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Cluttered Websites: Amazon.com

When is a Website too cluttered? One of the comments we often hear about very successful eCommerce Websites is that they are too cluttered. Why is this? Take Amazon.com. Why do people that evaluate Amazon say it is too cluttered, but at the same time buy from Amazon in very large numbers with relative ease? Amazon has dozens of product categories and dozens of options on each Web page. How can they make such a cluttered Website be one of the most popular on the Web? It has to do with our culture for shopping. Think about all the clutter at your local grocery store. We have become accustomed to this level of clutter and it has developed two types of online shoppers. The first is the browser, who will casually scroll through page after page looking for something that catches their interest. The second type of buyer is the bull’s eye buyer. They know exactly what they want and go searching for it.

The way to best meet both these types of buyer’s needs is to build a well-organized page that includes an excellent search function. Amazon does this very well, probably the best of any eCommerce Website and that is why at first glance the Website appears cluttered, but is really a very effective sales tool.

Look to Amazon.com for ideas on building an excellent eCommerce Website.

Thomas Young

Thomas Young is the CEO and Founder of Intuitive Websites. He is a consultant, award winning Vistage speaker and author of “Winning the Website War” and “Sales and Marketing Alignment.” Tom has helped thousands of companies succeed online and has over 25 years digital marketing experience.