Improvements

Full review
I have to admit that I'm a sucker for the latest gadget. That's why I reviewed smarthome.com a few months ago, as it had some pretty cool x-10 stuff that I liked. Improvementscatalog.com has some great stuff too. I first became aware of this site through the catalog, but even though I had the catalog, I still shopped with the website. I am, after all, the Insider.

The site tells you why it's in business. "ImprovementsCatalog.com is where you'll find thousands of innovative and unique products that enhance the look, organization, and function of your home." These items are called "quick-and-clever problem-solvers" -- they fix the little things that have always nagged you about your house. This company aims to fix those thorny little problems. Think of this as a Brookstone-like experience online and in catalog form.

Using The Site

The site is organized very plainly, but very well. The black logo shows up very well against the white background, and it's in the prevalent top left area. The tag-line of "Quick and Clever Problem Solvers" is a little washed out, however. Remember that italics or script always tends to fade a bit -- which is why the sans serif texts should be used. The top of the site has quick text links to the homepage of the site, customer service, about the company, order tracking, and the user's shopping cart.

The rest of the page is broken up into departments and some merchandising areas, including the large area in the middle of the page which is currently featuring a toolset. The user can choose to browse through the departments, which are Holiday Gifts (The Insider especially likes this one), Club Specials (You have to belong to the Buyer's club, which has a 25 dollar annual fee...), Exclusives (not sure how this is different than the club), Indoor, Outdoor, Storage, Electrical & Lightning, Pet, Cleaning, Pest, Safety and Security. All of these departments have sub-menus that show up for the user when you rollover the department with your mouse. It's an easy way to navigate if you're pretty good with the mouse. If not, it's probably pretty challenging. Of course, you can get to the department homepage by simply clicking on the department link.

Shopping and Checkout
One of the annoying things that this site needs to remove is an online marketing unit designed to increase sales. It's a floating ad that promises the user that they'll get a free gift if they order today. It doesn't seem to understand that when the user clicks 'no thanks' they probably don't want to see it again. Why not institute some page logic that says if the person has seen it and they order, they get the gift? In the course of writing the epinion, I've seen it 5 times already.

Let's try to order something. If you click into the Holiday Gifts section, you have the choice of 6 submenus: Electronics, Gifts for Him, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Kids, Gift Certificates and Stocking Stuffers. Let's click on the Stocking Stuffers section. There are 14 items on the page, each with a picture and small text block. If you click on to an item, you're taken to a page that is full of information - remember this is a site that has a companion catalog, so they understand editorial. The site makes a mistake here, but they can easily fix it. I had to scroll to put the item into my basket. I'm sure that the assumption is that I'll read everything, but online consumers and offline consumers act differently in some respects. ImprovementsCatalogs needs to understand the changes in the medium and rearchitect their information with respect to that. Moving the button to the top of the page would help me to transact faster.

After placing the article in your basket, you simply need to provide billing and shipping information to complete your order. The page could be designed better. If you haven't created a login, you're supposed to understand that you need to scroll to bottom of the page to provide your shipping information. Truth is, I didn't read and I missed this at first. I'll bet you a bunch of people pause at this step and don't complete the process... the Insider knows why, though.

When I used this site to order a slew of holiday items (the Gopher grabber, a holiday card holder in the shape of a Christmas tree, and 2 soda can storage racks for inside of the much maligned fridge, the site performed well. I recieved an email telling me that they'd recieved my order and got a shipping notice when the items left the warehouse. I used the lowest cost shipping option because I'd ordered so far ahead of the holiday season, and all the items arrived together, and on time.

Special Tip About Improvements From the Insider
Another way to use this site is the Online Catalog, which really is a cool feature. You can browse the actual print catalog online with the ability to turn virtual pages and zoom in on items that you like. You can even email friends with gift ideas. It's an interesting idea that might be an option for those of us with high bandwidth connections. And while it's cool, it's too far out right now to really help drive any volume at the site.

Bottom Line
All in all, a solid site that needs to pay closer attention to it's user interface, as the Insider has found some quick and clever problem-solvers of his own that might help to improve it.

BHWEB22