Posts Tagged ‘Magento’
Let’s talk about merchandising.
“At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to the variety of products available for sale and the display of those products in such a way that it stimulates interest and entices customers to make a purchase.” – Wikipedia
A very simple definition, and yet it touches on so many key points. Magento Enterprise (a wondrous ecommerce platform) goes above and beyond common expectations to exemplify an ideal online shopping experience. How does Magento Enterprise manage to stand above the crowded web of competing ecommerce platforms in the world of online merchandising? Through dedication to established best practices that are geared to accommodate both the seller and buyer; everyone wins. Continue reading →
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On a recent web exploration, I came across a write-up featuring “50 well designed apparel sites” and took note of something. Their ‘purchase this item’ buttons were all considerably different. But, among the variety pack of buttons (image at end of post), there were some distinct similarities.
Color
First up is the obvious – color. Of the 16 I randomly chose to write about (very scientific), 7 were gray-scale, 7 were red or pink, and 2 were oddballs. Red is an attention grabbing color, which helps the button stand out in a crowd. Most of the gray-scale buttons use high contrast to increase their attention grabbing abilities.
Function
Secondly, let’s talk about function. There are two main ways to label this type of button. One of which being, “Add to Cart” and the other being something like, “Buy Now.” Surprisingly, the trend with this set is 13 out of 16 featuring some form of “Add to Cart.” I think this detail, the function, is the most important part of designing any button. There’s a very clear distinction between “add to cart” or “buy now,” and the button should reflect that.
The other interesting trend that pops up here is ‘add to cart’ functionality by way of size selection. This is new to me, and although I appreciate the innovation, I’m not sure leaving off an ‘add to cart’ or ‘buy now’ button is a good idea.
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If you are in the business of making Magento extensions you have likely dabbled in Magento’s system.xml files. Let’s face it, if your extension is going to have any flexibility, it’s an absolute must to provide administrators with configuration options. And if you are providing configuration options, you know to validate and filter that data. Continue reading →
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We get asked by clients all the time to explain what Magento means when they refer to Related Products, Up-sell Products and Cross-sell Products. Let’s take a second to clarify the meanings before we dive into some examples.
Related Products:
Products meant to be purchased in addition to the item the customer is viewing.
Example Product: iPhone
Related Products: protective case, car phone charger, anti-glare film
Up-sell Products:
Items that customers would ideally buy instead of the product they‘re viewing. These may be of better quality, produce a higher profit-margin and/or be more popular.
Example Product: Wrangler Jeans
Up-sell Products: Levi’s Jeans, True Religion Jeans, Harley-Davidson Leather Pants
Cross-sell Products:
Usually, these are items that a customer who is buying the product might enjoy. A Cross-sell product is synonymous with candy or a magazine in the checkout line at the grocery store.
Example Product: Rolling Stones Tickets
Cross Sell Products: The Beatles – White Album, The Who T-Shirt, Elvis Presley Poster
Now that we are clear on the product relations, let’s take a look at a few examples.
DC Shoes
Peace Love World
Movado
Office Max
Papyrus
As you can see product relations can take on many forms and be displayed in a number of ways. In the end, product relations are meant to enhance the online shopping experience and encourage users to add more items to their cart.
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Attractive online store fronts that allow for a speedy shopping experience for customers and an increase in sales for merchants are usually the crowd pleasers. However, sometimes designers struggle to create thoughtful and innovative layouts for Magento sites without crippling essential usability features. Finding the right balance between beauty and function while keeping the user engaged with eye-catching design is crucial to ecommerce success.
This post highlights 13 creative and inspirational Magento sites that push the boundaries of design on the Magento platform. Some of these sites might have elements that sacrifice usability for beauty. Observing these examples can inspire new design ideas and educate us on usability mistakes. A few reoccuring themes throughout these sites are excellent use of white space and minimalism, detailed product photography, and engaging typography.
Shure Axient
Grenson
Jamón Premium
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