Commerce site trends

scary trends among the new competition

[jsinger]

Contrary to what was just posted on another thread here, I'm seeing that new commerce sites are vastly better than just a few years ago. Developers seem to finally be aware of marketing demands. Flash intros and sound have virtually disappeared. Home pages now show top selling products, and not the owner and his dog or his "web awards."

New sites have far larger product offerings and are fairly organized, with effective search facilities. Graphics are better, tho few still seem to make efforts to improve loading times (which is less important nowadays)

Sites focus on selling, not extraneous gizmos: inappropriate wish lists and gift certificates, online help, long disclaimers, idiotic statements like "we're open 24/7." Fluff and flash have been replaced by useful info, especially 800 phone numbers. Almost no one has mandatory registration. 100 payment and shipping options have been replaced by a few that matter.

Our competitors are learning. And that scares me!

[FalseDawn]

You have to move with the times or get left behind.
I still see _lots_ of hopeless sites sprouting up all the time, selling nothing but chintz.
Don't foget, marketing has a lot to do with it, too. It's all well and good having a great looking, easy to use site, but if no-one knows it's there, it's dead in the water.
A mediocre, excellently marketed site will always outperform an excellent site with meadioce marketing.

[jsinger]

Doesn't ANYONE see any interesting new developments among commerce sites in terms of marketing, technology, site layout, etc?

What's happening on the commerce cutting edge now?

[lgn1]

Save your money on making your website pretty, just make it fast and easy to navigate.

I went from a amateurish site with clip art (but it was fast and easy to navigate) to an equally as fast and easy to navigate profesional looking site.

It did not make one bit of difference in sales. But it lined some Graphic Designer wallet.