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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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