Shopping on the Internet can be such a frustrating experience and having done web development for a few years it always amazes me that companies just don't seem to understand why carts are being abandoned and visitors lost.
My top 5 things I hate when shopping on the Internet
- Unable to click on basket items
You put an item in your cart and then later you decide you just want to go back and check on something like the size or colour. I click on view basket and expect to be able to click on the item and be taken back to the items web page but far too many sites don't allow me to do that so I end up hunting through the site. - Out of stock
Too many web sites contain lots of products but then when you click on them or try to order them you are told they are out of stock! Either take the product out of your online store or at least make it obvious without having to click on lots of links that its out of stock! - Session timeouts
Why are sessions set to timeout after 20 minutes. Honestly! I've just spent 20 minutes putting things in the basket, the phone rings or the call of nature intervenes and when you return to your PC that basket contents have disappeared. Do they honestly think I'm going to spend another 20 minutes adding things to my cart?
- Categories
Sometimes when I visit a web site I just want to have a browse. Maybe I'm looking for ideas for a gift for someone or just have some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket that I need to spend. So, the sites helpfully categorize the contents into things like Mens Clothes or Womens Clothes which in turn become Trousers, Jackets, Shoes and so on. What I really get cheesed off with is that sometimes I can't view everything in the Mens Clothes section or worse still I can't see all the Trousers instead I have to select a brand or something. Come on sort it out! - Broken links and just plain doesn't work
Seriously, this really happens. The companies spends huge amounts of money on advertising and buying in stock and yet when I come to order the goods the site either just doesn't work at all, doesn't work with my browser or is full of broken links. I'm not just talking small companies I sometimes across major sites with this problem - I think some of the Insurance sites are particularly bad!
That reminds me I need to write about Amazon soon whilst I think they have done a good job in the past I just feel they are heading into self destruction. Remind me to tell you about what I mean and where I think they are goind wrong.