Chain Reaction Cycles
Homepage and product discovery
Chain Reaction has a fairly standard homepage and isn’t alone in using the dreaded ecommerce carousel.
It currently offers free UK delivery and free returns with Collect+, and these offers are prominently positioned at the top of the page.
Focusing on the task in-hand, I couldn’t find a fixie category within the top nav so resorted to using the search tool.
Sadly this only yielded two results, so there wasn’t much chance to test the filter options.
However it’s good to note that Chain Reaction’s search tool does offer alternative spelling suggestions. In this case, it thought I might be looking for ‘Fox’, which is a bike brand.
Product page
First let’s look on the bright side. Chain Reaction’s product pages include stock information, reviews (though this bike didn’t have any), detailed product information, shipping and payment details, and other recommended products.
On the downside, there is only one product image, so it’s difficult to get a decent view of the bike. This is a major problem for an ecommerce site, particularly when you’re selling expensive items.
Another issue is that the ‘add to basket’ CTA is a bit small, and the light blue colour doesn’t really stand out.
Shopping basket and checkout
After a customer adds an item to their basket, Chain Reaction attempts to cross-sell related items before the user can head to their shopping basket.
This is a good way of increasing basket value, as people buying a bike are likely to need additional products.
The shopping basket gives a useful summary and reiterates the 365-day return policy and free delivery.
To further increase the chance of a conversion shoppers can checkout with PayPal if they so desire.
One criticism would be that the page is a bit cluttered, so customers may not notice some of the graphics that are intended to improve conversions.
Chain Reaction offers a guest checkout option, which is a great relief for those of us that hate forms, though it loses points for failing to use a postcode lookup tool or real-time form validation.
The guest checkout is only two pages long (one for your address, the other for payment details), so it greatly improves the likelihood that shoppers won’t lose interest and drop out.
Overall the purchase journey was pretty painless, though there are a number of fairly basic UX issues that Chain Reaction should seek to address.
Wiggle
Homepage and product discovery
Wiggle’s brand team clearly love orange. So much so that they’ve stuck to their guns at the expense of making anything stand out on the homepage.
Personally I feel there should be some variety among the different CTAs.
Wiggle doesn’t have a product category for fixies, and neither does its search tool return any relevant product options.
Instead I delved into the single-speed product category, which includes a selection of fixed gear models, though weirdly none of these come up if you search for ‘fixed gear’.
Wiggle’s category page includes an image of each bike, the price, star reviews, and a rather optimistic ‘buy now’ button.
It also gives a great range of filter options including brand, frame or fork material, colour and wheel size.
Product page
Wiggle’s product page is an improvement on Chain Reaction’s.
Alongside the reviews, delivery and returns information, and an incredibly detailed product description, it offers several images, a 360-view, zoom functions and product videos.
There is also a Q&A section where users can ask questions that are then answered by Wiggle’s customer service team.
All of these features are proven to have a positive impact on conversions as they enable customers to make a more informed purchase decision.
When a customer has chosen a bike size Wiggle displays stock information and the time until the item will be dispatched, which again helps to increase the chance of a conversion.
Shopping basket and checkout
At the shopping basket Wiggle offers a good order summary, delivery information and several different security logos to help reassure customers.
I still feel that the CTAs should be a different colour, but overall the page design is very good.
The checkout asks for an email address upfront, which may put some users off as it feels a lot like you’re being forced to register.
However Wiggle does tick a lot of boxes for best practice. The checkout is enclosed, there is a progress bar, a persistent order summary, and three different payment options (credit card, PayPal and finance).
Overall the checkout process is very quick and only requires the customer to get through three or four screens until the purchase is complete.
Evans Cycles
Homepage and product discovery
Evans’ homepage is quite similar to Chain Reaction’s, with free delivery options and a price match guarantee given prominence above a carousel.
Fixie bikes are housed within the single-speed category, though Evans’ search tool brings back 12 results if a customer searches for ‘fixie’.
The results page only has three filter options, though I think this is just because there aren’t many products as the other category pages have up to eight different filters.
Each product includes an image, price, star rating, and stock information, which is all relevant, useful information.
Product page
This product page is probably the least cluttered of all the brands on this list and it includes several important features, such as reviews, Q&A tool, delivery and returns information, and detailed product information.
Once you’ve selected the colour and size Evans also gives stock information and an estimated dispatch time, and displays an eye-catching CTA.
However there is only a single product image and no 360-degree view or product videos.
Basket and checkout
Evans’ makes a big effort to upsell accessories at the shopping basket, which makes the design a bit cluttered.
However it displays a decent order summary, and in order to reassure customers there are several security logos and the CTA says ‘Checkout securely’.
The checkout then gives three different options, one of which is the all-important express checkout.
Throughout the checkout Evans includes several features that improve the user experience, such as real-time form validation and a postcode lookup tool. It also accepts payment by credit card or PayPal.
But looking at delivery options, Evans offers a free click-and-collect service but standard delivery is a whopping £9.99.
In conclusion…
I was disappointed to find that none of these retailers included a fixie product category, but instead relied on the single-speed label.
This is probably a more accurate description, but it may confuse some people who aren’t aware of the similarities.
That aside, I was generally impressed with the UX of these sites, though each one could stand to make a few improvements.
The biggest flaw is the lack of product images offered by both Chain Reaction and Evans.
Wiggle includes a selection of images alongside a 360-degree view and product videos, so offering customers just a single image won’t cut it.
But Wiggle’s site isn’t perfect – the orange colour scheme means nothing really stands out and the homepage is unimpressive.
In contrast, Evans Cycles’ has a cleaner layout and a superior user experience, but it is let down by the aforementioned lack of images and high delivery costs.
Overall there is no clear winner, but if you combined the best features from each of these retailers you’d have a near-perfect site.
If you’re up for a cycling challenge that also involves a healthy dose of networking and socialising, join Econsultancy’s Marketing Cycle on Thursday 9 October.
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