http://www.fluid.com Fluid, Inc. related news http://flog.fluid.com/2009/08/26/fluid-retail-tips-recently-viewed-products/ When shopping online, I sometimes feel like I have the memory of a goldfish. I look at so many products when browsing a site that it’s hard for me to go back and find the ones I really like. Hitting the browser’s back button helps me find maybe the last 2-3 products, but what about the 15th? Also, it’s not usually a straight path from one product detail page to the next. Throw in category, search and promotional pages and then hitting the back button becomes a real chore. http://flog.fluid.com/2009/07/30/fluid-retail-tips-engage-customers-with-shoppable-lifestyle-imagery/ Too often when shopping online, I run across amazing lifestyle images featuring a product I would like to buy (or at least learn more about) but the retailer makes it difficult or impossible to find. Typically I’ll click on the image only to be faced with a confusing category page where if I’m lucky, I might find the product I’m after. The simple fact is that lifestyle imagery is engaging and fun: just look at the stack of Williams-Sonoma or Patagonia catalogs on the average consumer’s coffee table. However, turning that imagery into something web-ready by adding copy takes too much time and specialized resources (designers) and might even detract from the imagery itself. This is disappointing because as in the offline world, vivid imagery is engaging and can both build brand and increase the chance a customer will buy that item.