Today saw the launch of Zara's first (and long awaited) e-commerce site in the UK and, for users of Google's Chrome browser, it isn't looking good, with error messages all over the site:
Chrome may not be the most popular browser, but it is still used by up to 10% of web users, and has been growing market share rapidly, so this seems to be a major oversight.
This is how it is supposed to look, viewed on Firefox:
I first noticed this problem when I went to write a review of the site around 9am this morning, and three hours later, the errors are still there. At first I thought the whole site was broken, but it seems its just Chrome users who will see this. It appears to be OK in Firefox, though I did encounter a few errors on Safari.
On Chrome, it's a mess though. The image on the homepage doesn't show, and there are error messages on every section of the site.
Here's the shopping basket page, not one likely to reassure customers thinking about making a purchase:
Chrome is a popular enough browser, so companies launching new sites should be checking that it is compatible and there are no major issues for users.
At the moment, any Chrome users are likely to think the site is completely broken and head elsewhere. By failing to account for Chrome, Zara is missing out on custom from up to 10% of web users.
UPDATE: Since writing this post, I've checked again, and Zara seems to have fixed whatever issues it was having with the site, probably just to make me look stupid...
Reader comments (8)
12:54PM on 2nd September 2010
And what about this... http://img.skitch.com/20100902-fqsyi879k9ywyp74mkpy9j2up7.jpg Translating from spanish: "You have to add the description to let the search engine index you and you'll see that description in the SERP....." Maybe a beta test before launching the website..?
Editor at Econsultancy
1:07PM on 2nd September 2010
Yes, the meta-description on Google UK is a little odd as well:
'You can find all the new clothes that arrive to our store once a week and you can also see the pictures of the catalogue and lookbook.'
Editor at Econsultancy
1:07PM on 2nd September 2010
Yes, the meta-description on Google UK is a little odd as well:
'You can find all the new clothes that arrive to our store once a week and you can also see the pictures of the catalogue and lookbook.'
2:10PM on 2nd September 2010
Hmm, they may also have forgotten to test it on a Mac - Firefox fail. Click on any image and hey presto '
Might have been an idea to have designed this page a little better!
European Web Analytics Specialist at Canon Europe
2:51PM on 2nd September 2010
@tom there are not that many browsers in the world - test sites on all browsers, it is not hard. Saying that a site does not work on a specific browser is the same as saying that you don't want the users $$$ - simple as that!
Sales and Marketing Executive at Web Marketplace Solutions
3:25PM on 2nd September 2010
I totally agree Rob "there are not that many browsers in the world - test sites on all browsers, it is not hard". With Zara launching sites in a number of countries simultaneously they really should have tested it in all browsers before launch. I also encountered a number of errors early this morning and test data was still present in drop downs etc.
3:33PM on 2nd September 2010
@Rob I agree with you, there are not that many major web browsers to test your site on and not testing on Google Chrome is a huge oversight. What I was getting at is that many web developers are not testing on Google Chrome, I see quite a few Google Chrome related issues when testing websites, more so than other browsers. Good to see that Zara have fixed the issues now though.
New Business Director - Ecommerce at more2
9:45AM on 8th September 2010
Hi Graham
I actually bought something from it this week, and yes, while there are a few issues my overall verdict is a PASS.
There was a bit of a breakdown in the persuasive momentum: shirts sized in S, M, L etc, and not helpful that the size guide didn't relate these to collar size, but I emailed customer services who got back to me after 2 working days with a helpful response.
I didn't mind registering, actually, but I think that one really comes down to how much one wants an item as to how big a barrier to purchase it is.
Checkout was very clean, nice and smooth with in-line validation.
So, all in all, was okay, let's see how they deal with their issues over the coming months.
Mark.
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