Compare and contrast: Wayfair

It’s been said that US online retailer Wayfair has its sights set on being the “Amazon of homewares”. To achieve its ambition, the company has embarked on aggressive international expansion, and now has international offices in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Australia.

The business, which is on track to beat last year’s turnover of $500 million, has recently signed a deal with UK-based supermarket Tesco that will see it extend Wayfair’s reach into the UK by offering an expanded range of home goods through Tesco Direct. This, says Wayfair cofounder and chief executive Niraj Shah, offers the Boston, MA-based company “an unparalleled global channel to reach millions of new households in the UK”. Wayfair currently offers 20,000 products on Tesco Direct and plans to increase that number to 60,000 by end of the year.

In addition to its presence on the Tesco marketplace, Wayfair also operates the UK website Wayfair.co.uk, which the company says is seeing “rapid growth”. Although the websites of the UK and US operations look similar, there are some subtle—and not-so-subtle differences. Let’s start with the homepage.

The first thing I noticed on the UK homepage (above) is that it is static. The largest box in the centre displays a take on the company’s strapline “zillions of possibilities”, with an image of a woman looking at what appears to be a chandelier. The call to action is to shop now, which when clicked on turns into a search bar—a nice touch. Below the main image are nine smaller boxes labelled bedroom, dining, lighting, bathroom, garden, cookware, living room, children, office, which when clicked on take the user to a dedicated landing page.

Now contrast this with the Wayfair US homepage (above). Here the retailer uses a rotating main banner that shifts between four images: the Angelo home collection, “Welcome Home”, 45 percent off kitchen carts and islands, and things we love. Although I prefer this to the UK approach, in my opinion the banner moves far too quickly to really take in all the information.

Below the main banner is another dynamic image next to the “shop by category” section designed to show the breadth of the range. Moving further down the page is a gallery of recent press, with Wayfair showcasing its coverage in Coastal Living, Good Housekeeping and House Beautiful. Both sites have a similar space for company information such as about, my account and “info & policies”. Notably though, the US site features more social media than the UK website with a link to its Facebook page, Twitter stream, Pinterest page and Google+, as well as the Wayfair blog. The UK site only mentions Facebook and a measly 938 fans, compared with the US website’s 50,993 likes.

Both sites operate a dropdown menu from the main horizontal navigation on the home page, but I noticed the menu is divvied up slightly differently on each site. Mirroring the boxes below the main image, the UK site repeats most of the categories along the top nav bar, adding more and special offers at the end. The US site has the same number of categories along the top, but when a user hovers across the site, it’s evident that the product choice on the US website is much, much broader.

Let’s go shopping
To start my shopping journey I headed for the search bar, placed above the main nav bar on both pages. Both sites make use of predictive search, bringing up options as I type (towel rails in bathroom; towels in bathroom; paper towel holders in kitchen, and so on). Reassuringly, both sites have plenty of options to filter down the search even further on the left-hand side.

The product pages were also very similar. The free shipping offer was very prominent and customers can earn Wayfair rewards—the company’s loyalty points programme—on both sides of the Atlantic. At first I completely missed the social networking icons, but eventually located them at the top right of the product description. I would normally look for these in the same area as the price, or nearer the image, so the placement of the social links threw me. I wonder whether this affects others too, and whether Wayfair could boost social sharing, but trying out new positions for the icons.

After adding to basket, the US could take some tips from the UK website. Whereas the US site takes me to the basket, where I can either pay for my order, go back to the home page, or click “save for later”, which takes me to my wish list. None of the options allow me to go back to the towel section where I started my shopping journey. The UK site (below) handles the “add to basket” move a lot better.

Upon clicking to purchase an item, I am taken to a page that shows what I had just placed in my basket, and on the right-hand side I’m explained all the costs. Below the item is the cross-sell and upsell of “Also In This Collection” and “Customers Also Bought”. Best of all, if I click continue shopping, just under the price, I am taken to the exact page where I left off, so no hunting around to find what I was previously looking at.

Where the UK site falters is in the copy—especially for higher value items.  Here’s the copy for the “Julian Bowen Supra Sofa Bed in Black”, priced at £222.98:

Features:
• Supra range
• Black fabric
• Closed sitting position: 79cm H x 197cm W x 88cm D
• Open sleeping position: 38cm H x 197cm W x 99cm D
Followed by:
Supra Sofa Bed in Black,    79cm H x 197cm W x 88cm D,    Weight: Unavailable
Colour: Black
Product Category:  Sofas
Style: Modern
Type: Sofa Beds, Sofas
Upholstery:  All Fabric

Now compare it with the US approach, here for the “Ave Six Mainstreet Sofa”, which costs $302.99:
Make an eye-catching change to your home with this classic Mainstreet Sofa in Seaweed. The Mainstreet Collection from Avenue Six brings us a contemporary line inspired by a classic design. This sofa brings fashion and elegance including solid wood legs and plush foam filled cushions. With its durable fabric detailed design, and sturdy arms this sofa is up to par with the fanciest of rooms. Its combination of style and price make this piece a great option to complement the current décor of any home or office.

