Create easy to understand guide lines that describe how a website characteristic should be implemented and note if there is reasonable amount of evidence to prove or not prove that there exist any proven guidelines for the website design characteristic.

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

2. C&S Sporting Goods

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

5. Outdoor Research

Chain Stores

6. Big 5

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

8. Scheels

9. Academy Sports

10. Cabela’s

Overall Analysis of Application:

Give a paragraph about the overall analysis of the website attribute. See assignment one guidelines.

Website Guideline 2:

Product Filters

Definition:

Describe the characteristic in its most simplistic form.

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 1

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

2. C&S Sporting Goods

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

5. Outdoor Research

Chain Stores

6. Big 5

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

8. Scheels

9. Academy Sports

10. Cabela’s

Overall Analysis of Application:

Give a paragraph about the overall analysis of the website attribute. See assignment one guidelines.

Website Guideline 3:

Customer Reviews

Definition:

is a review of a product or service made by a customer who has purchased and used, or had experience with, the product or service. Customer reviews are a form of customer feedback on electronic commerce and online shopping sites. There are also dedicated review sites, some of which use customer reviews as well as or instead of professional reviews. The reviews may themselves be graded for usefulness or accuracy by other users. It has a positive impact but no set procedure.

(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_review)

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

· Reviews should be truthful and not misleading

· Reviews should reflect typical experiences

· Be helpful and relevant

· Respect others

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

Did a good job following the literature. Has the option but there have not been any reviews left.

2. C& S Sporting Goods

Does not follow the literature. There is no place to review and item or to see what others think of the store.

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

Did an mediocre job following the guidelines. Does not have a spot to leave reviews but is tied into Yelp reviews.

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

Does not follow the literature. They offer no reviews or testimonials of the business.

5. Outdoor Research

Good job following the literature. Have a spot for customers to review the products. Implemented a rating distribution bar to quickly see the overall rating of the product.

Chain Stores

1. Big 5

Did not follow literature. There is no option to provide feedback on items.

2. Dicks Sporting Goods

Did and okay job, some products you can review and others you cannot. Implemented the rating distribution bar to quickly see overall ratings.

3. Scheels

Did a good job following the literature. Reviews let customers use stars to indicate the level of satisfaction and had a distribution bar for quick review of product quality.

4. Academy sports

Good job following the literature. Implemented a distribution rating bar, choose how many stars to give a product based on what customers thought, and a text box to write your thoughts.

5. Cabela’s

Great job, before you even click on the item you can see how many stars the product has received. Uses a distribution rating bar for quick convenience and allows for text entries.

Overall Analysis of Application:

The evidence strongly coincides with the literature, websites not implementing a product review section are at a disadvantage as majority of competitors provide a consumer feedback. A common theme across different websites was the use of stars to indicate how satisfied users where with the product. A distribution bar before reading the reviews was another common theme, this allowed customers to quickly and see how many star ratings the product had. Along with the ability to indicate whether or not the review was helpful or not. This feature allows customers to determine whether or not the review was honest, while helping retailers determine how reviews influence customers.

Website Guideline 4:

The Use of Pop-ups

Definition

Describe the characteristic in its most simplistic form.

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 1

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

2. C&S Sporting Goods

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

5. Outdoor Research

Chain Stores

6. Big 5

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

8. Scheels

9. Academy Sports

10. Cabela’s

Overall Analysis of Application:

Give a paragraph about the overall analysis of the website attribute. See assignment one guidelines.

Website Guideline 5:

Product Filters

Definition:

Describe the characteristic in its most simplistic form.

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 1

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

2. C&S Sporting Goods

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

5. Outdoor Research

Chain Stores

6. Big 5

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

8. Scheels

9. Academy Sports

10. Cabela’s

Overall Analysis of Application:

Give a paragraph about the overall analysis of the website attribute. See assignment one guidelines.

Website Guideline 6:

Use of Wish Lists

Definition:

Describe the characteristic in its most simplistic form.

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 1

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

2. C&S Sporting Goods

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

5. Outdoor Research

Chain Stores

6. Big 5

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

8. Scheels

9. Academy Sports

10. Cabela’s

Overall Analysis of Application:

Give a paragraph about the overall analysis of the website attribute. See assignment one guidelines.

Website Guideline 7:

Contact Information

Definition:

Describe the characteristic in its most simplistic form.

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 1

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

2. C&S Sporting Goods

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

5. Outdoor Research

Chain Stores

6. Big 5

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

8. Scheels

9. Academy Sports

10. Cabela’s

Overall Analysis of Application:

Give a paragraph about the overall analysis of the website attribute. See assignment one guidelines.

Website Guideline 8:

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Definition:

Also called FAQ or Questions and Answers (Q&A), are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. The format is commonly used on email mailing lists and other online forums, where certain common questions tend to recur. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAQ)

Review of Evidence:

Explain the evidence that helped you come to the definition presented above.

Break evidence into sub-categories with examples for each sub-category

· Give two to three examples (screen shots, graphs, text, etc.) to support your definition claim and argument above.

· Example 1

· Example 2

· Example 3

General Guidelines:

· Always frame the answer in a positive way

· Write your questions from a customer’s perspective (e.g. “How do I…”)

· Focus on clear communication first and the goal your trying to achieve

· Use images when they can explain your answer better than words

· Answers should be short and concise

· FAQ page should be routinely maintained to be consistently meeting consumer needs

· End your answer with a call to action that pushes the customer back into the website?

Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/120928069-how-to-create-faq-page

https://www.kayako.com/blog/faq-page-design/

Retail Sector Analysis:

Independent Stores

1. Al’s Sporting Goods

Did not follow guideline. There is no FAQ section for products or anywhere on the website.

2. C& S Sporting Goods

Did not follow guidelines. Customers cannot see any FAQs because there is no spot.

3. Alfred’s Sports Shop

Did not follow guidelines. No place for customers can see FAQs.

4. Johnson’s Sporting Goods

Did an okay job following guidelines. There is an FAQ tab on the home screen that allows customers to see a general FAQs but is not product specific.

5. Outdoor Research

Did a good job implementing FAQ. FAQ section is found at the bottom of the page not easily found and is a general question about returns and similar questions.

Chain Stores

1. Big 5

Did not follow guideline. There is not FAQ section for Big 5.

2. Dicks Sporting Goods

Did not follow guideline. No FAQ section.

3. Scheels

Did not follow guideline. There is not a FAQ section.

4. Academy sports

Did not follow FAQ guideline. There is not section for FAQ.

5. Cabela’s

Did a great job with FAQ guidelines. The FAQ section is in with the products, so customers can quickly find answers about the products they are looking for.

Overall Analysis of Application:

The guideline says that websites should have a FAQ section only 3/10 websites implemented this section. We believe that the FAQ section is becoming less relevant today because of customer review. We found that the industry is most likely the correct about whether or not to use the FAQ section. Since only three websites use FAQs it is probably not as important. The two out of the three FAQ sections talked about return policy and other general topics that can be found on the website. Only one had a FAQ about the products themselves. With the lack of parody, the literature recommendations did not hold up in the sporting good market. Customers are able to read reviews about the products which generally give them a better answer to their questions about the product.

Conclusion

Write up a summary of our findings on the eight website design characteristics.

References

Insert sources here in APA format .