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With so many moving components on large retail sites, it can be easy to lose sight of usability best practices for small, specific interactions.  We took some time this week to comb through some large electronics, clothing, and warehouse retailer’s desktop sites to see which companies are giving the best experience, and which have room for improvement. In the following article, we’ll show usability mistakes retailers are still making on some of these sites in product detail and checkout pages, as well as other sites that show how it should be done.

To lace or not to lace, that is the question. Well, lucky for you, I have the answer.

First, I’d like to discuss how one would approach the usability of something such as athletic footwear. Then, I’ll share an actual personal experience of mine that validates the process, a success story of my own if you will.

As a society, we are more connected now than we’ve ever been. Consumers are constantly using their smartphones when they’re on-the-go to surf the internet, look for discounts, manage shopping and to-do lists, and ultimately make purchases. In fact, per recent data from Google’s Consumer Barometer, consumers nowadays are using their smartphones equally as often as computers to access the internet.

A few weeks ago, many of us woke to a media firestorm surrounding the question, ‘What color is that dress, gold and white or blue and black’? While many shrugged and said, ‘who really cares’, there were those of us who thought of it as a fun and interesting discussion to follow, especially those of us who find the topic of color perception to be fascinating. While in this instance it seems that the dress patterning and differences in lighting may have both played roles in the variant dress color, we should also consider color perception. The simple fact that much of how we experience color is subjective, that is to say, that color resides within the realm of human sensation.

As it turns out, two things are certain; first, color vision is a complex topic and second, it is one that most of us don’t really think much about. Yes, we might delight in an especially lovely color or proclaim to others that of which is our favorite color but we rarely, if ever, wonder or question how it is that we ‘see’ color.

While interviewing participants about online shopping habits, regardless of the product, the same issues appear:

• I don’t know if it’s true to size
• Will this fit?
• Is this item good quality?
• Will it be as pictured?
• What is it made of?

When you think of the month of November what comes to mind? Yellow and orange leaves falling from trees; an abundance of turkey and mashed potatoes; and, of course, the most popular shopping day of the year. The retail industry spends all year gearing up for this major day of shopping festivities, but it doesn’t stop at just Black Friday. Cyber Monday has become a trendy retail holiday, allowing shoppers a quick and easy shopping experience without having to wrestle the crowds of people to get your hands on that TV you have been waiting for all year.

As we’ve all discovered by now, Pinterest is the hottest new social sharing site boasting an enormous following as its popularity has increased exponentially in recent months. Exceeding 10 million unique visitors each month, Pinterest will likely take center stage as the future of e-commerce social media marketing efforts plays out.
After some observation and discussion with pinners of all ages, we credit its growth to a few specific things:

Key Lime Interactive conducted a study aimed at understanding mobile shopping behavior. The results reveal key features users require, at-home and in-store mobile shopping behavior, and more.

In today’s consumer landscape we see retailers expanding and spending time to enhance their mobile offering in an effort to increase conversion on their mCommerce sites and apps. Often times, as they aim to keep up with the rapid pace of mobile growth, retailers fail to align their business objectives with their target end-user’s mindset, behaviors and preferences. To mitigate this problem Key Lime Interactive (KLI), a leader in mobile consumer experience testing and design, conducts frequent surveys to understand usage, trends, expectations, needs and preferences of retail consumers so that they may offer their clients current and relevant actionable recommendations for innovative, consumer-driven interfaces.

Shopping, for me, has taken on a whole new form.
I've been browsing bridal registries at Pier 1 while waiting in the dentist office and purchasing new running shoes from Zappos while on the train. Lately, I've even taken the opportunity to update my home grocery delivery list on my mobile phone while cooking dinner! It’s been fantastic – more efficient shopping decisions supported by in-app reviews, free shipping offers and most importantly less time at the store…which translates to more time for other things.