Features:
•    Available in Woven Seaweed and Cream fabric
•    Stylish solid wood legs made to match the most elegant of room setups
•    Covered in a high performance, easy care fabric
•    RTA design for convenience and easy shipping
•    Frame constructed of a sturdy kiln dried hardwood
•    Dacron wrapped foam cushions for ultimate comfort
•    Tools included for quick and easy assembly
•    Dimensions: 32" H x 49" W x 29" D
•    Avenue Six Limited Warranty (for details click here)

While it’s accepted that there is no one-size-fit-all answer to how much copy is the right amount, I think we can all agree that the way the US site describes the item is more likely to educate, reassure and convince potential customers to part with their cash.

Overall, while the UK site still has some catching up to do—certainly when it comes to product description and depth of range—Wayfair UK is on the right tracks to overtake its home-grown rivals with a site that ticks many boxes.--MT

Related articles:

• Compare and contrast: QVC
  
• Compare and contrast: Ted Baker
  
• Compare and contrast: Clarks
  
• Compare and contrast: Radley

Compare and contrast: QVC

Say QVC and I bet most people will immediately associate it with TV shopping. However, the company now makes a significant percentage of its turnover from its online operations around the world.  It’s estimated that in terms of sales, QVC is the eighth largest online retailer in the US.

Active in the UK since 1993, QVC UK now broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with 17 hours of live programming each day. To complement its website and TV shopping offering, QVC launched a mobile app for the iPhone and more recently for Android devices. In 2011, QVC UK achieved revenues of £390.9 million, while US sales hit $5.4 billion for the year (approximately £3.3 billion), with online accounting for 40 percent of QVC's US turnover.

 

QVC US homepage

The first thing that hit me when I landed on the US website (above) was how much bigger the site is. I don’t mean figuratively, in that it has more product on display, the site is visually bigger. Viewed on a large monitor (1680x1050) the main image takes a huge chunk of the screen’s real estate. In addition, the homepage features a sidebar on the right-hand side displaying items recently promoted on air.

QVC UK homepage

In contrast, the UK site (above) is centralised and the main banner appears to be no more than 760 pixels wide, compared to the US where the banner scales up to a width of approximately 920 pixels. Another reason the US site appears bigger is that each item in the top navigation is allowed more space. There are nine categories along the top, compared with 10 in the UK. They are: Fashion, Shoes & Handbags, Jewelry, Beauty, Kitchen & Food, For the Home, Electronics, Clearance, More. The UK site adds a tab for the homepage (Home) alongside Brands, Beauty, Fashion, Shoes & Handbags, Jewellery, Home & Leisure, Electricals, Garden & DIY, Clearance.

The US site doesn’t have a section specifically for brands, instead it includes a “shop by brand” option within a flyout menu from the main navigation. When you compare the two approaches, the US method seems the most user-friendly. A user can hover over the product category, such as Electronics, then select to narrow the choices to Dell or Canon, for example. No flyout menu on the UK site, users have to click on the Brands tab to be taken to an A to Z of some 400 brands. A click on a particular brand name takes users to a page featuring all the products sold by QVC of that brand regardless of product category.  Switching to a flyout menu on the homepage of the UK site would render the Brands tab redundant; but before QVC does that it has to make its navigation more intuitive.

I like my web experiences like I like my coffee—robust but smooth

Using the brands tab I found that QVC UK sells Illy coffee and coffee makers. But try to find them without using the search bar or the brands tab and the task is far more complicated than it should be. My first choice was clicking on the Electricals tab on the homepage. The Electicals landing page gave nothing away, so I clicked on Household Electricals, hoping to find coffee makers in the list. This switched me away from Electricals to the Home & Leisure section, but an image on the right titled Kitchen Appliances looked promising so I clicked. I was presented with one page of results, which featured a Cuisinart coffee maker, but no mention of the Illy machine I had spotted just moments ago. I clicked to go back to the category landing page to take a closer look and see whether coffee makers had their own subheading—nope.

Home and Leisure category

Returning to the main Home & Leisure category page, my next two logical options were narrowing down my search to Kitchen or to Food. I chose Kitchen from where I could filter to Juicers & Drink Makers (no coffee makers here) or Kitchen Electricals (now experiencing a touch a of déjà vu). Bingo! The Illy Coffee maker. Happily, the product page has an effective cross-sell mechanism built in as it recommended I buy the coffee refills at the same time. I’d hazard a guess that QVC could really beef up sales of its coffee makers by having the department easier to find. Surely by calling the department Kitchen Electricals, it would have made sense to include it within the Electricals section as well?

