website investigation
website design
structure and navigation
To retain customers a transactional website must have an extremely easy to follow site structure. This will almost always guarantee a positive customer experience. Ebuyer would appear to be very easy to use; the site is split up into different 'stores'. These stores are basically the different categories of products available. The way the site is divided should save the user time when browsing.
The layout of each page is the same throughout, and so is the navigation. The three main navigation features are the navigation bar, the browse column and the search facility.
the navigation bar
This feature runs along the top of every page within the site. It is made up of ten tabs each representing the different stores. When a tab is pressed the store is loaded. Each store has its own colour scheme. This highlights the distinction between the contents of the different stores and enables the user to instantly recognise their current position in the website.
This feature can also be customised, the tabs can be changed into drop-down menus.
the browse column
This is similar to the navigation bar because it lists all the stores. But it is more detailed because it also displays all the sub-categories within each category. The order of the stores is different too. I would imagine that the most used sections are listed at the top and the less used are found nearer the bottom.
the search engine
There are two kinds of search - Quick Find and the Advanced Search. The former is found at the top of every page and is a very good example of a well designed search facility. It allows the user to enter keywords or a Quick Find code. Each product found on the website has got its own unique QF code. For example, if someone has recommended the user a product, all they need to do is provide the product's QF code and the user will be able to bring up the product's details in seconds. This is a great innovation! The advanced search allows the user to be more specific in their search. By supplying more fields including product category, subcategory and keyword the user can customise the search to meet their particular needs.
other methods...
There are also several other methods that customers can use to navigate the site. They can use the site map, which is in my opinion very extensive in comparison to other leading websites.