With March Madness around the corner many of us are getting in a competitive mood as the world-famous NCAA tournament approaches.
With several holidays nearby consumers are also inclined to shop during this time of year, and while the best college basketball teams will be battling for a chance at being in the famed Final Four, the top internet retailers will be squaring off for sales and reputation.
In celebration of this festive competition we’ve created the following E-commerce March Madness: Final Four tournament:
(To see who makes the final four skip to the bottom section of the tournament)
Team #1 – Walmart.com
- Customer Experience – 8
- Business Practices – 10
- User-Friendliness – 8
- Site Design – 9
- Score: 35
Eliminated: There are few advantages to shopping on Walmart.com as opposed to visiting your local Wal-Mart superstore. The bottom line is that the online customer experience is not much of an improvement over the brick-and-mortar alternative – unless, of course, you need an item that is not currently in stock at the local store and you’re willing to wait for it.
Team #2 –Amazon.com
- Customer Experience – 9
- Business Practices – 10
- User-Friendliness – 9
- Site Design – 10
- Score: 38
Advance to Final Four!
Team #3 – JCPenney.com
- Customer Experience – 9
- Business Practices – 10
- User-Friendliness – 7
- Site Design – 6
- Score: 32
Eliminated: From an aesthetic standpoint, JCPenney’s E-commerce store doesn’t do a great job of differentiating itself from other department store websites in terms of design and functionality.
Team #4 – Target.com
- Customer Experience – 9
- Business Practices – 9
- User-Friendliness – 9
- Site Design – 7
- Score: 34
Eliminated: At first glance the site design is visually appealing, but when you click one of the main drop-down menus the entire interface can become rather cluttered.
Team #5 – Macys.com
- Customer Experience – 9
- Business Practices – 8
- User-Friendliness – 9
- Site Design – 7
- Score: 33
Eliminated: The home page is quite lengthy and therefore requires a lot of scrolling in order to view all of the content. With so much going on below the fold the design can be a bit overwhelming.
Team #6 – Gamestop.com
- Customer Experience – 10
- Business Practices – 9
- User-Friendliness – 10
- Site Design – 9
- Score: 38
Advance to Final Four!
Team #7 – Staples.com
- Customer Experience – 8
- Business Practices – 8
- User-Friendliness – 9
- Site Design – 6
- Score: 31
Eliminated: Although Staples.com’s design is simple and efficient, it appears sloppy at a glance, and the product catalog is difficult to sift through if you’re browsing instead of searching based on terms. Also, a lack of detailed search filters makes finding specific products tough if you don’t have the exact item number handy.
Team #8 – FootLocker.com
- Customer Experience – 10
- Business Practices – 9
- User-Friendliness – 10
- Site Design – 9
- Score: 38
Advance to Final Four!
Team #9 – Bestbuy.com
- Customer Experience – 10
- Business Practices – 10
- User-Friendliness – 9
- Site Design – 10
- Score: 39
Advance to Final Four!
Team #10 – Newegg.com
- Customer Experience – 9
- Business Practices – 10
- User-Friendliness – 9
- Site Design – 8
- Score: 36
Eliminated: NewEgg was just a few points shy of making it into our Final Four because the site design and color scheme could be construed as less modern, especially in comparison to some of the other competitors on this list.
The Final Four
Team #1 – BestBuy.com – This site’s design is always trendy and tech-savvy. At the top the ‘Trending Now’ banner provides a tidy overview of the latest and greatest deals on electronics. With weekly deals and access to online management of a generous ‘My Best Buy’ rewards account, this site notably enhances the experience of shopping with Best Buy.
Team #2 – Footlocker.com – With a robust interface that allows for custom shoe/jersey ordering and a large selection of team-oriented merchandise, FootLocker.com is a perfect match for all March Madness fans.
Team #3 – Gamestop.com – An easily navigable interface, weekly promotions, rewards, and an extremely convenient browsing experience are just some of the features that brought Gamestop.com into our Final Four; not to mention the fact that many gamers will be buying their March Madness video games there.
Team #4 – Amazon.com – Amazon remains a go-to e-commerce site year after year due to its massive product catalog, loads of useful search filters, and a competitive open market structure.
About author:
Jason is a big fan of college basketball and loves the competitve nature of ecommerce. He recommends Webgistix for all your online order fulfillment needs to stay competitive.
