Sainsburys Home Page
The third part of my series on looking at supermarkets web sites to see how they use 404 pages to direct users if they get lost and so make sure that the overall user experience is a decent one.
The first two parts investigated Asda and Tesco who, between them, have almost 40 web sites. Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrison’s, Somerfield and the Co-Op have a lot less and so this post should be a bit shorter as a result.
I’ll just quickly mention that if you are not sure what 404 pages are and why web sites should have them (especially major UK retailers) then you can read my introduction to 404 pages here.
Of the 5 supermarkets that we are going to have a look at today, let’s start with Sainsbury’s.
Sainsbury’s
A total of 9 web sites for Sainsbury’s with a couple of smaller sites crawling out of the woodwork.
Sainsburys – www.sainsburys.co.uk
The Sainsbury's 404 page - not a good example
This is a strange one indeed, the main Sainsburys web site presents different messages or outcomes depending on the URL that you are having a problem with. For instance, if you go to http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/testing in the root of the directory structure then you are redirected back to the home page, which is not always helpful but isn’t as big a deal as if you try http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/testing, which gives you a bit ‘Not Found’ error message, completed unbranded and unhelpful for the user.
Finally, if you try going to an incorrect product page such as http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/home_and_garden/cookware/testing.html, then you get a different type of server default 404 page, which is also completely unbranded, unhelpful and doesn’t present the Sainsbury’s web site in a good light.
J Sainsbury Corporate Site – www.jsainsbury.co.uk
The corporate site leads the way with its 404 page use
The corporate site offers a much better 404 page that presents the user with a search first of all and links underneath to a site index and other main pages within the web site. This is kept within the main navigation and footer and is overall a pretty good 404 page. Why can’t the main Sainsbury’s web site be similar to this?
Sainsburys Energy – www.sainsburysenergy.com
The Sainsburys Energy 404 page is very poor...and EDF branded
Sainsburys Energy is provided by EDF Energy and the 404 page is completely EDF Energy branded and totally unhelpful. The user is presented with a logo, an ‘Our Apologies’ heading and 2 reasons why you may have be shown this page, either the user mistyped or the page doesn’t exist.
There are no links to further pages or even back to the home page, no search, no sitemap, no customer service numbers or email addresses, etc. The logo does link to the Sainsburys Energy home page and users do often try clicking on a logo but this 404 page could be greatly improved.
Sainsburys Bank – www.sainsburysbank.co.uk
Sainsbury's Bank offers a good example of a 404 page
Branded as Sainsburys Finance, this 404 page is straightforward enough with the customary error message (that runs outside of the its container on the page) and then links to the home page, site map page and then links to their main product areas. Tucked away in the top left are Sainsbury’s Quick Links, which upon clicking opens a panel laid out like a sitemap page.
Sainsbury’s Business Direct – www.sainsburysbusinessdirect.co.uk
Not any better than a server default 404 page
To be frank, a horrible 404 page. This one tells you the page is not found and gives you a link back to the home page. No explanation or message plus completely unbranded, which makes it look like a server default page although I don’t think it is. This one needs a lot more effort to become a decent 404 page.
Sainsbury’s Gifts – www.sainsburysgifts.co.uk
Sainsbury's Gifts - same terribleness as with Business Direct
The Sainsbury’s Gifts web site looks pretty similar to the Business Direct site and, surprise surprise, the 404 page is similarly rubbish. Unfortunately, it is exactly the same as the poor Business Direct 404 page.
Sainsbury’s Calais – www.sainsburyscalais.co.uk
If I can't find what I'm looking for, I won't be going to Sainsbury's in Calais
A pre-order web site for getting your wine and beer sorted before you get to Calais. I noticed a couple of problems with the web site when I had a quick look around and was not surprise to find that there is no custom 404 page, just the server default kind.
Sainsbury’s Compare and Save – www.sainsburyscompareandsave.com
Sainsbury's Compare and Save's poor attempt at a 404 page
Sainsbury’s Compare and Save compares broadband, digital and phone packages and is powered by Simplify Digital. I was worried about this web site, as it doesn’t even have a title tag specified for the home page but there is a custom 404 page. However, all the 404 page consists of a large, ‘Whoops! We can’t find the page you are looking for.’ with nothing further. Whoops indeed.
