviously I am on dial up.

Would I buy anything from the store? No -- I don't want to wait that long.

Your images seem to be optimized pretty good -- there is just way too many of them. Cut the number of products on your category pages, or make the images smaller, or both. Put less of the other products in the right column of the product pages.

Visually it is a nice site.

R

iamyoohoo · #6 (**permalink**) 01-14-2007, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbirdsall569

Would I buy anything from the store? No -- I don't want to wait that long.
R

Thank you. I agree, if the page doesn't load quickly, end of story!

I think the images are optimized and reduced in size already, but I can definately reduce the number of images which would reduce page load time. I am also considering a move to a better server that can handle increasing load and would be able to serve pages faster. I wish we could get Akamai, but that should be something in the future.

Thanks again.

janeth · #7 (**permalink**) 01-14-2007, 02:34 PM

The site looks good and is nicely designed, although I would center it rather then have it line up to the left.

No Matter how nice the site looks I would not buy from someone that did not have a number I could call. Then to top that off I would have to copy and remove the AT and re space everything to send you an email.

iamyoohoo · #8 (**permalink**) 01-16-2007, 03:55 PM

<quote>The site looks good and is nicely designed, although I would center it rather then have it line up to the left. </quote>

Thanks - We will definately try that - maybe a split test would help see if that improves user experience and conversions.

iamyoohoo · #9 (**permalink**) 01-17-2007, 09:28 PM

Janeth - It seems the center alignment was already in the works and has now been implemented by us. Yoohoo ! Is this better ?

All - any other suggestions - these are extremely valuable.

Clicken · #10 (**permalink**) 01-18-2007, 10:26 AM

Yoohoo,

The site looks great however the navigation didn’t work because of java script. It makes me wonder how many visitors are willing to allow that feature and how many leave because of it?

View Poll Results: If you were looking for unique gifts, would you buy from www.trendsforever.com
Yes	1	33.33%
No, the site does not look professional like other top tier gift sites	0	0%
No, I don't like the products	1	33.33%
No, I don't like the navigation	1	33.33%
No, I have security or safety concerns	0	0%
No, I don't like the user experience	0	0%
No, but I can't really pinpoint the reason	0	0%
Voters: 3. You may not vote on this poll

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