In a bid to woo bargain-hunting shoppers with faster access to the products they seek, Kmart.com unveiled a new web site last week. Now, the multichannel discount chain is opening up a bit more about the changes it made and why.
The revamped retail site features what Kmart.com calls a liquid layout, which allows the web site pages and content on the pages to use the full width of the shopper’s browser, a spokesman says. This enables Kmart.com to show more merchandise and content above the fold, or in the part of the web page that is visible without scrolling. “This should get users to the product faster which should increase conversion,” the spokeman says.
New lefthand navigation, called flyout navigation, shows all navigation options on the home page. This allows users to navigate past vertical and category pages directly to product pages—which also will help users reach what they want faster, Kmart.com says.
The retailer also added a sharing feature, allowing consumers to add products to eight social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Digg.
In addition to aesthetic changes, Kmart, owned by Sears, No. 8 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, made some technical changes to its site to make it load faster. The new home page now loads about one second faster than the older version, Kmart says.
Kmart, which partnered with interactive design firm Zemoga Inc. for the new site, believes the changes will boost sales.
“We hope to see higher conversion due to the user’s ability to get to product pages faster via the streamlined navigation,” the spokesman says.
A new version of the parent company’s e-commerce site, Sears.com, is in beta and set to go live in the next few days, he adds.
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