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Ask HN: Radically different structured eCommerce sites?
21 points by endofreach on April 19, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 10 comments
I feel that most eCommerce sites have a very similar structure for their homepage, landing pages, product pages, cart etc. Of course it makes sense from a UI/UX perspective for the most part.

What eCommerce sites do you know that have a completely different structure than what you're used to?




McMaster Carr. What every ecommerce site should be.


https://www.lingscars.com/


Nice to see that again. I always used to show this to my colleagues as an example of the unconventional (and some clever marketing) converting adversities or deficiencies into strengths.


A very unique site for sure, but it's no ecommerce site.


Sure it is.

It's just not as invasive as you want one to be.


More commercial b2b ecomm sites will sometimes not have product pages and instead just have one page that looks like a spreadsheet that you fill out and submit, the idea being the customer needs to order in bulk and is already aware of what the product is/doesn't need to be marketed to. You basically go down the lines on the spreadsheet and just put in quantities for each product.

That's the closest I can think of. There are ecomm sites that have been around since the 90s and haven't changed much but those either still have the product page/cart/checkout structure or are functionally just catalogues and require you to place an order by phone.


Yah I work for a SaaS ecommerce platform/provider that specializes in wholesale/B2B companies and apparel suppliers and this is accurate.

Additionally I would mention sites that only exist for RFQs (requests for quotes) and don't actually have pricing anywhere on the site. You load a bunch of items into what is effectively a quote request "cart" and then submit. From the backend of the system the business owners can then provide you with whatever arbitrary pricing they deem to fit. One of these sites on our platform is actually wildly successful but sells very niche product.

Also, I will mention the promotional products industry where there is an additional "decoration" step to the ordering process. Think of putting your companies logo on a mug. So not only are you buying the blank mug but you are also purchasing your decoration method of choice (screen print, digital print/full color, laser engraving, etc.) to get your logo/design on to the mug which has a complex pricing structure of it's own. There are many companies that have developed software to visualize what the item would look like with your logo before you even purchase it - some with pretty convincing results.


https://rockauto.com

Granted it's a catalog site so they are going to have a huge inventory. Still I'm surprised how usable the UX is.


My local brewery had a pretty radical new feature today. Each time I clicked on the cart it removed all the items.

Radical anti commerce initiative dude.

Or maybe a bug..

Kool topic tho, keen to see the responses.


Yeezysupply and supreme.




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