Comments on: Browsing Usability: Overstock Blows Amazon Away http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/ #1 Subscribed Ecommerce Blog Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:57:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Linda Bustoshttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13793 Linda Bustos Thu, 15 May 2008 23:26:51 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13793 @Geoff, there's proof Google can be wrong ;) The fact that you have a "navigation team" is notable, keep up the good work. @Geoff, there’s proof Google can be wrong ;)

The fact that you have a “navigation team” is notable, keep up the good work.

]]> By: Geoff Atkinsonhttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13791 Geoff Atkinson Thu, 15 May 2008 18:35:26 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13791 Our navigation team is blushing from all this positive feedback. We have been working a long time to straighten out our navigation and it's nice to see people appreciate it! Just to clear up one point of discussion, our search and navigation vendor is Mercado and not Endeca. Our navigation team is blushing from all this positive feedback. We have been working a long time to straighten out our navigation and it’s nice to see people appreciate it! Just to clear up one point of discussion, our search and navigation vendor is Mercado and not Endeca.

]]> By: Audio Biblehttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13789 Audio Bible Thu, 15 May 2008 18:14:54 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13789 I saw this built in search feature for Overstock.com, awhile back. For some reason I did not like it that much. To me it got in the way of what i want to do. For a really large site that has 1000s of items I think it is a good way to get people looking and thinking about others items beside what they originally came looking for. For a site like mine with 100 items, it is a bit over kill I think. I saw this built in search feature for Overstock.com, awhile back. For some reason I did not like it that much. To me it got in the way of what i want to do. For a really large site that has 1000s of items I think it is a good way to get people looking and thinking about others items beside what they originally came looking for. For a site like mine with 100 items, it is a bit over kill I think.

]]> By: Linda Bustoshttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13787 Linda Bustos Thu, 15 May 2008 00:02:27 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13787 Thanks for all the iTunes help, I was wondering what the eye was for, and hadn't clicked it to find out :) Thanks for all the iTunes help, I was wondering what the eye was for, and hadn’t clicked it to find out :)

]]> By: Linda Bustoshttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13785 Linda Bustos Thu, 15 May 2008 00:01:43 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13785 @Adam Cohen, sorry I missed your comment there, we must have been writing comments at the same time. You're bang on, I did a search for "overstock endeca" and that is the technology they are using. Powerful stuff. @Adam Cohen, sorry I missed your comment there, we must have been writing comments at the same time.

You’re bang on, I did a search for “overstock endeca” and that is the technology they are using. Powerful stuff.

]]> By: Philip Wilkinsonhttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13783 Philip Wilkinson Wed, 14 May 2008 14:32:00 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13783 Nice the way the overstock filters update as you drill down. We're trying a vertical nav on the left hand side at webtogs.co.uk - the jury's out on which is better! @Linda Bustos - you need to change your view in iTunes using the icons at the top to be "list view" - 1st icon, then click the "eye" icon at the bottom of the interface on the right - weird, but true. Must be something to be said about a bad usability experience in order to launch a feature with better usability! Nice the way the overstock filters update as you drill down. We’re trying a vertical nav on the left hand side at webtogs.co.uk – the jury’s out on which is better!

@Linda Bustos – you need to change your view in iTunes using the icons at the top to be “list view” – 1st icon, then click the “eye” icon at the bottom of the interface on the right – weird, but true. Must be something to be said about a bad usability experience in order to launch a feature with better usability!

]]> By: Jon Schneiderhttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13781 Jon Schneider Wed, 14 May 2008 12:27:59 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13781 Linda, here's an iTunes screen capture I found that shows the iTunes search/filtering interface that I was referring to (thanks Google Image Search!): http://www.ejecutive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/itunes7_4_thumb.jpg Note the 3 sections of the iTunes window right pane where you can choose one or more Genres, Artists, or Albums (or leave the selection at the default of "all" for each category). The library tracks that match the selection, plus the search term entered at top right (if any) are displayed in the bottom portion of the window. If you have iTunes on your machine but don't see that search interface when viewing your library, you can open the interface by clicking on the "eye" button in the lower-right corner of the window. Linda, here’s an iTunes screen capture I found that shows the iTunes search/filtering interface that I was referring to (thanks Google Image Search!):

http://www.ejecutive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/itunes7_4_thumb.jpg

Note the 3 sections of the iTunes window right pane where you can choose one or more Genres, Artists, or Albums (or leave the selection at the default of “all” for each category). The library tracks that match the selection, plus the search term entered at top right (if any) are displayed in the bottom portion of the window.

