Websites: looks matter, but better site performance and usability count for more

[mandy]

As the entire online retailing industry becomes more competitive, adding faster and more sophisticated tools has become a top priority not just for PC Universe, but for many other web retailers. The main focus of web design used to be on using different fonts, elements and images to create a unique look for the home page as well as for category and product pages. Now retailers are responding to consumers’ greater sophistication about online shopping by making features and functions planning an integral component of the design process. Put a different way: Looks matter, but more retailers realize that better site performance and usability count for even more.

In the early days of web retailing, features and functions planning was straightforward. At the same time designers were creating new page templates, webmasters and programmers were implementing better search, a faster shopping cart and some rich media. Today consumers still want fast site search and expedited checkout, but they also expect web retailers to provide them with advanced tools for comparison shopping such as customer reviews or product videos and more social networking features such as customer forums and wikis...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=24881