6.2.1 Using a sales website

A visitor to a sales website is usually able to:

• browse through the details of the goods for sale;
  


• search for a particular product;
  


• check on the availability of goods;
  


• read reviews of the products by other purchasers;
  


• register to receive newsletters which detail new items of interest;
  


• buy products using credit or debit cards, and in some cases, other payment methods such as cheques.
  
  

Some sales sites also allow the user to:

• see what items are most popular;
  


• check the status of their order.
  

An indication of what Lakeland's website offers can be gained from its home page shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16 The Lakeland home page offers product and keyword searches, a quick way to browse various categories of products, what's selling best, and a product of the day

Exercise 17

The Lakeland website offers both a product search and a keyword search.

1. Describe what you think are the differences between these two types of search.
   


2. Why should there be two ways to search?
   

   Discussion

   • 1. A keyword search allows the user to type in words, such as ‘clothes storage’ and the search engine will look through Lakeland's website for products which fit this description.
     A product search is associated with the catalogues that customers receive. The product numbers in the catalogue can be used to access a product very quickly. For example, typing in ‘5692’ will display the product designated by that number.
     
   
   
   • 2. The two types of search serve different customers: those who are interested in a particular type of product (keyword search) and those who have their eyes on an actual product (product search).