If I try going to an incorrectly typed URL such as http://www.sainsburyscompareandsave.com/testing.aspx, I get a server error page, Whoops again.
Sainsbury’s Little Ones – www3.sainsburys.co.uk/littleones
Sainsbury's Little Ones generic 404 page not good enough
The Little Ones web site is a standalone web site even though its URL is on the back of the main Sainsburys domain name. The 404 page is unbranded and gives no less that 6 reasons why a user may have found it. There is a link to the Little Ones home page and I am sure that the final message of, ‘If difficulties persist, please contact the System Administrator of this site.’ is useful to somebody but not me. How would I go about doing that then?
Waitrose
Waitrose operate a total of 4 web sites that I could find without heading off into John Lewis Land.
Waitrose – www.waitrose.com
Waitrose has an odd 404 page
A slightly odd 404 page, you get a nicely short and apologetic message with a request that you use the search facility (which you have to find yourself) or the site map. The site map is underneath but this is quite a lot of white space and so if you were viewing the Waitrose site on a netbook or small laptop (such as a Macbook like I was using) then you can easily miss the fact that the sitemap is actually present just underneath where you are viewing.
Waitrose Deliver – www.waitrosedeliver.com
Waitrose Deliver delivers hard to read 404 page
The Waitrose Deliver 404 page is not great, you get a hard to read error message in light grey text on a white background, an error message with a link to the home page plus a customer services telephone number and an email address. No navigation, no link to a sitemap, no search and no footer links plus did I mention the text was a bit difficult to read?
Waitrose Wine Direct – www.waitrosewine.com
Waitrose Wine Direct offers mature and full bodied 404 page
Waitrose’s Wine web site’s 404 page requests that you try using their search in the top right hand corner of the screen, provides links to the home page and to the customer services section and asks if you type in the URL correctly. The main navigation and footer navigation is all present too, which means that the user should have a fair chance of finding what they were looking for. A good 404 page.
Waitrose Jobs – www.waitrosejobs.com
Waitrose Jobs has a non-existent 404 page
This John Lewis branded web site does not have a custom 404 page and as such delivers a nasty server default page if a user gets lost, which is of no benefit at all.
Morrisons
Just the single web site for Morrison’s so let’s hope they make a good stab of it.
Morrisons – www.morrisons.co.uk
Morrisons 404 page - what 404 page?
Oh dear, no custom 404 page on their web site, if a user stumbles across a page not found error they will hit a default server 404 page. In my view that is offering a terrible user experience.
Somerfield
Not one of the major supermarket retailers and recently merged with the Co-Operative, Somerfield have just the one web site.
Somerfield – www.somerfield.co.uk
Somerfield's 404 page is a pretty good one
A straightforward 404 page set within the site so the main header including site navigation is shown across the top and the footer is displayed underneath. The 404 message itself is fairly simplistic with links to the home page and, for some reason, to the Somerfield Corporate site, which now redirects you to the Co-Operative’s Group portion of their site, as the 2 companies have merged.
The Co-Operative
Similar to Somerfield, perhaps that is why they have just merged, the Co-Operative has a single web site.
The Co-Operative – www.co-operative.coop
The Co-Op dishes out a decent 404 page
A fairly good 404 page, tells you why you have been presented with the page and what you can do about it including links to the site map, a link to the home page and also telling you to try the search on the home page. If that wasn’t enough there is a telephone number and a customer services email address.
There aren’t many 404 pages that we’ve seen that are better than this in my view.
Conclusions
A mixed bag of supermarkets gives us changeable results in the area of 404 pages. Sainsbury’s had 2 good 404 pages (on the Corporate site and Bank web sites) but the rest were pretty poor including their main web site. Waitrose wasn’t that much better with their Wine site being the highlight whilst Morrison’s was a complete non event. Somerfield’s 404 page was straightforward and the Co-Op’s was pretty good.
Overall, a sense of disappointment (again) with the major supermarkets and how lacking their sites are when it comes to the best practice use of something as simple and basic as a 404 page. Full marks go to the Co-Operative.