Illy Product Page

To compare the experience, I shopped for a coffee maker on the US site. No Illy brand, so I selected Delonghi. I hovered over Kitchen & Food first and selected the fifth option, Kitchen Electricals. From here, the comprehensive left-hand navigation let me filter my choice to Coffee & Tea Makers. Now in my chosen subcategory, I could either browse all, filter down to Espresso Makers or simply click on the brand name from the left-hand navigation bar. Even more impressive is that the US website lets me compare the different items in the selection against one another, though sadly when side by side, I can’t see each item’s specs. What it does do is create a reference point to come back to rather than being presented all the options again.

Price comparison on the US website

 Considering the two websites represent the same brand, they are miles apart in terms of usability and in terms of visual appeal. The US site instantly strikes me as a far more modern website. Take the presentation of Today’s Special Value item, for example. The UK site promotes the Oreck XL Lightweight Vacuum Cleaner (below left), while the US (below right) goes for the Voice Guided Pressure Cooker w/Recipe Book. Although both pages contain similar information, including cross-sells and videos, the US site is far more compelling: it’s more colourful, the calls to action are stronger and although only slightly larger, the price and saving have more impact on the American site. Perhaps it’s the inclusion of the Speed Buy button?

For another example, see how the US site presents the Clarks brand. To see all Clarks shoes on the UK site, users need to either search for the brand name, user the Brands tab or click on the Shoes & Handbags category. From here, a small box image links to the Clarks subcategory. When users reach the Clarks section there is no banner image greeting them, we’re straight into a list of shoes and the only option to filter results is by price bracket.

Shop for Clarks shoes in the UK

Contrast that with the US. From the flyout, users can select Clarks and be taken to a Clarks landing page, complete with a clickable main image and various filters from price through to style and colour. Perhaps most importantly, as it is QVC after all, the US site lets users view videos of each item. The UK doesn’t.

Shop for Clarks shoes US

All told, the US website is far more advanced than its UK counterpart, which leads to a disparate brand experience. A quick look at the homepages of the QVC Germany and QVC Italy websites (below) indicates that they have much more in common with the US parent. With its international sisters well ahead of it aesthetically, the UK site is clearly overdue its makeover. --MT

Compare and contrast: Ted Baker

We’ve said it before; Americans have a love affair with British brands. And Ted Baker knows it too. During the last financial year, the fashion brand opened eight concessions in Bloomingdale’s, where performance to date has been positive, it says. Towards the end of 2011, Ted Baker opened a further store in San Diego and an outlet store in Wrentham, near Boston, and chief executive Ray Kelvin says he’s pleased with their performances at this early stage.

Going forward, 11 more concessions are planned, as well as a store in New York, which opens in July. Overall, US retail sales for the brand were up 69.4 percent to $34.9 million last year, equivalent to £21.8 million. As well as stores, Ted Baker also operates a US website. Here’s how it goes about translating its Britishness to a US market online.

The homepages

Ted Baker’s UK website (above) can be found at www.tedbaker.com. Its US counterpart is at www.tedbaker-london.com, but users can also navigate to it by clicking the “select region” option from the main site. The differences between the homepages are immediately obvious. For starters, the UK site has a static main image, while the US homepage shifts from women’s new arrivals to men’s new arrivals. On the UK site, visitors can click on the main image to shop from the men’s or womenswear collections. Or use the top menu bar to shop men’s, women’s, gifts, holiday shop or SelecTed—items which have a common theme or collection. The main call to action is for a two-day sale, giving customers 20 percent off their Ted Baker purchase. 

 

The US website (above) has a brighter homepage, using oranges and light blues, rather than the taupe employed by the UK site—depending on your personal taste, it either clashes or complements the male model’s shock of red hair. The options on the main menu are different too. The choices on the US site include men’s, women’s, accessories & shoes and our collections—presumably collections is more obvious than “SelecTed”. The menus are also much shorter. The UK top-level menu opens up into five columns, with the column on the far right displaying a “feature item”. In contrast, the menu on the US site has only one column per category and no images. The search bar and shopping cart appear in the same places on the two websites, as does the special offer banner, which on the US website promotes “Free US ground delivery on all orders over $200”.

The category and product pages

Clicking through the homepage options to new arrivals in womenswear I am presented with two very different category pages. The UK site (above) has no left-navigation bar, instead allowing users to filter options using a collapsible horizontal menu. Users are allowed to select the size of the images and by doing so, adjust the product density on the page—larger images mean fewer products. Confusingly in my opinion, the UK site has a large image inviting customers to shop the maxi dress range. Call me old-fashioned, but I much prefer the US category page (below), which has a conventional left-nav to help filter down options.

To make a fair comparison between the product pages, I selected the “TUNDA - Flared skirt coat”, which is available on both sites (UK price £229, US price $420). In contrast to previous experience, the US site actually has more detail that its UK sister. Once again, the UK site had me confused (below). Instead of conventional dress sizes, Ted Baker lists the sizes from 0 to 4. There is a size conversion chart, but you would have expected the British site to list UK sizes as the master option. 

