For the first monthly review, I chose to look in detail and study the Nike website. After reading the first two chapters of “Don’t Make Me Think”, I learned about what consumers tend to like and not like when searching through a website. Overall, the Nike website is a great example of a well put together eCommerce site with a few minor issues.
Right as I opened the Nike homepage, I felt bombarded with information. While I understand Nike’s approach to pleasing it’s customers by attempting to “organize” information, it’s too much all at once. There is a top menu bar for consumers to make their search easier, while there is also a side menu bar to do the same job, but in a more specific way. I myself found it confusing because I was not sure which menu bar to use. Should I use the more specific menu or should I go to the less specific menu? The top menu is categorized by “Men, Women, Kids, Sport, Nike Sportswear, NikeiD and Jordan” with drop down menus with multiple categories to choose from. The side menu bar is categorized by “Category (sport, clothing,gear), Sport, Featured, and Collections” with drop down boxes too. There are multiple ways of getting to just one product, but it’s confusing to get there.
When I searched for a product I felt I would buy (training shoes), I decided to use the top menu bar to expand my search. After clicking on the “Training” section under “Women’s Shoes” I was again, bombarded with information. On my left, the menu bar showed me the same information that I had searched for to find my shoes. They broke it down again by “Gender, Category, Sport, Type, and What it’s Best For”. It seemed redundant and was unnecessary information.
A good design attribute for the site however is the “lack” of words. The book points out that consumers tend to read very little on websites and “skim” most information. The Nike website had very little word, but had more pictures. They used larger font to gain consumers attention though. The less words, the happier the consumer.
When I chose which shoe I wanted in my cart, the color options and size options were very easier to view and change. To choose a different color, there was no drop box so that made it very simple for me to view and choose which color I liked. To choose my size, there was a drop box, but it also was easy enough to choose. There was no scrolling to find my size in a thin, one columned drop box because all of the options fit in the larger, wider drop box so I could see all of my options. While this may be a minuscule detail, as a consumer, I noticed a much easier difference.
The Nike site as a whole is easier to read and understand. A few minor issues may be confusing at first glance, but it got better as I moved along the site and added a product to my shopping cart.