Ask HN: Why do all shopping websites look the same?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7067883

by rosenjon • 13 years ago

1 1 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have been looking at various shopping websites, and to me they all look the same. Nordstrom, Amazon, Half.com, Etsy, Ebay. Category bar at the top. Hero Image and search bar. Some content below the fold.

Is this because this is the ideal way to shop for things online, or everyone just copies each other and converge on the same layout?

I realize at this point this category is pretty mature, but it just strikes me that there don't seem to be many "alternative" layouts for shopping websites.

Any counterexamples (or perhaps push back on my argument) are welcome.

Codhisattva• 13 years ago

This is how retail people think the category bar corresponds to aisles and shelves. Customers stroll the aisles (i.e. browse) to find the product they want.

Categories match up with internal structure as well, as individual people or whole departments are responsible for the products in each category. Performance of each category is measured individually and budgets and bonuses are produced.

The dirty little secret is most of e-commerce site traffic is driven by search. A good search function out performs category browsing. REI.com has a great search, for example.

About 8 years ago A/B testing starting to make retail marketing departments very excited. No longer would the whims of designers drive site decisions! We can test and pick the most profitable! We can prove that the most familiar appeals to the most common denominator! We can kill innovation, end risk taking and protect profits.

And that's the moral of the story - retail has a terribly thin margin and when your closest competitor is one tab away no one is interested in creating something new.