At Groove Commerce a lot of our design goals are focused on conversion and one of the areas that affects conversion the most is the checkout process. Before coming to Groove, I was never concerned with the number of steps in the checkout or the placement of the shipping rates table or if I had to create an account. If I found something I liked I would figure out a way to buy it and get it shipped to me. Now that I am immersed in the details of conversion analysis and checkout funnel statistics, I have a much keener eye for checkouts that work and work well. Therefore I feel confident in saying that I found the ultimate checkout, and that is at Gilt Groupe.
Disclosure: Gilt is an invitation-only, deal-of-the-day site focused on fashion and high-end products. You’ll have to request membership to view the checkout. Gilt also has a first come, first serve policy; so, shoppers not only need to worry about a sale ending in the next 24-36 hours but also about competition from fellow shoppers over dwindling inventory. But this sense of urgency (real or manufactured) is not what makes the Gilt shopping experience noteworthy; rather it is the ease with which you check out.
Product Page:
In most checkouts the shopper needs to enter the billing, shipping, credit card and contact information and we at Groove look for ways to streamline this and create as few distractions as possible. Since you have to be logged into Gilt to even see the inventory all of this information is already set within the system. When you find a product you like, you are only two clicks away from it being shipped to you. Gilt uses a very pronounced “mini-cart” drop down to help encourage shoppers to the checkout. (Note: The only downside I can see to the mini-cart is that it does not encourage people to purchase more than one item, but without knowing Gilt’s sales statistics this could be a non-issue either way.)
Product Page with Mini-Cart Dropdown
Once you click “Proceed to Checkout” on the mini-cart you are taken to the checkout page where your shipping, billing and credit card information is on file. Also, the default shipping rate is already selected for you. At this point, all that is needed is for the shopper to click “Submit Your Order” and you are done. The idea that a shopper can go from product page to completed sale in seconds is both awesome and scary depending on how impulsive you are and how often you get buyer’s remorse. From an eCommerce perspective it is only awesome!
Checkout
After going through this process I decided to see how this process stacked up to Amazon, a shopping cart many consider to be the standard in easy online shopping. After adding a book to my cart I was taken to: 1) the cart page 2) the address book page 3) the shipping rate page 4) the payment page 5) the order review page and then finally, 6) order the product button. That is five more opportunities to change my mind, apply for a credit card, continue shopping or navigate away. Amazon also has a “Buy now with 1-Click” option but it is the secondary call to action on the product page. Now, I am not going to tell you that Amazon does things wrong (because they don’t,) but this further illustrates that Gilt’s shopping cart does what all carts strive to do: get customers to buy a product as effortlessly as possible. And for that, I award Gilt, Groove’s first Golden Shopping Cart of 2011!
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