Visualizing data is one of the purest feature concepts of what Bidiom is offering. Revisiting the research highlighted in a prior article, “Imagine Advanced Online Shopping”, I mentioned the disassembly of an online marketplace architecture into Objects, Methods, Properties, and Events as well as Layers, Components, Behaviors, Use Cases, etc. If we isolate a few of these then we can explain in greater detail the vision for Visualizing Data in Online Shopping.
One of the primary data elements associated with an online item is pictures. It has been said that “A picture is worth a 1000 words”. Pictures allow shoppers to see the item, and when multiple pictures are available the shopper often has more information including different angles, close up of important areas, size/weight specifics, etc.
Current marketplace website designs frequently display the primary picture, and offer a carousel or list of thumbnails that when selected display the other pictures. Even though this display approach is common other layouts are possible and more productive. If the computer screen is objectively examined for available spaces then in many cases more pictures can be presented immediately on the screen.
We evaluated the size of the picture in many existing shopping website layouts. We found that the picture was frequently a tiny percentage of the screen. In some instances it was a single digit percentage or less (.33%) of the entire screen. This makes no sense, causes stress, and presents less information to the buyer. Larger images are better. Department store catalog designs, for example, do a much better job of displaying item pictures. Increasing the size of the pictures being displayed, and showing more images immediately pleases shoppers and is frequently possible within the available screen space.
Other data elements, especially in marketplaces like eBay, including seller, location, price, selling format and condition are savagely under visualized. Many of these elements are presented in simple text form, and some are obfuscated primarily to benefit seller motives. Visualizing these elements in more informative and visual formats provides an assortment of buyer benefits.
In this example within Cullony the seller location is visualized within a widget as a highlighted State within the US map. The level of map fidelity was a consideration. When shipping domestically display the seller’s state is sufficient to comprehend the shipping distance. A globe is shown to communicate international locations.
These types of data visualizations provide the buyer with additional context and information. Richer visualizations enable the user to be more effective in information analysis and decision making. For those who read this and want to explore the concepts and assist us in producing an innovation in online shopping then please create an account. Your feedback is welcome, and it will help us refactor the platform into an amazing resource that provides a tool more powerful than what exist in online shopping today.
— Jaye Speaks, jaye@bidiom.com
