The new and old Target.com homepage as of May 2
Starting late last week, some Target.com shoppers started seeing a new look and feel at Target.com. The most striking change to Target’s new site may be its minimalist design, but most importantly for brands, the retailer has changed the user interface to place a much greater emphasis on product search. Target added a more prominent search bar and also collapsed the category menu, clearly driving shoppers to use keyword searches to find products. Target also added new ways for consumers to shop: ‘featured’ categories, ‘most loved’ items and ‘top viewed’ products. These product characterizations echo the organization of Amazon’s homepage with its ‘suggested items’ that surface products that have proved successful with shoppers in the past.
For brands, these Target.com product search changes will mean that winning top search placement against shopper queries is even more critical. It’s difficult to tell what factors are behind the ‘most loved’ items’ algorithm. What we can discern is that ‘most loved’ items aren’t derived from product ratings alone. For example, the seven ‘most loved’ items on May 2 range from zero product ratings to 41,248 for Pampers Swaddlers. Still, winning a spot on the ‘most loved’ list will increase visibility and sales for those brands that crack the code.
Target.com Product Search: Enhanced Images
We’ve also observed big changes to product pages that have important implications for brand owners. To start, Target has replaced the image thumbnails with a carousel of images. Shoppers will click right or left to see the full array of product images. Brands will want to think strategically about the order that their product images appear since a carousel is circular, not linear. For example – your third most important image may be best placed in the last spot so that shoppers will see a glimpse of them on either side of the lead image when they arrive at your product page.
Knowing that shoppers heavily leverage product ratings reviews, Target is featuring reviews in a more prominent position– directly below the product image. Just under the average product rating, the retailer will now display the text of the most helpful review as determined by shoppers. The most helpful review of your item may be a positive review but it could also be negative. The increased prominence of product ratings and display of review text above-the-fold only increases the need for brands to monitor and manage consumer engagement on their retailer product pages.
Target.com Reduces Purchasing Process Friction
While Target.com’s purchase options are generally unchanged, the revamped website treats them differently. The option to subscribe is featured more prominently and there is a new “express checkout” feature, removing friction from the purchasing process. Most helpful for shoppers, the checkout section of the page follows them as they scroll down to read more product information.
Target is looking to close the ecommerce gap with Amazon and Walmart. Target seems to be testing these changes with a segment of online shoppers---some shoppers are now experiencing the new Target.com product search and some are still encountering the traditional site. Now more than ever, brands that make strong product content and consumer engagement priorities will win top search placement at this growing online retailer.
