Zara Man, in general, is a fashion retailer offering smart/smart casual clothing at, what would usually be referred to as, reasonable prices to many shoppers. In store, it is a modern, smart layout with the different types of clothing (e.g. casual, smart, trending) seperated out. The presentation of their clothing is fairly neutral as they don’t suggest ‘looks’ on many mannequin’s thus leaving the consumer to formulate their own ideas of how Zara’s products would go together. The online store is an altogether different ball-game. The Zara Man website, simply put, is an online marketplace for their own products only. This post will analyse the usability of the Zara man website using the Online Consumer’s Hierarchy of Needs (Valacich, Parbohteeah & Wells, 2007) as well as drawing comparisons to the Asos website.
User Experience
Quite frankly, the user experience on the Zara Man website was not a good one. And whilst the question on user experience is a subjective one, it seems strange that, given my positive regard towards the physical store, that I should feel almost ‘unwanted’ by the website. The tabs offer the standard breakdown of items e.g. Trousers, Shoes, Shirts etc. which then break into standard sub-categories e.g. Jean, Chinos, Formal etc. However, when you click on a sub-category, it continues to show you all of the trousers but ordered with your selection first. On top of this, their product line views as being particularly small due to all types of one product being put under one facade. For example, a basic chino trouser will be presented by one photo although there are many different colours available. This extension of the product line is covered by a ‘+ Colours’ tab. This in comparison to Asos is far less accessible and intuitive. Asos have all of their products advertised individually (however alternatives are selectable on each product) as well as only advertising the product I search for.
Improvements
I suggest that Zara take a more neutral stance with the advertisement of some of their products. A move to an Asos method of website layout would benefit the user who is less ‘fashion-conscious’ yet know that Zara offer a product that fits their personal style. For example, displaying trousers and shirts being worn ‘normally’ would serve to include a larger proportion of their potential customer base rather than their current style which severs a connection with the general public. Whilst Zara’s web-marketing division may have made a conscious decision on who they are targeting, this is inconsistent with the brand image conveyed in store. An alignment should be made either in-store or online to increase their customer satisfaction in both of their marketplaces.