Website of the Week Icelandair Saga Shop sagashop.net | |
 | Content (0-4): 2 |
 | Pricing (0-2): 2 |
 | Navigation (0-4): 4 |
 | Style/Design (0-4): 3 |
 | Supplementary information (0-2): 1 |
 | Overall incentive to shop (0-4): 2 |
 | Total (0-20): 14 |
Scoring system explained – click here | |
Website of the week – Icelandair Saga Shop
Icelandair, the largest subsidiary of Icelandair Group, currently serves 24 gateways in North America and Europe.
Saga Shop (sagashop.net) is Icelandair’s online duty free store where passengers can pre-order duty free items before their departure and receive the products onboard or at the Saga Boutique store at Leifsstöð, Keflavík Airport.
This online retail service echoes the airline’s mission statement of “an International Service Company, dedicated to providing quality service to its customers”. The online boutique is neat, user-friendly and a good avenue to enhance the inflight duty free shopping experience for passengers.
FRONT PAGE
Saga Shop has a minimalist feel with the different sections laid out neatly on the front page. The airline’s colour theme of dark blue and orange is consistent throughout the site and is a smart contrast against the predominantly white and light grey background. The layout is easy on the eyes and uncluttered, giving the visitor a sense of control and straightforwardness.
The front page features a navigation panel at the top with links to the various product categories offered – Women, Men, Kids, Specialities and Sweets – as well as links to the Offers category and shopping basket.
The centre of the page showcases two random products with the product images and a preview of the product description below it. Clicking on “˜More’ below each product will take you to the individual product page with further details and the function to add the item to your basket. Refreshing the front page will present you with a different pair of product showcases each time.
The remaining sections on the front page consist of useful information and news for passengers including About Saga Shop, On everyone’s lips, Brochure, News and Payment.
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Minimalist chic: the airline’s colour theme of dark blue and orange is a smart contrast against the predominantly white and light grey background; refreshing the page brings you a new pair of product showcases |
WHAT’S ON OFFER
The Women’s category is subdivided into eight product types: Watches, Bracelets, Earrings & Rings, Necklaces, Fragrances, Creams & Cleansers, Cosmetics and Sunglasses. There is a vast array of over 300 products on offer across the eight product types. Relatively new brands in the duty free channel such as the cosmetics brand Benefit are also available.
We noticed, however, that some products are listed in more than one section. For example, the Clarins Radiance + Self Tanning moisturiser is listed under both Cosmetics and Creams & Cleansers. Furthermore, some products would be more appropriately placed in another section. One such item is the One-step Cleanser which is placed under the Cosmetics section but in our opinion would fit better under Creams & Cleansers.
The Men’s category, made up of Watches, Accessories, Fragrances and Sunglasses, offers good variety from international brands like Burberry, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Kenneth Cole, Police, Ray-Ban and Adidas.
One interesting thing to note, however, is that the Accessories section comprises a very wide assortment of items ranging from watches, belts and wallets to deodorant, socks, playing cards, confectionery, liquor and even a wine stopper and an ice-cube mould. Perhaps this section encompasses too broad a range of items.
On further exploration, the products under the men’s category that we thought might be more appropriate if placed elsewhere (items like the wine stopper and ice-cube mould) are also listed in the more fitting sections of “˜For your home’ and “˜Useful Items’ under the Specialities category.
Specialities consists of the following sections: For your home, Icelandair products and Useful Items. At the time of viewing, there are no items on offer under the Icelandair products section. Similarly, some items from “˜For your home’ are repeated in “˜Useful Items’ too. The two sections list a wide range of products like DKNY gloves (€21), wine stopper (€24), Georg Jensen salt and pepper mill (€72) and travel chess set (€2,300).
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Easy on the eyes: product categories can be accessed via the thumbnail grid in the centre or the menu on the left |
The Kids’ category offers children’s watches, sunglasses and jewellery. The Sweets section has two items listed: Toblerone chocolate pack (€8) and Sweet Iceland – assorted confectionery from Iceland (€9).
The Offers category has ten items on offer from various categories. Items are displayed with only one price listed. The before sale price of the items could perhaps be included to highlight to customers the savings they are enjoying.
Without a doubt, the online shop offers a wide and interesting range of items to suit different groups, tastes and demands. However, the site could benefit by adopting a more streamlined structure by refining the product categorisation process.
The product listing is neat with one item on each line and a total of ten items per page. Items could be further sorted within the sections – either in alphabetical order or by price point – for viewing convenience. Currently, the visitor has to do quite a bit of scrolling through to get a scattered overview of what is offered.