The US site also uses Ted Baker’s 0 to 5 system but below it includes the corresponding US size, making it easy for American customers to select the right size. The US site also features a selection of items that may go with the coat, making use of a cross-sell tactic. Strangely, the UK site doesn’t. Although the UK site is more streamlined, I find that hiding everything under a collapsible menu works to its detriment. 

 

Moving to the basket page, Ted Baker UK decides this is the place to cross-sell. While there are different schools of thought on the topic, I would have preferred to see cross-selling on the product page instead. Happily though, Ted Baker’s platform allows me to add items from its suggested list to my basket without leaving the page, so all is not lost. At the checkout I am also reminded of the 20 percent discount and prompted to enter it.

For the most part the US trumps the UK site in terms of user experience, however, where the UK site excels is in the collections element (above). I can select “cool nautical” and shop the look, or click through to “life’s a beach” and be presented with the beachwear collection. This mirrors the layout of a bricks-and-mortar store, where you’d expect similar products to be grouped together to form a display. Trying to shop from the “our collections” tab on the US homepage is a cumbersome experience (below), where some ranges having a link to the products and others just text about the range. 

Whereas the American site understands my need for clear sizing information, logical lists and an all-in-one product page, it lacked the inspiration of the British website’s collections section. Saying that, I was encouraged to note that both use instigated chat to communicate with customers that may be floundering, showing that it despite the differences between the two sites, Ted Baker does share some best practice across the Atlantic.--MT

Compare and contrast--Clarks

In the US, Clarks shoes are available to buy through Clarks’ stores, concessions and online. It must be doing something right as according to published reports, pretax profits at the Somerset-based shoe retailer grew by 28 percent to £109 million ($178 million) in 2010, with revenues up 9.2 percent to £1.28 billion ($2.10 billion). The growth is said to be driven by Clarks’ overseas business, particularly North America, where sales increased 19 percent, compared with just 1 percent in the UK and Ireland. So what makes it so successful stateside?

The home pages
A trend I’ve noticed writing compare and contrast blog posts is that the home pages of the US websites we’ve looked at tend to be less crowded than UK home pages—the rule applies here too. The UK Clarks home page (below) has one large central image featuring eight pairs of shoes. To the right of the image are more graphics—promoting £15 off selected lines, highlighting Clarks’ boutique range, announcing a saving of £25 on selected men’s ranges, and two smaller boxes calling out kids’ canvas-style shoes.

Below the main image are three graphics that click through to men’s, women’s and children’s styles. Below those is one more banner announcing Clarks as an official partner of Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life event. And there’s even more—at the very bottom of the page are text links to the various departments and help pages. Contrast this with the US home page (below). It features a large central image of two people standing on a boat, the UK site features only shoes and feet on the home page. Below the main image is a banner for flip-flops, and below that are text links—but far fewer than on the UK site.

Do British consumers prefer a busier home page? I’d imagine plenty of A/B testing takes place to get this crucial space right, so I can only assume that we do. A sparser page may look tidier, but the British home page provides more to click on, aiding navigation and encouraging users to take particular paths through the site.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at Clarks’ French and German websites too. The German home page was very similar to the UK home, with an almost identical layout and imagery. The French site also bore more of a similarity to the British home page, than the US one, though the main image differed slightly in layout. In total Clarks has 28 websites, including local-language sites for China, Greece and Russia, each slightly different from the other.

But coming back to the USA and UK websites, both feature some sort of delivery offer on the home page. The UK website promotes free delivery and free returns, while the US site promises “flat fee shipping & free returns”. Each provides a link to a delivery details page. Here the UK site trumps its US sister; the copy is broken up into coloured boxes with each option clearly spelled out, from free delivery to Saturday delivery to a collect-in-store service. The US site looks more formal, in plain black text with a delivery options table. It is very thorough though and states plainly what Clarks can and can’t do when it comes to delivery.
A final point about the home page, visitors to the US Clarks site can also shop the “Bostonian”, a brand of men’s shoes, via a tab on the home page. No such tab exists on the UK site. In fact, type Bostonian into the site search on the British site and you’ll reach a “no results” page.

Let’s go shopping
Moving further into the site, there are several ways a potential customer can find product. Visitors can use the site search function, click on the main image, select a department from the top navigation bar, use a drop-down menu from the main nav bar, or, in the case of the British site, choose one of the boxes on the right.

Choosing from the drop-down menu, there were many more options on the UK site. The women’s menu, for example, has 32 links. Visitors can choose from 16 product types—such as sandals, clogs, handbags—and from 16 “features”—including teens, sports, nautical styles. In contrast, the US women’s menu has only eight links.

I clicked on Sandals and was taken to two very different pages. On the UK site, I was shown 25 styles by default, but I could choose to have up to 100 products displayed and sort them by price ascending, price descending, and alphabetically, but not by brand. The left-hand nav bar allowed me to refine my search further, by size, colour and price, for example. The US site uses a horizontal bar for refinement options as well as a left-hand nav bar to shop by collection or brand, or select a different type of shoe.

