If you want to be successful in e-commerce don't copy the web design of Amazon! Sounds like a paradox doesn't it? Well, according to web usability expert Jakob Nielsen the design of Amazon only works because its implemented by the worlds largest e-commerce site. 
»The company is simply so different from other e-commerce sites that what's good for Amazon is not good for normal sites,« writes Nielsen and continues:
»Amazon has recently changed so much that the average e-commerce site will reduce its usability by emulating its design too closely.«
The usability pro points to several aspects of the Amazon design you should not attempt to do at home. Among other things he argues that Amazons cluttered pages are problematc - a single book page he analyzed contained no less than 259 links and buttons. He also sees Amazon's Internet-wide search feature as a problem: If people want to search the web, they'll go to their favorite search engine, not your site, he argues.
But not everything Amazon does is bad. Nielsen praises Amazon's login screen and their confirmation e-mail as well as their comprehensive product selection.
»Amazon lays claim to "earth's biggest selection" and for once, a company actually lives up to its slogan,« he writes.
Comments