Because I can’t resist a little investigation, made possible by the very handy Wayback Machine, I thought I’d check out exactly what improvements Debenhams has made to the way its goods are presented that apparently led to this growth.

Product results page

Let’s take a look at the product results page for dresses from this time last year.

There are a few immediately apparent areas for improvement: those images are very small, especially in the full length examples. The filters and sorting options are incredibly numerous. The text is quite small.

However the multichannel customer service options across the top are clear and attractive.

Let’s now take a look at the redesign.

As you can see, the differences are subtle but many. I’ll break it down point by point.

  1. Although the categories are just as numerous, the text has been improved with a larger font and clearer typeface.
  2. It’s now a lot clearer how many results are presented in total and per page, with this information and the sorting tool moved further up the page.
  3. There are fewer results across the page, which means that more detailed images can be used.
  4. And indeed the larger product images are a vast improvement.
  5. The current and previous price are now two shades of black, rather than one black and one red. In the previous version the previous price dominated the red text of the current price, so that wasn’t ideal. Debenhams has also included the percentage saved.

There are sacrifices on the page. The product reviews and star ratings are now gone, although I think this is for the best, as it provided a lot of clutter and seemed pointless if there were zero reviews. 

Also the delivery information is missing from the page, something I feel is more necessary to the experience.

Product pages

Here’s a product page from last year’s version of the Debenhams site.

It feels very rudimentary, almost stark and angular in its design. There’s no access to the customer reviews featured on the results page, product details are sparse, the price is a little lost, the text for the delivery options is very small.

That being said the hover-zoom tool for the images worked well and the Add-to-bag call to action is obvious.

Here is the glorious new version…

  1. The price is distinct, with attractive information on how much you’re saving.
  2. Customer reviews are accessed directly from the top of the page now, rather than the results page.
  3. The hover-zoom is still utilised well here.
  4. The size buttons are are a lot softer than on the previous version, the greyed out buttons making it clear what is unavailable.
  5. Add-to-bag is clear.
  6. Plenty of product information is available, in clearly written text.
  7. A plethora of delivery options, easily accessible, with the costs in different coloured font.
  8. Other recommended products are offered based on previous customers’ history.
  9. Reviews are included, even the negative ones, this helps to build trust in the brand.
  10. Clear instructions available for multichannel returns.

All in all, this is a fantastic example of a traditional retailer adopting multichannel disciplines and design in a way that is resulting in sales growth.