I had a good look around the site, but didn’t find two styles the same in order to compare the product pages, so I chose to compare two items of the same brand. Both websites carry the charity-supporting Soul of Africa collection. And both sites allow the visitor to “quick view” an item selected without navigating away from the page. A handy touch if the shopper wants to compare different styles without clicking back and forward too often.  Moving to the actual product page, the US site has a much bigger image of the product, with a very good zoom function. The zoom on the UK site takes longer to load, but seems to get closer to the product. Both sites also have cross-selling features and social-media bookmarking links, but unlike many of its shoe-selling competitors, there are no user reviews on the US site.

I added the item to my basket and headed for the checkout. Here, again, the British site introduced more colour to guide the user through the process. There was also a big banner informing me that Clarks now accepts Paypal, allaying any security fears I may have about entering my credit-card details. The US website was more function, less colour, but allowed me to checkout as a guest. The UK site required me to enter my email address at checkout so that it could confirm my order. Both sites get top marks for including a clear breadcrumb trail of how far I’d come along the checkout process and how many more steps remained.

All in all, the Clarks websites are very robust and user-friendly. There are obvious differences between the UK and US sites, but that does not necessarily make one better than the other. I do question Clarks’ decision not to include product reviews on the American site, though.  The Clarks USA website is a million miles away from American sites Zappos or eBags, with their busy home pages and feature-packed product pages. But perhaps that’s the whole point and the secret of its appeal.--MT

Compare and contrast: Best Buy

Best Buy UK’s troubles have been well documented in the last few weeks, with a slew of management departures hitting the business. The UK store opening programme has also apparently reached a standstill and losses for the British side of the business are expected to reach £55 million this year, compared with a previously anticipated loss of no more than £45 million. So why hasn’t Best Buy’s low-cost-great-service USP translated well from the US to our shores? Perhaps a closer look at the retailer’s UK and US websites could shed some light.


First impressions
On entering the US site, www.bestbuy.com (above), I was immediately asked whether I was a Spanish speaker or whether I wanted to continue using the site in English. The message was bold and clear, instead of being hidden on the home page where a non-English speaker may struggle to find it. This gets a tick from me in terms of usability. On the UK site, www.bestbuy.co.uk (below), I was greeted with a survey request: “Please could you spare a few minutes to give us your views on the Best Buy website? If so, please click on the 'Yes please' button below and the survey will open up in a new window for you to complete at the end of your visit.” In the interests of research, I clicked to take part—more on this later.

The home page
The first thing I noticed on the UK site is the horizontal category selector featuring 12 different sections. In contrast, the US site has only four. The categories on the US site have drop-down menus for subcategories, then a product list. For example: Products > TV & Video > Home Theater Systems. To find the same products on the UK site, the journey takes the user from the home-page tab TV& Home Cinema > Home Cinema Systems & Separates. In theory, fewer steps to find product would make the UK site more user friendly. But there’s an argument for both approaches: The US site narrows down the choices at the home page—the user only has four options and is less likely to get “lost” at this stage. The UK page, on the other hand, has lots of choice on the home page, but eliminates one step of the drop-down menu system—a sometimes tricky element, especially when using a laptop.

Category pages
Landing in the home theatre section on both the UK and US Best Buy websites, I was once again shown very different screens. The UK site has a lot more going on: one main image at the centre of the page and below it, 11 more product photos. Compare this with the US website (below): one main image that further breaks the category down into All-in-One Home Theater Systems, Speaker Systems, and Sound Bars. So if Best Buy in the States doesn’t devote most of the page to product, what does it use the space for?

Immediately below the main image are two boxes that take the user to an audio shopping assistant. Clicking through to the box on the right helps customers get the most from their digital music device, such as an iPod. The box on the left clicks through to a page featuring a photo of a home setting that guides the user through the different applications of home theatre systems. For example, help on picking the best system for outdoor use, or creating “multiroom audio”, which Best Buy helpfully tells me means playing music from your computer or system into other rooms of the house. This tactic works to impart Best Buy’s vast knowledge and encourage customer loyalty. By providing so much information and advice, Best Buy becomes the go-to place to find out about what’s new in the audiovisual marketplace. And there’s more—further down on the page is a link to a customer forum and a link to the Best Buy Community.


The UK website (above) also links to a forum from the left-hand side of the page, but the emphasis is less on advice and more on the sale. Instead of the audio shopping assistant, UK customers are presented with calls to action to buy a “web exclusive” or that “our online only range offers great value—click here”. Apart from the forum, the only other buyer’s guide comes in the form of an interactive video guide to buying the right TV. Again though, the onus is on “buying” rather than “evaluating”. On the plus side, I liked that the video presenter had a British accent. It demonstrates that this content is specifically for a British audience rather than a rehashed American production. The production values are great and the video does well to guide the user through the different choices he has when it comes to selecting a new television. This is a commercial operation after all, so I can’t really fault Best Buy for driving the customer towards a sale.


