website investigation
website design
first impression and purpose of site
The first impression any prospective customer has of a consumer website is, in my opinion, very significant. It can either entice or deter customers from using the company to purchase goods. Therefore any company (especially those which rely totally on their website for business) must design their homepage to visually impress users straight away and provide them with attractive offers.
Ebuyer's website does impress. Straight away the user's eyes are bombarded with the company's latest special offers which generates an urge within the user to click on the links to find out more about them. Below is an example of a special offer. It appears right at the centre of the homepage and takes up about 40% of its total space. The user is immediately drawn towards it.
Notice how the designers have enlarged the size of the text and changed the colour of the price to red. This is an attempt at making the offer stand out. They have even stated that the user won't be able to find the item cheaper anywhere else. How alluring!
Given that the purpose of the site is to advertise and sell, the layout of the homepage is not surprising. Yet, my first notion with regard to how successful the website is at achieving its goal is that the customer is instantly engaged and enticed simply by its aesthetic design. However, this inkling is subject to further examination of the website in its entirety.
On the next page I will describe and evaluate the structure of the site.