taxonomies for
e-commerce
Jane Frazier
What is a taxonomy?
Taxonomy = Classification
Taxonomies in e-commerce
- Categories
-
Facets
Categories
Departments in a store
OR
Things you can purchase
- May be hierarchical
- Typically 5-20 top categories
- Typically 3-4 levels deep
- Typically 3-20 subcategories per level
Categories
Subcategories
Faceting
(Faceted search, faceted navigation, faceted browsing, guided navigation)
Faceting
Allows Marketplace users to make use of pre-existing structured metadata about products
- Facets are for:
- use after a search is performed
- filtering/refining after a category is chosen
Users begin by either:
- selecting a pre-defined category
OR
- performing a classic search
Once search results have been provided, users then choose one or more filters with which to refine or narrow their search results
Faceting
Faceting
Taxonomy design challenges
- Distinction between categories, subcategories, and facets
- Different categorization methods based on the type of product
- Related items or accessories (i.e. stamp albums, catalogues, supplies)
- Taxonomy best practices versus business needs
- Other considerations...
Categories versus facets
Categories & subcategories
Things, products, nouns, items that can stand by themselves
Facets
Characteristics, descriptions, adjectives, dimensions of things
Categories & facets may be close to one another on the page, but they do not serve the same functionality.
How to tell the difference:
A category is a type of thing that you can buy,
and shouldn't be an attribute of a facet.
Filtering on one or many facets at the same time is possible
Blurring the line between categories & facets
Should it be a category or a facet?
Shopping by:
- Gender (Men's clothing)
- Genre (Comedy DVDs)
- Occasion (Formal Menswear)
- Sale (All clearance items under $25)
- Recency (New arrivals)
Challenge:
"Australian stamps"
Category & Subcategory:
Stamps> Australian Stamps
Category & Facet:
Stamps
- Australia
Best practice
vs.
Business needs
Sorting
- Sort order options:
- Alphabetical
- Relevance
- Recency
- Price (high to low / low to high)
- Custom
- ???
Click path & URL design
example.com/gummy-candy/lollipops/gummy-candy/gummy-candy/product?swedish-fish OR
example.com/product?item=swedish-fish&category=gummy-candy
Thank you!
taxonomies for e-commerce
By Jane
