How the Disney Store Online
Drives Sales

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Web Commerce Today, Issue 13, August 15, 1998

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This article contains older information. Go here for newer information on conversion and testing.

The Disney Store Online (http://store.disney.com/) has been open since November 1996, long enough to learn what works. According to reports (http://pubs.cmpnet.com/internetwk/case/study0323-2.htm), they've been carefully tracking conversion rates while continuing to tweak their store structure to maximize sales. I take a stroll down their aisles recently to see how they do it. Why don't you come along and see it through my eyes.

Intermediate Page

Between the Disney home page and the main store pages is an intermediate page that highlights specials.

• The Coolest Kids' Clothes are featured for the back-to-school season.

• Today's Free Gift. "This Mickey Mouse Pad is yours FREE with orders of $60 or more." This is designed to keep order totals high and create another incentive to make a purchase.

• Send a Birthday Pooh Gram catches my eye. What's a Pooh Gram? I click. It's a gift, a card, and a big bear hug all in one, they tell me, and only $29.95 plus shipping (http://store.disney.com/WebObjects/PoohGram). I can even choose which Pooh Gram to send. Good Luck Pooh, Good-Bye, Happy Anniversary, Happy Birthday Pooh, It's a Girl Pooh. You get the picture. I wouldn't have even happened into that section without the graphic.

A menu on the left side is full of graphic buttons to various sections.

First Page Teasers

Eventually I click on menu button for The Disney Store Online that takes me to the main store page. Here I'm tantalized by four ways to get me into a shopping mood.

1. Today's Free Gift still reminds me of my mouse pad reward for purchases.
2. Gift Finder helps me browse quickly. I can select three parameters for the search: Character/Movie, Product Category, and Age Group. This works well since Disney items make good gifts, but other stores, especially niche stores, could easily develop a product finder as one more way to get me deep into the store quickly. Of course, the gift finder is nothing more than a fancy front end to a database product search system.
3. Animated gif with three featured products. To the left of the picture frame, a pair of Mickey Mouse ears appears next to the hypertext link to click on for that product. Very clever. To be sure, it is a 26K image, but it has a very specific purpose: to bring people to popular items.
4. Store Menu appears to the left of every catalog page, with two main sections: (1) What's New and (2) Store Directory.

Leftside Browsing Menu

The ambience is bright, primary colors with goofy characters smiling back at me. It is a high energy site because of the colors and cartoons. The buttons on the left side have dissolved into leaner hyperlinks to the various product sections. Two headlines attract me:

What's New and Store Directory

I'm ready for something new so I click on "Video Collection." "New" and "Presale" icons next to certain products in the video section catch my eye, with a featured product (the Flubber Video) at the top right corner of the page. I see something about sales and discounts. Hmm. I wonder what I could get a good deal on? This layered approach to getting me involved has got me hooked. First teasers on the intermediate page, then more on the main store page, and finally the main store menu to browse from.

Ordering

One feature of this catalog is that every product page explains how to order. Nothing is taken for granted. The text reads:

To ORDER:

1. Select a quantity for each item.
2. Select the sizes and colors (if applicable).
3. Click the "Add Items" button.

Once you have added all the desired items to your Shopping Basket, click the "Begin Checkout" button near the top of the page.

The "Begin Checkout" button only appears when there is something in the cart. It's bright yellow color that makes me want to click on it.

When I do, the items in shopping cart are shown in a colorful table, along with two buttons: "Back to Shopping" and "Continue to Checkout". "Continue to Checkout" is in green, and remains the same color throughout the ordering process. This explanation follows:

Click the "Continue to Checkout" button to provide your gift message. Then you can add these items to your Order Form. If you wish, you may remove items after they have been added to the Order Form.

Once the items are added to your Order Form, you may complete your purchase by entering your billing address, the shipping address, and your credit card information.

Questions about shipping? Please consult the Shipping Information page.

On final order form that takes my address and credit information, the left menu disappears so I won't be distracted from completing my order.

The Downside

Not that everything was perfect.

The main Disney site page (http://www.disney.com) at 70K took too long to download. It's graphics heavy, nor were there any ALT tags under the pictures, which could have speeded my way. But the intermediate page of the Shop section (http://www.disney.com/Shop/index.html) was even heavier at 73K. Disney runs the risk of loosing shoppers before they even get inside the store. On the other hand, shoppers may think that the attractiveness of the Disney characters is worth the wait. Stores without a high brand awareness wouldn't get as much of a chance here.

The online store catalog pages uses frames with their ugly scroll bar. It distracts from what could otherwise be a beautiful page design. And with a database driven site (which this surely is, or with server side includes, for that matter) there is no compelling reason to use a frames system to lower maintenance.

Makes Me Want to Buy

All in all, however, this site makes me want to make a purchase, and to continue through the ordering procedure to complete my order. They've done a lot of things right. I wonder if my daughter would like one of those Pooh Happy Birthday animals in November? I may be back.

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