The product page and basket
I selected a system and added it to my basket—much easier to do on the UK site. I picked something straight from the category landing page. The US site required me to go to another page where I could compare systems. I picked a similar product and noticed the price—everything really is so much cheaper in America. In the UK, Best Buy’s prices are probably comparable with the current offerings of Comet and Currys. Both sites feature a very detailed product page, though the US site features more white space. In the UK, the product is the hero, with 366 words devoted to describing it. The product page on the UK site (below) is far more comprehensive with tabs for the customer forum, a “learning resources” tab, accessories and specs.


Now, here’s an anomaly: the US product page (below) has no product specs. I am all for customer reviews describing the user experience, but I would also think that how many HDMi ports, or USB ports the system has is important information. Can Best Buy really rely on its users to pass on enough product information? It seems a bit cavalier to me.


When I clicked to add the two items to their respective baskets, the pages were quite similar. On the UK site, customers can see the order total including delivery, and a reminder to purchase related accessories. The US site goes one better by estimating a shipping time, and displaying payment options at this stage and I could complete the transaction as a guest—no login required. It is here that the US site asked for my opinion, by displaying a popup for an exit survey.

The survey said…
I navigated away from the two websites to answer the customer survey on the UK site. It started off well, with copy informing me that the survey was short and would only take a few moments. It asked how likely I was to recommend Best Buy to friends, what I would like improved and which of the following had an influence on my decision to visit the Best Buy website today. A further three screens followed asking for various bits of information, but when it asked me “Based on your experience with the Best Buy website, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements about the website? Please use a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means strongly disagree and 5 means strongly agree. If a statement is not applicable to you, or you don't know how you would rate it, please leave it blank,” I gave up. I felt there were too many choices, who has the time or inclination to fill all this in? And it wasn’t over yet, six more screens followed, but I left the answers blank.

Overall, each website has its good and bad points. I like the product information on the British site, but I like the hand-holding the American site offers. The site clearly works well for the US audience, but somewhere it is not connecting with a UK customer base. In the US, the business has a strong USP, whereas it’s a relative newcomer here. So while it learns more about our customs, maybe a more concise survey would get a better response.--MT

Compare and contrast--Simply Be

In June, we reported that UK-based plus-size apparel catalogue Simply Be was crossing the Atlantic to launch a US catalogue and website. The American website has now landed and an autumn (or rather Fall) catalogue is in the mail. So apart from the wording of the seasons, what else is different?

Although the home pages of the UK and US sites are fairly similar, there are subtle differences. First, Simply Be’s international sites (for the US, Germany, and an English-language euro site) are all built on the Venda platform, whereas the main site displays no developer/vendor logo. The UK site (below) also has no favicon. The international sites do.

Whereas the US site (below) has just one horizontal navigation bar along the top of the page, the UK home page has two. UK shoppers can click through to the categories of Fashion, Accessories, Sport & Swimwear, Lingerie, Footwear, Home & Garden, Electricals, and Gifts. Below that are links to New In, Designers & Brands, Style File, Editors [sic] Notes, and Sale. The US site only gives the options of Apparel, Lingerie & Sleepwear, Shoes, Accessories, and Active & Swimwear. The UK left-nav bar also has more messages than its American counterpart—it calls for votes in the Company Fashion Awards.

Another difference is that the UK site has two main images on the home page, whilst the US has only one. The established UK site is promoting its ranges for autumn, emphasising new trends. The US site, which has only just gone live, is going for a more generic approach and is mainly promoting the company’s newness: “From Britain with love…Fresh, fabulous and right here in the USA!” Is this an indication that Simply Be is taking a leaf out of Boden’s book and using its Britishness as part of its appeal?

Links to Simply Be’s social-networking presence—a Twitter feed, a Facebook page, a blog, and a YouTube channel as well as links to Simply Be’s international sites—are present on both sites. Noteworthy, however, is that the blog link takes both American and British shoppers to the same page; other etailers, like The Book Depository, have different content for different regions. Simply Be’s recent blog post are all aimed at a UK audience—promoting the Company Awards, shining a spotlight on the latest UK TV ad, and writing about the Simply Be model competition, which as far as I can tell, is only open to UK entrants. I also tried clicking through to the blog from Simply Be’s German site, which launched in 2009. Once again, it was the same, UK-focused blog and I couldn’t see any references to its German shoppers or its activity in Germany. From this I gather that Simply Be will probably not embark on writing a US-focused blog.

Navigating around the site
Both the UK and US sites have their search bar in roughly the same position on the site. As I didn’t have anything specific in mind, I headed for the Fashion category on the British website (above) and the Apparel category on the American site (below). I was greeted with very different pages: The UK site took me to a dynamic page where, when I hovered the mouse cursor over a category, a corresponding image was displayed on the left. The bottom of the page also has a sliding carousel showcasing other “new-in” items. The US site also has a slideshow of items, but it’s not as dynamic as the British equivalent. Also, the Apparel landing page has much smaller images than the UK site. And did you notice the name of the page? “European designs womens apparel”— putting emphasis on its links to Europe and high-fashion.