If you have iTunes on your machine but don’t see that search interface when viewing your library, you can open the interface by clicking on the “eye” button in the lower-right corner of the window.

]]> By: Paul Roukehttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13779 Paul Rouke Wed, 14 May 2008 11:58:37 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13779 The improved experience that Overstock provide is a really good observation and of particular relevance with Amazon.co.uk recently undertaking a user interface and navigation redesign. In addition to Overstocks multi-faceted navigation facility, if you were able to choose more than 1 facet from a particular attribute, ie. diamond fashion and silver fashion, within the category attribute, this would provide you with even greater browsing flexibility. Its striking the balance between allowing you to drill down to 1 specific facet to viewing products which share multi facets for a particular attribute. This would also apply to the price attribute, where there might be products which fall within 2 or more price brackets that you would like to see out of the 5/6 brackets available. Taking this further, for the pricing, Amazon provide a text entry input so you can specify what is the max and min price you are looking to pay, which provides greater control for the user. As is the case with e-commerce solutions there are always further user experience and functionality improvements that can be considered, which keeps our industry as vibrant as it is! The improved experience that Overstock provide is a really good observation and of particular relevance with Amazon.co.uk recently undertaking a user interface and navigation redesign.

In addition to Overstocks multi-faceted navigation facility, if you were able to choose more than 1 facet from a particular attribute, ie. diamond fashion and silver fashion, within the category attribute, this would provide you with even greater browsing flexibility.

Its striking the balance between allowing you to drill down to 1 specific facet to viewing products which share multi facets for a particular attribute.

This would also apply to the price attribute, where there might be products which fall within 2 or more price brackets that you would like to see out of the 5/6 brackets available.

Taking this further, for the pricing, Amazon provide a text entry input so you can specify what is the max and min price you are looking to pay, which provides greater control for the user.

As is the case with e-commerce solutions there are always further user experience and functionality improvements that can be considered, which keeps our industry as vibrant as it is!

]]> By: Linda Bustoshttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13777 Linda Bustos Tue, 13 May 2008 22:35:16 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13777 @CommerceStyle - I hate to disagree, but I've found that Amazon is often the innovator of new features rather than the laggard, no? @Jon Schneider - I'm not familiar with the iTunes interface functionality you're referring to, perhaps my library is just small :) @CommerceStyle – I hate to disagree, but I’ve found that Amazon is often the innovator of new features rather than the laggard, no?

@Jon Schneider – I’m not familiar with the iTunes interface functionality you’re referring to, perhaps my library is just small :)

]]> By: Adam Cohenhttp://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-13775 Adam Cohen Tue, 13 May 2008 21:18:04 +0000 http://www.getelastic.com/category-browsing-usability/#comment-13775 Hi Linda, The navigation looks a lot like Endeca's guided navigation search - it's really a terrific product that allows a commerce site to leverage the product attributes to build this type of refining in navigation. Full disclosure, my company is a partner of Endeca's and we used this functionality on the new beta site for Borders (http://beta.bordersstores.com). It's really slick - I am wondering if Overstock.com is using the same function. Other clients of Endeca that have a similar navigation feature are Home Depot and Walmart. Thanks, Adam Hi Linda,
The navigation looks a lot like Endeca’s guided navigation search – it’s really a terrific product that allows a commerce site to leverage the product attributes to build this type of refining in navigation. Full disclosure, my company is a partner of Endeca’s and we used this functionality on the new beta site for Borders (http://beta.bordersstores.com). It’s really slick – I am wondering if Overstock.com is using the same function. Other clients of Endeca that have a similar navigation feature are Home Depot and Walmart.
Thanks,
Adam

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