Customer-Centered Design: A New Approach to Web Usability

Chapter 5. Anatomy of the e-Shelf

With the race to get onto the Internet, most businesses focused on getting there as quickly as possible. They staked claims to cyber-assets by creating online stores. The Internet was a new creation and, in their haste, many stores took a “Frankenstein” approach. They pieced the store together with whatever parts were readily available—whether they fit seamlessly together or not—and most often they did not.

Some of these parts, electronic product catalogs, were related to structure and were developed in a variety of database-driven architectures. The online store that relies solely on a database-driven product database is weak and cannot withstand competition or support customer needs. These early electronic ...