Product Listing Layout- Which is Best?

I'm starting a redesign of my ecommerce site. We've been having some discussions on which product listing (search result) display works best.

Right now we have it set up as a grid display. But I'm wondering if a signle item per row layout would be better.

With the grid display I can fit up to six items "above the fold". And with a single row layout I can display more product information.

Does anyone here know which way is "better". It seems to be split among the top ecommerce sites. Any research would be helpful too.

Here are examples of what I'm referring to:

GRID


_________________________________________________________

Row

 

I'm actually looking into this for one of my affiliate sites at the moment...

From my point of view I prefer the look of the second format because it makes the page look a lot cleaner - (I'm a big fan of white space).

However you might end up making more from the first option, simply because it means there are more products for users to look at immediatley,

Just to clarify, when you say better, you're asking which is gonna make more cash right?

 

Yes. Which one is "better" from a usability and conversion standpoint.

 

As a general rule, layout and what works to improve conversion is not the same from site to site.

Some sites convert better with side by side products, others convert better with big pictures and down a single row.

If you are serious, I'd go to eyetools and do a heatmap on the site, where live visitors take a look at your site and you can get some feedback as to which version is preferred.

From my experience, I'd say you probably want a single row, with more details for each product so people can compare them without having to click around a lot.

I'd check out what your visitors do on site with the current design. Do they flip between a few products before choosing which to get? Or do they know what they are looking for and buy it? A really cool feature would be to add a "compare" option to each item. Let them select 2 or 3 of them, hit compare so they can just see those choices without the other items distracting them.

 

I spoke to my boss about this and we came up with a couple of suggestions.

Firstly, he thinks the second is better - the first doesn't allow for product comparisons etc..

Rather than just explaining it in words, here is what we thought may work better.

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I'd go with the second as well - the first is too cluttered. There was research not long ago that showed most web users don't mind long web pages - so 9 going down the page is easier on the eye than the big jumble in the middle. I'm sure the likes of Amazon, Ebuyer, etc have put money into user research on these things as they use the 2nd layout. I'm sure they have good reason to.

 

Thanks, Oliver. I definitely agree with those changes.

That's strange that they had the page selection and sort control in those positions.

I guess I'll go with the row layout with comparison options. How many products should I allow for comparison? I was thinking up to 6 products.

One more question:

I currently display the shopping cart contents on each page. Do you know if it's better to just display a sub total and then have a links to checkout and to the shopping cart details?

If I don't show each item it will save space . I also think displaying the entire contents may make people realize that they're buying too much.

Any thoughts?

BTW- My average number of line items per order is about five.

 

I always go with a subtotal versus a complete cart. You are basically making it really easy to hit remove and reduce the total.

They typically go to the cart when they are done shopping and are less likely to remove things.

The clutter aspect is also a valid one if they are adding a lot of accesories to their cart.

 

They can't actually edit the cart...it's just a display.

But I agree and I think I'm going to make that change.

 

In my experience if details are always within one click, it doesn't affect conversions. As soon as you move it past that point their is a signifigant abondonment rate.

 

For about a year we had the single item per row format. We switched to a 3 column grid, like the one you were showing, and the conversion went up immediately.

I'm not sure what others' statistics show, but the 3 column layout is undoubtedly better for us.

It may depend on the type of products that you are offering as well. We didn't put as much info on the initial product page either. Small Image, Title and Price, and thats it.

 

Was that the only change you made jestep?

 

I guess it depends on the size of your inventory...

Are you planning on doing anything clever with the comparison paes? (ala: kelkoo)

http://audiovisual.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/sbs/127101/12374404.html

 

I have a price comparison site in development just now but it wont be ready for quite a few weeks yet, I did a small site for her indoors and tried both layouts and the single column works best for her jewellery site for sales.

 

From a consumer perspective, I never buy from a shopping cart I can't alter before the final buy.

 

I don't think he was suggesting not being able to alter it at all. Just not from the product listing pages. (Ie you have to go to the cart)

I have gone to a few sites where you needed to either sign up for an account or go nearly fully through the whole buying process to get shipping.

If you are displaying a subtotal on the page, it can help conversions to also list the shipping (with a change country link)

 

i'd say second...

it blocks off the pages, each "strip" is unique to only one product.

whereas with the first one, you visually can't create a guideline for which product is which...because our mind isn't that complex enough to keep a grid in our heads while looking at price, etc, of all the products.

 

I had a neat idea for shopping carts the other day...

It would be really easy to add something like this to the bottom of the page - and you could make it real funky using ajax to update it.

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Thanks for all of the input so far.

Another question:

Do you think it's best to display multiple pictures of the item on the product detail page or should you make the user click a link to see more photos (like Amazon does)?