Ecommerce Usability Target Website

I chose to review Target for their usability when checking out an item.  When opening the Target website, there is a clean layout using largely photos with minimal type to describe the products they are advertising.  The home screen displays the current sale along with new merchandise that just came to the store.  They break up the site easily, giving the user options such as: “categories, deals, search, my account, and cart.”  Since these are most likely the most used functions on an ecommerce website, it prevents the user from having to think much about what they are doing.  I chose to search for a “Sony a5000” camera simply using the search bar and easily clicked on the item to read about it. I then easily clicked the “add to cart” button as it was the only large red button on the screen, drawing the user’s attention to it.  When clicking “add to cart,” a menu popped up, notifying the user there was an item added to the cart along with other suggested purchases that are similar to the item placed within the cart.  The whole process, without having to think took roughly three minutes.  Even when I go back and simply search “Sony,” allowing a larger amount of items to come up as results, it is extremely simple to scroll through the page and find the item I am looking for.  This is due to the fact that they have a very simple website and the only details that draw your attention is the photo of the item and the large red “add to cart” button because they are both displayed on an empty white background.  Target leaves multiple options for drop down menus in order to specify the search but they don’t overwhelm the user because of the slim type used as well as their small size on the side of the screen.  They also give the option to collapse the drop down menus in order to make them more compact creating less distractions.  Within the shopping cart itself, they continue with the theme of using large red buttons to guide the user’s next action.  In this instance the button states, “I’m ready to check out.”  Their constant use of red and white, with black for type, stays consistent with their logo as well as makes it simple to find items the user wants on the Target website.