Shopping online with Kalahari.net

Kalahari.net is South Africa's largest online retailer since 1999.

In January this year they were awarded Best E-Commerce Store in South Africa's first E-Commerce Awards, and also won in the categories "Best Online Bookstore", "Best Home and Garden Store", "Best Movie Store" and "Best Music Store".

I'm hoping their site design (see screenshot) and IA had nothing to do with this achievement - sheesh, what a mess! And it only gets worse as you navigate deeper. As always some (hopefully constructive) thoughts come to mind, which I've decided to list:

• Every single item on the page is competing for the eye's attention with complete disregard for any level of visual hierarchy. It's chaotic, unorganized, and difficult to look at. As a result, navigating around the site takes longer than it should.
• There's no logical grouping of related items within the layout. I count 6 different specials, in 4 different places. User-related actions at the top of the right-hand column are detached from those in the top right of the header, which are grouped with general site links which further adds to the fragmentation and confusion.
• Redundancy! Why 2 "Sign in" links and 2 "Create a Profile" links, just 30 pixels apart?
• Consistency! (my favourite word). I don't want to even begin to count the number of typefaces, their variations and colours that are clashing with each other. Some box headings are bulleted with an arrow, some aren't. Rounded corners, square corners; round buttons, square buttons, beveled buttons; gradients, stripes, dotted lines - pick a style and stick with it!
• Nearly half of the left-hand column is consumed by "Delivery" details. Sure, it's good to know, but not that important when I've just walked through your door and haven't found anything to buy yet? The same can be said for "Payment Options" and "Our Guarantee".
• The page footer, consisting primarily of 3 link lists (one of which is mostly useless until you're logged in), consumes one quarter of the page height. Mad.

Some humour from their FAQ, question 3:

How do I find my way around Kalahari.net?

Wait, that's not the joke. Here's their answer:

The site works like a shop with departments. Your first step is to take the lift to your desired department. So, click on BOOKS, MUSIC, VIDEOS/DVD's etc. and it will take you to the department where you want to buy or browse. Each department has its own products.

Or discover the site dynamically by clicking when your SCREEN MARKER changes into a HAND on links. Simply move your marker/arrow randomly across the screen.

"Screen Marker". How quaint.

"Simply move your marker/arrow randomly across the screen". And voila! The items of your dreams will magically appear in your basket.

Online shopping is an adventure of discovery with Kalahari.net. If you're not convinced, look at their logo. Look deeepp into their loooggooo... your muscless are feeeling relaxedd, your eyes are becoming heavyy...