Branded Breadcrumbs

With the frenzy of Brown Thursday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales (plus many other near-Thanksgiving-almost-December sales), the ability to quickly navigate retail websites is crucial for an efficient shopping strategy. Yes, shopping does require strategies – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

When I look at department store websites, I like to check out all their offerings for particular brands. To my frustration, quite a few sites don’t offer a very simple and convenient user experience element – a link to the brand’s category page.

Offender Numero Uno: Bloomingdale’s

As you can see, no visible link back to Joie’s brand page.

Offender Numero Dos: Saks Fifth Avenue

Same as Bloomies. Both sites offer links to similar styles and “customers also loved…”. Why can’t they implement a simple link to the brand page?

Now that we’ve gotten the offenders out of the way, here are some examples of retailers who do it right:

Reformed Offender: Neiman Marcus

Neiman used to be an offender, but has since seen the error of their ways!

Good Example Numero Dos: Zappos

Not surprising that they’ve implemented this, given that they have an entire page dedicated to their user experience team.

Aside from the user experience benefit, including a text link to the brand category page provides value from an SEO standpoint. So really, please just do it.