I selected the Jersey Drape dress—an item available on both sites—in order to make a comparison. To change from sterling to dollars, Simply Be doubles the price—a £27 dress becomes $54. The copy is almost the same, but the US site states the item is imported and does not give the garment’s length in the product description, though it is included in the item’s title. When it comes to zooming in on the item, both sites offer a zoom function, though I would have liked to see a larger picture, as the image at 100 percent was not big enough to see close-up detailing.

Although both sites require a log-in to get into the checkout, neither sets out which payment methods are accepted before an account is created. In the interests of transparency, Simply Be should perhaps consider displaying payments methods (such as credit card, debit card, PayPal, customer account) somewhere on the home page.

The fully fledged US Simply Be website has only been live for a fortnight or so and I’d be interested to see whether it evolves at the same pace as its older sister, or whether, given the opportunities a US market opens up to Simply Be, it will soon overtake the British site in terms of traffic and functionality.--MT

Compare and contrast: Lands’ End

This week sees Lands’ End launch its kidswear range in the UK, so as you would expect, the UK home page (http://www.landsend.co.uk/) calls out the new line. In the US, however, Lands’ End (http://www.landsend.com/) has been selling childrenswear for some time (about 20 years!), so it doesn’t need a big announcement. Yet, it is the US site that features childrenswear most prominently on the home page with its 25 percent off back-to-school.
The UK site (above) devotes most of the home page’s prime real estate to the new autumn collection: “Introducing new styles you’ll love to layer”. It has a strong call to action: “Autumn’s so easy to put together! Shop now”. Further, below the main images is a rotating special-offer banner promoting free delivery on orders of £75 or more, and a reminder to shop the summer sale.

Below the banner are four boxes: Information about Lands’ End famous guarantee, an invitation to sign up to emails, catalogue request, and a link to find out more about Lands’ End gardening project, opened in July at Barnsdale Gardens by Tim Curtis, the managing director of Lands' End UK. The link to the gardens takes users to the Lands’ End blog, where they can view ten photos from launch day. A nice touch about the links on the home page is that they are all dynamic; when a user hover his mouse cursor over the box, the copy “moves up” to show more. Lastly, the home page features links to the about us, special services and customer services pages, as well as to clothing departments and to Lands’ End presence on social-media sites.

In contrast, the US site’s home page (above), has a lot less going on. The site is wider (a scroll bar appeared on my screen to move it from left to right—this was not present on the UK site). It has one main image instead of the UK site’s two. And it has one main message—“25% off back-to-school. Everything you need to get back to class in style”. Below the main image is a static banner promoting overstocks of up to 65% off. Personally, I like the UK’s summer sale banner better. Calling it “overstocks” has connotations that Lands’ End overordered and is left with lots of unwanted items. Summer sale sounds more “fun”—the last opportunity to enjoy summer before the knitwear and scarves come out to play, or a chance to grab a bargain before heading off for more sun in warmer climes.

The US site lacks the dynamic links of its UK counterpart, instead it has a blue box with information on customer services. Where it trumps the UK site is that it has Chat Online and Call Me functions. Overall however, the UK site is more social—the US website only links to Facebook from the home page and curiously, the link to its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/LandsEndChat) can only be found on the Newsroom page. A missed opportunity to connect with customers?

Looking at the categories, Lands’ End US has more on offer—it breaks down its departments into men, women, girls, boys, swim, outerwear, shoes, school uniforms, for the home, luggage, overstocks, and Lands’ End Canvas—a seemingly younger-skewing Lands’ End subbrand. The UK site keeps its simple: women, men, swimwear, jackets and coats, footwear, girls, boys, and sale. (I found it a little odd that the US calls it “outerwear” but “shoes”, and the UK “jackets and coats” but “footwear”.)

Moving inside

Because the terms for the departments were so different (“pants and shorts” together in the States, but “trousers and jeans” in the UK) I typed cardigan into the search bar, which was reassuringly located in the same place on both sites. I was greeted with an almost identical results page and picked the Women's Blissful Draped Cardigan. In the US it was priced from $29.50; UK price £25… but let’s not dwell on that. Both sites offer a choice of ten colours, but again, the US site goes one better and displays a rating next to the product description. On the product page itself, the British site still features no ratings or reviews and there are subtle differences in copy. Guess which is for an American audience and which is for the Brits? (Answer below)

1.) A lightweight complement to just about everything.
Soft, feathery-light jersey knit
Blend of cotton and polyester keeps its shape, shrugs off wrinkles
Graceful draped collar
Easy-moving raglan sleeves
Falls to low hip
Fit 1: Modern. Fitted through the body; never too tight, definitely not boxy. Plus sizes are Fit 2: Original. Not too slim or too loose

2.) A lightweight cardigan to complement just about everything.
Soft cotton/polyester blend knit – keeps its shape, shrugs off wrinkles
Graceful draped collar
Easy-moving raglan sleeves
Falls to low hip
Fit 1: Modern – slimmer through the body; not too tight. Plus sizes are Fit 2: Natural – not too slim, not too loose
Ultimately the product pages show brand consistency, but why the UK site, which has done so well up to now engaging its customers through a blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook, should omit product reviews is a bit of a mystery.

