Have you ever been in a touristy region or a shopping district? Inevitably there are the main stores and the stands selling their products but you will have the occasional “walking salesman” with merchandise “up his sleeve”. You know that guy; he is very persuasive and very willing to negotiate. Anyhow, “that guy” may slyly pull some watches and necklaces out of his pockets. That’s because we are a visual species and we like to see what we are talking about.

Most times it simply gives us clarity and the ability to make an educated decision. And of course it is a very effective way to illustrate something we are teaching or explaining. Yes we have been discussing a variety of online businesses and their applications. We also have been able to analyze the ways we can use this information. So why stop now?

For this article we are going to take a look at an E-commerce site for some tips. Without further ado then, pull up another tab or another window and take a look at http://shoeguru.ca/. This is the part where we remind you that we are not endorsing or criticize this company and their site. We are giving you a visual of the many options that you have in setting up and designing your site. This site is reportedly very successful at selling, guess what? Your right! Shoes. When you first see the site is dominated by a nice black background. Admittedly, I prefer black. Now they also decided to take a very simple look with bold graphics and images, which is a nice touch.
They have their logo prominent on the left and standard guide to the right at the top of the page. Worthy to note is that I think the color selection is weak. Remember even if you are keeping things neutral and fashionably simple you still need to be sure it is easily read.

The soft color may be hard for many to easily pick up. I like how they have a slide show type graphic and image presentation. It’s very well done. When you click on the options like “men” or “women” you are brought to a cool graphic that gives you style choices. When you choose a style you are brought right to pictures of product and prices.
Their concept is to be trendy and different. The home page is not splattered with product and brands, etc. Not this is an interesting trade – off. On one hand it is not cluttered with options. On the other hand it appears to take a while before you get to products and prices. Although they do feature a nice sneaker and show “hip” young people wearing some shoes they sell.
I don’t know that there is a right or wrong, per say, but you do have to consider every detail and the perception or message that may be sent to the viewer. And this can be a minor or a major effect. The FAQ is always a good page to provide.
They start out by explaining the shipping information. They also address some other common questions. Another must to provide on an e-commerce site is the shopping cart. Their shopping cart I do not think is the greatest example of a shopping cart. But it wasn’t cluttered with a ton of stuff either. It is an example nonetheless.

To make an interesting contrast in the e-commerce world take a trip over to http://www.walmart.com/ to see a typical example of a department store installment of an e-commerce site. The shoe guru site is a handy example of a specialty item store, which is very prevalent in the Internet and e-commerce world. Anyhow we are now looking at the Wal-mart Home page. Very standard as far as major stores and their on line presence goes. Note however that Wal-Mart features a banner ad at the top of its page. The ad is ingenious because it advertises a product for another company but it is also an item they sell at Wal-Mart. In that sense it is not the classic affiliate ad. The purpose of this ad is not to send you to another web page but it is to get you to purchase that product.

Now if you think about to a few minutes ago when you were looking at the shoe guru site, you will recall that they did not have any affiliate ads or sponsorship ads. I thought that was interesting. That is also a reason I used them as an example. My point was to show you that there are different methods that people choose to use or not to use.

Back to the Wal-Mart Home page. Below the ad and next to the Wal-Mart log is a handy tool bar. It features a Store LocaterLocal Ad(s)Gift Cards & RegistryTrack Orders (Obviously on line orders)Sign inDon’t forget for a commerce giant like Wal-Mart they are cross promoting. They want people to go their stores just as much as they want people to shop on line. The left column is basically laid out like aisles of a store and departments. And they even have an option where you can go to sub divided groups (departments) of the groups.

Below the tool bar we discussed above is a search bar. That is always good regardless of what kind of web page you have. You can also go right to the cart. Below there are prominent ads for on line and store specials.
They also have some affiliate ads mixed in. For example at the time I wrote this they were advertising a new movie. Below the department section is a New Rollback section, Save Big Now Section (featuring some clearance items), and a What’s New section.
Below the ads and the directory is a customer forum entitled “Connect With Other Wal-Mart Customers Like You”. Under the forum section box is an opportunity to be on their email list. There is also an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. It will alert you of new posts.

Finally at the bottom of the page is another directory of options. Among the choices are credit card applications and a help center. Wal-Mart also has an affiliate program. Yeah you can put a Wal-Mart banner on your site! So there you have it. 2 different examples of e-commerce sites. Of course there are plenty of others to check out and use as a reference.

The important elements are that you feature your product or products. It may be in a trendy way like shoeguru.com or it may be more standard like Wal-Mart.com. Of course Wal-Mart offers a host of products so naturally it will have a different presentation.

For an e-commerce site to be successful you also need to have simple and reliable delivery and clear and reasonable delivery charges. If your shopping cart is perceived as complicated you will lose sales! It is also good to be accessible to your potential customers.

So there you go you e-commerce entrepreneurs. Take the articles and information that is provided here and use some of the real life tangible examples that are all over the web including the 2 we considered above.
Good luck and keep plugging away!

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