Using one of my favorite stores, I went to Hot Topic’s website (www.hottopic.com). The site has been reinvented and changes around on almost a monthly basis. For someone not used to the changing formats, this can get confusing or even frustrating. However, the site changes are generally simple, such as new bands being added, different sales being advertised, new products available to purchase, etc. The site keeps its same basic format of links at the top of the page (‘Sign In’, ‘HT+1’, ‘Email’, ‘Social’, ‘Stores’, and of course ‘My Bag’). Below that is the criteria for searching. You can search by girls or guys and by new items, tees, jeans, shoes, accessories, band tees, pop culture, sales, and Blackheart products. Also about half-way down the page is another set of links, although smaller, displaying popular brands at the current time, whether they be bands, TV shows, movies, or games. The homepage has different sales (in-store and online) split up on the page which I think helps keep them separate so customers don’t get them confused with one another. Also on the homepage is a ‘Girls Most Wanted’ and ‘Guys Most Wanted’ section which shows the most wanted items for each gender based on what has already been purchased by others recently.

In the smaller list of popular brands, I clicked on the ‘Tripp’ link, which took me to a page only showcasing Tripp items, such as pants and vests. There are only 11 items on the page, but when you get more items, you have the option to sort them different ways and refine the search by price or size. Any sales for the items are listed in red under the item. One of the items that catches my eye is The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Tripp Jace Vest. Clicking on the image brings you to another page that gives you different images of the vest to look at, as well as gives you a little information about the item, its availability, size option, and the ‘Add to Bag’ button as well as other options such as adding it to a wishlist. Below that is a few items that you may also want to look at and buy. After picking a size you can add it to your cart where you’re given the option to continue shopping or checkout. On the checkout page you have the item(s) you added to your cart and a box to enter a promo code. It gives you the total for your order and asks you to sign in if you’re already a member or gives you the option to checkout as a guest if you don’t have one.

The color scheme of the website works. Most of the text is white on a black background, while sales information or other important info is red. The site is pretty straight forward with the way it has items listed and pictured on the pages. It has a very grid-like feel to it, which I believe would definitely help the users. Most of the text and images are big enough to read or see, but not all. For example, the line of popular brands where I found ‘Tripp’ located are all rather small. Mousing over the images tells you what they are if you can’t quite tell just by looking at them, which makes up for them being small. However, it does make the users think a little. The use of color isn’t overpowering, seeing as only three colors are used (excluding colors for the merchandise), and that keeps everything consistent and not confusing. Overall, I think it’s a pretty easy and self-explanatory shopping experience and seems to be easy enough for most users to use it and figure out where they need to go.