Mix and match
Lands’ End is one of those cataloguers that gets it right—not least because its brand is world famous for its exemplary customer services. I also know that Lands’ End tests everything, so I assume that accounts for the subtle language differences. Clearly though there are some things the UK site does better than the US. The creative and dynamic imaging on the home page are more engaging for a start, and the social media links show a desire to keep in touch with customers. However, Lands’ End US actively invites live chat and customer reviews, so each could learn a little from its counterpart across the Atlantic.

And the product copy? The first example is from the American website (below). Though I would have expected more info from the UK site considering there are no user reviews to really describe how the product looks and feels.--MT

Compare and contrast: Lush

Chocolate Easter eggs always seemed a British thing to me. The same way the Americans call Christmas “the holidays” to accommodate all faiths, I always thought Easter was handled similarly. I mean, they don’t have a bank holiday to enjoy. However, according to an American friend of mine, Easter eggs, especially chocolate ones, are big business across the pond. It is this conversation that first piqued my interest in this week’s compare and contrast subject.

Lush, a retailer of handmade cosmetics with a “green” ethos, is active in approximately 43 countries. Let’s take a look at Lush’s American site (www.lushusa.com) and its UK website (www.lush.co.uk) to see how each handles Easter-related promotions, and what other differences there are between the two websites.

The first obvious distinction is that the two sites have very different layouts. The UK home page (below) is a simple black on white with the main space dedicated to Easter products such as egg- and chick-shaped bath bombs. The very bottom of the page is given to displaying links to the rest of the site.


The US site (below) has many more elements to it and is instantly more dynamic and engaging. First, it seems slightly larger, in that it takes a few more clicks of the mouse’s scroll wheel to see all the content compared with the UK home page. Second, the main part of the site is designed to appear as though it is on parchment or paper—with paperclips to boot. Whilst it uses a drop-down menu system for its product categories, like the UK site does, the American site uses smoother AJAX and animated icons that make the menus look slicker.


On the left-hand side of the US site are links to social-networking website Facebook as well as product links. The main part of the page is dedicated to a rotating graphic that flits between Easter offers and a caption competition. The US site looks “fun”—the cute chicks, eggs, and rainbows give it a cheery and uplifting air. If it weren’t for the colourful products on its home page, the overbearing black of the main banner on the UK site would make it look formal and corporate—an image I’m sure Lush does not want to portray.

Also missing from the UK site is a Favicon, an icon that sits in the address bar, on the page tab, or on a favourites bookmark, that can be customised as the brand’s logo or in its colours. The US site has one. Why this was left off the UK site is a mystery (see image, right). Another design element missing from the British site that’s present on the American home page is that the links to other pages of the site are image-based rather than text-based—users can navigate to the forum, a store locator, and to the Lushopedia (a cornucopia of product information) by clicking on the corresponding graphic. The UK site either features the links at the very top of the page (without images) or buries them at the bottom of the page (also without illustrations).

According to Amy Africa, the worst position for a search box is the top right of the site. Both Lush sites are mindful of that, but each chooses a different spot. The UK site goes for the middle of the top banner, whilst the US site places it where Africa recommends—the top left. However, the US site fails to act on another of Africa’s tips—where is the buy button? Whereas you can buy directly from the UK home page, visitors to the US site must first click on an item either in the rotating graphic or on the sidebar and then add the product to the basket

Speaking of product, moving inside the site I click on the “bath bombs” link in the US website and the equivalent “bath ballistics” link on the British site. Name-differences aside, I much prefer the US website’s grid layout. The UK site presents me with a page of “ballistics”, as I hover the cursor over a certain colour I highlight a particular type of ballistic. I then have to click through to see just that item. Hold on… where are the Easter-themed ballistics? Why aren’t they on this page? What else is missing from the main graphic and where can I find the item I want? Oh, wait a second, there's an option to “Change to grid view”. Much better, but it took a friend to point this out to me before I found it.

Whilst both sites devote a prime section of web real-estate to Easter, the US website comes off more modern, with a breezier design and more engaging copy. It seems odd to me, seeing as Lush was founded in the UK, that its American counterpart would get the better creative treatment—the UK site misses out on basics like a Favicon and dynamic imaging on its home page. The US site offers customers so much more—video content, the opportunity to join a campaign against seal hunting, and a note about the company’s eco-friendly packaging. For a business that prides itself on its hip attitude, Lush’s UK website comes off rather bland.--MT