# of products per page

[Hubie]

we all have varying facts (and opinions) on this topic: the # of products to display on one web page.

Amazon shows 12 i believe...ebay shows a ton. Then there are stores like dicks sporting goods which shows 8 per page.

Has anyone done major testing on this? Any theories?

[vincevincevince]

My opinion is:

With 100 very similar products, show many on a page; you need users to be able to compare relatively quickly without getting frustrated. [e.g. ebay]

With 100 quite different products, you should have sub-categories leading to pages of about 10 products each.

I've not tested it but I base it on showing the visitor only the product options they are interested in. If I want a widget, show me a page of a dozen widgets rather than page with six-dozen general gadgets, of which a dozen are widgets.

[barbe]

I think Hubie is asking how many to show per page within a related category. I think the number might be related to how big the thumbnails are. Small thumbnails and you can probably do a comfortable 12-18 per page. Large thumbnails will limit you down to 6-12 per page. I think the key is not to have a long vertical scrollbar if you can help it.

[idolw]

if you can show the list quickly in an organized manner, I enjoy browsing 50 items a page

[rocknbil]

IMO, load time and length of page are the deciding factors. I go 1.5 - 2 screens deep at 1040 rez, with two columns of products that gives me 30 per page, which doesn't overload the user and doesn't put them into tombstone scrolling.

[minnapple]

Most of clients favor under 20 per page, and then paginate the rest at the bottom.

[arubin]

I've done some A/B testing. I didn't try anything dramatic like 50, for small changes I didn't get a big impact.

[ambellina]

I love sites that by default show 12-20 items on a page, but also have an option at the top right to either show 100 per page or "Show All." Since I've got a fast connection, I can handle "Show All," but I know that a large portion of people worldwide definitely can't. If you're able to have a "Show All" or "100 per page" option, go for it. If not, I'd stick with 12-20, or even more or less based on load time.

[rob7591]

I do 12 floated divs because I think it's the most flexible because it has three consecutive factors: 2, 3, and 4.

So make the div's width large enough to fit 4 across your normal large screen and then for users with smaller monitors it will fit either 2 or 3.

That will make an even 3, 4, or 6 rows depending on the size of the user's monitor.

Idk if I look into it too much, but that's just my theory :-o

Edit:

Make that four consecutive factors if you include 1 :x. User's with REALLY small monitors can get 1x12 :}

[sonjay]

I've never had an opportunity to do A/B testing on this myself -- but as a user and an online shopper I know what makes me crazy: When I see that there are 50, or 80, or more products in that category, but the site won't allow me to view more than a handful at a time. Since I've had broadband, I would much rather "show all 100 products" than click "Next 6" 15 or 20 times.

Selecting a reasonable default setting is important, but if you have any large categories with lots of products, user options are just as important, IMO.