E-Business: Analyze Websites

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Primary Site Similarities:
? Visual contrast
? Symmetric (everything lives in a very specific space)
? Search function at the top
? Primary navigation bar (with drop down subcatagories)
? Hot item 'bubbles'
? Side-bar ads and additional navigation
? All sites are very busy

Primary Site Differences:
? Amount of content on home pages
? Geometric differences in containment cells
? Costco is "Left Justified" BJ's and Sam's are centered

Visual Affects:

Costco - The top of the home page is a bit crowded or busy but the page becomes more understandable and flows better after the navigation bar. There are several unrelated items posted for individual consideration. There isn't any indication as to how the products are chosen for this spot, i.e., Deal of the Day, Hot Sellers, and Seasonal Specials. The right side cells are more of a 'value added' section offering savings on specific products such as tires and making offers for credit card applications.

The interior pages follow the same basic design for top of page navigation. Below the primary navigation bar is a larger cell reserved for the featured items in the selected category. This cell hold between 4 -8 items that are being featured however, there doesn't appear to be any special incentive like a sale price associated to these items. Below the featured items cell is an area named Featured Categories. Again, no special incentive is associated to this section.

Along the left side runs a separate navigation function that helps to narrow the item selection process. For example; if a consumer navigates to the laptop subgroup of the computer section, this left side navigation would consist of headings such as: categories, brand, price, hard drive, memory, processor, screen size and weight to help the individual get to the exact unit they are looking for. All of this gives the interior pages a very organized and consistent feel throughout the site.

The actual product pages follow the same top navigation layout as the pages before them. Each page is laid out in a similar manner with a picture of the item on the left and the pricing information and an 'Add to Cart" button immediately to the right. Below this is a larger box with three tabs that offer additional information about the product such as specifications, shipping information and product reviews.

The overall look and feel of the site is busy but intuitive.

Sam's Club - Visually, the Sam's Club website is smooth with rounded corners on its display cells and softer, complementing colors such as green blue and pink. The navigation at the top of the page is rather minimalistic relying upon the drop-down list to supply the necessary information to find your way around the site rater than displaying a multitude of subcategories that clutter the look of the page.

The home page does not follow any specific order in the placement of special ads and places seemingly unrelated product choices and categories in close proximity of each other. This is presumably to give the feel of actually shopping rather than performing the task of acquiring a specific product. This is a method used by companies that has been proven to increase impulse buying and therefore increase the company's total sales.

There are additional navigation functions along the left side of the page that outline the different services and member centers of the company. Interspersed in this left ...