The usage of images is generous throughout the site. The product listing includes a thumbnail picture of the item, the item name and the price. Clicking on “˜More’ under each product leads to the individual product page with further details and description. Unfortunately, the individual product page displays the same thumbnail picture of the product. The site would do well to provide bigger pictures for better viewing and clarity. It should also be noted that not all items are accompanied by details and descriptions.
The presentation of product names is not very consistent as there is no fixed format for labelling products in the product listings. For some products, generic names like “˜Gloss’ and “˜Powder’ are used in place of the brand’s original product name or specific model name. In another example, two items are both named “˜Kenneth Cole Watch’ under the Watches section without stating the model. Coupled with the small thumbnail images, this makes it hard for customers to discern between brands and models.
FRIENDLY FEATURES
A commendable feature of the site is the convenient and user-friendly navigation system; the omnipresent navigation panel provides links to the product categories and shopping basket at all times. Customers can return to the front page at any time by clicking on the Saga Shop logo located at the top throughout.
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Customers can drag and drop the items into their basket |
Back links are readily available throughout the site. A “˜Back’ link is provided to bring customers back to the page they were last at. This saves the trouble of having to click on the “˜Back’ button of the browser.
Shopping is made easy, too. The shopping basket is rooted to the right column of every product page. Customers can choose to add items to the basket by clicking on “˜Add item to basket’ or by dragging items into the basket. They also have the option to add items from both the product listing page and the individual product detail page. Items can be added or removed at any time by clicking on the “˜+’ or “˜-“˜ buttons beside each item.
Saga Shop did not forget about the important and time-saving tool – the search function. Customers can search for items by key words. Typing the word “˜bag’ will list all items with that word in the item name or product description, such as a cosmetic bag and a nail polish set that comes in a bag.
A nice touch from Saga Shop is the option to choose between two text sizes for the site. Visitors can click on “˜A-“˜ for a smaller font size or “˜A+’ for a bigger one. A pity that the text size preference does not apply to every page with a one-time selection; the text will resume to the default smaller size when you move to another page. Although this feature is rooted to the top right corner of the page and is always accessible, it could perhaps be tweaked to incorporate selection memory, making it more convenient for visitors.
USEFUL INFORMATION
About Saga Shop: This section provides useful information on the terms and conditions of the buying and payment processes as well as the picking up of items.
FAQ: A relatively small coverage of four questions regarding product warranty and exchanges. It would be useful for passengers if information on duty free allowances and LAGs were also covered.
News: The News section features product and personality features and useful information for passengers regarding usage of frequent flyer points to purchase products. Passengers are updated with new promotions as well. The featured promotion on the front page is Saga Shop’s new campaign “˜On everyone’s lips’. Passengers can purchase special YSL Lip gloss onboard Icelandair planes. Profits go directly to the Icelandic Cancer Society against breast cancer for buying new equipment.
BRAVO FOR BROCHURE
In addition to the website, the Saga Shop brochure is also available for customers to browse through online. The brochure can be viewed on the web or downloaded. Customers can also request via email for the brochure to be delivered to them by mail.
The online version of the brochure is presented in a realistic and interactive form. The action of flipping through the brochure page by page is simulated, complete with sound effects. The online application also includes many functions that make it a delight to use.
Customers can bookmark their favourite pages or add a “˜sticky note’ to a section that catches their eye. They can customise their viewing experience with the following options: one-page or two-page view, a thumbnail summary of the pages, view by content, magnification of pages and keyword search on brochure contents.
The 68-page full-colour brochure includes more detailed product descriptions and clearer pictures. Icelandair encourages travellers to “˜peruse the extensive brochure of Saga Shop offerings at their leisure and make their purchase during the flight’. Indeed, this pleasant feature provided by Saga Shop should not be missed.
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The power of interactivity: flip the web brochure like you would a real one; bookmark a page and make some notes |
GENERAL OVERVIEW
Saga Shop lives up to its claims of offering travellers “˜a wide selection of exotic perfumes, exciting accessories, delicious sweets and elegant jewellery’. The website scores with its pleasant features, clean-cut layout and user-friendly navigation system. However, there is definitely room for improvement with better organisation and presentation of products.
What we like:
• Neat, minimalist layout
• Excellent navigation and linking system
• User-friendly shopping basket
• Interactive brochure
• Ability to pre-order
What needs adding/improving:
• Better product organisation and presentation
• Clearer images on product detail page
• More incentives to shop, such as promotions and special offers
• Currency converter
Website of the week scoring system explained:
Content: How wide is the range of items on offer? Are there good quality photos and product descriptions?
Pricing: Are product prices listed? For all products?
Navigation: How easy is the site to use?
Style/Design: How does the site look?
Supplementary information: On allowances, currencies, after-sales service, useful tips and so on.
Overall incentive to shop: This includes tone, promotions, offers, competitions and, importantly, pre-order.
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