navigation patterns for mobile optimized retail sites

NAVIGATION PATTERNSFor Mobile Optimized Retail Sites

We looked at >30 top retail sites to find the patterns and the best examples for sharing.

Research

Amazon Best Buy Walmart Target Abercrombie

Ikea Anthropologie Zappos Jared Jewelers

Lowe’s Home Depot REI Gap Think Geek CK

Pottery Barn Crate & Barrel Sony Newegg Gilt

Clinique Nike Sears Overstock Microsoft

Macy’s Bed Bath & Beyond Nordstroms Ben & Jerry’s

The patterns are derived from the work of Brad Frost, Luke Wroblewski, Chris Kobar and myself‣Top Nav ‣Priority Plus‣Multi Toggle‣Skip the Sub Nav‣Off Canvas‣Mega Menu‣Targeted Browse

The Patterns

http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/web/responsive-nav-patterns/

http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/web/complex-navigation-patterns-for-responsive-design/

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7w3fjpexkepyw9k/Wonderbread.pdf

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1569

We reused some of the patterns from responsive design because there are some commonalties between responsive navigation and mobile optimized site navigation.

However, this does not mean responsive is the right mobile strategy for the retail space. Mobile Optimized sites and/or Native apps are a better solution.

Caveat

http://www.slideshare.net/theresaneil/the-dangers-of-the-wrong-mobile-strategy

http://www.slideshare.net/theresaneil/your-strategy-cant-be-html5

Top Nav and Skip the Sub NavIkea offers Top Navigation combined with the Skip the Sub Nav menu. They do a particularily nice job showing the navigation path.

Priority PlusGilt shows the high priority navigation items across the top with a more button to reveal other stores in the Gilt family: Gilt City and Gilt Taste.

Skip the Sub NavLowe’s offers a new page of options on each drill down. This may be the most common pattern in retail navigation (Target, Walmart, Amazon, etc).

Multi Toggle then Skip the Sub Nav

REI starts with a Multi Toggle menu, then takes you to a separate Sub Nav page.

Skip the Sub Nav then Multi ToggleCalvin Klein starts with a simple list menu that takes you to the sub nav page on tap. The sub nav page uses multi-toggle to revel the next level of options.

Off CanvasOriginally found in native apps including Path and Facebook, the Off Canvas menu is rising in popularity in mobile sites.

Note: Ambercrombie also offers a list menu on the home page. But the interaction between the off canvas menu and list menu is jarring and should be avoided.

Mobile Mega Menu

Sony has a sexy mega menu that works well for product category heirarchies. This is more complicated to immplement and will require additional QA testing.

Note: A bottom docked mega menu like Toys R Us can also work well

Targeted BrowseZappos doesn’t offer a menu, but instead provides a structured search plus a simple sort and filter features to refine the results.

More Mobile Retail Patterns

Streamlined Checkout

1-Click and PayPal express checkout makes it easier to complete the purchase.

RecommendationsIncrease total purchases with upsells and cross sells: people also viewed, people also bought, people who viewed this ultimately bought, etc...

Also Viewed Ultimately Bought Also Bought

Anti-Pattern: PagingPaging and mobile don’t mix, use Endless Scroll or View More Items to show the full product list.

Paging Endless Scroll View More

Anti-Pattern: Idiot BoxDon’t break the flow with a modal dialog that has to be dismissed. Show the cart with an item in it and/or just open the cart for easy checkout.

Modal Go to Cart Go To Cart

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Check out my O’Reilly book Mobile Design Pattern Gallery