The e-tailer launched the design last week, following six months of research and development to make navigation clearer and improve the customer experience.
However, Play.com chief operating officer Stuart Rowe told Retail Week that this is just the first phase of a modernisation programme. “Over the next 12 months, we will see three or four key changes to the site for where we want to be by 2010,” he said.
The changes so far have been made to simplify the customer experience after the number of product lines has grown. Rowe said: “We are definitely looking for extra sales. We have got 6 million items on the web site, so it is very important that customers can get to them quickly. That is why we have increased the importance of search.”
The search bar has been repositioned to a more prominent position at the centre of the top of the page. The search function has also been expanded to cross-promote categories. For example, search results for DVDs will also include related products from other categories, such as clothing or books.
At the same time, the shopping basket has been moved from the left of the screen to the top right and reminds customers of what items they have searched for, as well as the products that they have bought.
The new design has created extra flexibility to tailor product category pages. Rowe said: “I think it will benefit all categories. We will be able to make changes to each category to suit what they are about.”
The e-tailer’s PlayTrade market is also now prominent on every category page. Rowe added that the performance of both PlayTrade and its Play-Digital download site – which was launched in February – have been “way above expectations”.
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