User centered Analysis for PlumbKart.com, which sells products only for bathrooms.
Selling bathroom products online is tricky, a bathroom has quite a few products going in there. Except for a couple of them, rest of the products are boring and repetitive.
For starters, washbasin area will require – washbasin, tap for washbasin, internal piping for washbasin tap, washbasin outlet and internal piping for washbasin outlet too.
Just think of the experience you would have while browse through all the products for washbasin area displayed in the website. The products listed would come from different brands, different price range, different material, different designs, designs with minute to vast difference. A page full of washbasins, piping, taps, tap washers etc etc.
Isn’t that overwhelming, confusing and repulsive.
Well, we would never wish to give such not so pleasant experience to any of our site visitors.
So we decided to start from the basics of bathroom, that is “number of points in the bathroom” and group our products.
Please note: Points are holes drilled through the bathroom walls for inlet and outlet.
And guess what, there is always a standard number of points in every bathroom.
Where are these points used?
- Dry area – Washbasin and toilet area
- Wet area – Bath
Wow! A little bit of questioning and thinking, decluttered the space of browsing and experience.
Decision was taken to display/list out products regionvise – Dry and Wet. Simplified!
So the products were grouped into:
1. Sanitaryware (Dry) : Sanitaryware includes plumbing fixtures, as sink (+ tap for sink) and toilet bowls (+ health faucet and flush tank), made of ceramic material or enamelled metal.
2. Faucet (Wet): All the chrome plated products come under faucet category, which includes – Shower, Spouts/Taps and Diverter (hot/cold).
3. Bathroom accessories: Based on our observation of buyers. We learnt that, they are usually exhausted after their primary purchase for bathroom. So we could easily categories accessories as an independent category which is last in priority.
Bathroom accessories are pushed for last minute purchase due to several reasons. When asked, we received responses such as
a. It is not important, I can always buy it later
b. We still have the time
c. Actually I don’t have the money now.
d. I still have to buy the tiles
e. Am not shifting right now. Giving the house for rent.
4. Piping: Frankly, These hidden pipes behind the wall are the most boring part of your purchase. So many detailing and measurements.
From the seller’s perspective, we seemed so sorted, until this happened..
Hehe.. We always have space to grow and learn right. Hence we decided to mention what is what right in the home page.
This is how our site is live right now. We are in the process of observing our end users, understanding their purchase pattern and always open to make PlumbKart a better place to shop for your personal space. The only space, where you are yourself – BATHROOM.