Commerical website

The website I reviewed was for the Target corporation.

Purpose

The purpose of the website is to show the viewer their wide variety of products for marketing. The purpose is achieved because the website shows several products at once and groups them together to appeal to parents and single people. The author has not misjudged the audience, because it is appealing to young shoppers and established shoppers with families. The author understands the conventions of the web because the website is set up for people to look at different products while they shop.

Audience

The audience is for experienced web young web shoppers, probably female because they feature more female specific products like house decorations, beauty products, children's toys and female specific clothing. There are some gadgets, and electronic devices featured like Ipods, flat-screen televisions that are more masculine in appearance. Since Halloween is past they are already pushing for Christmas and are offering Christmas delivery. The advertisement for delivery features a woman and child opening their door to receive a shipment of target products.

Content

The Target website is designed for hit and run, because a viewer can go to the store and get the items or order them online. There are also features of the website that can show you the availability of a product at a Target store near you. When one clicks on the chosen product, information is given about it, and underneath it one can scroll down to view a "Related Items" menu bar and "Guests who bought this item also bought". Each product has reviews that others wrote about their experiences with the product that I found very helpful. The text is clear and well-written. But I found the site could be better organized, it looks too busy.

Appearance

I like Target products in general because of their overall graphic sensibility. The website graphics are designed with three colors: black, white and red which would seem to simplify but it does not. There are four menu bars first offering one to sign in and create a profile, the others offer more products to choose from in different categories. Then on the sidebar more products are offered in a menu called "Similar items". This makes the page crowded and overwhelming to read, decreasing interest in concentration of one product at a time.

Accessibility

The page loads pretty well, some products take more time to load than others. It also is incredibly fast at finding products available at Target locations near the viewer, an improvement from past years.

Organization

The website is organized well for how much content they have and how many different products they offer. It is not overloaded with flash features. The other ads on their website are very subtle and in smaller script, I had to look to find them because they are in solid black lettering and use no coloring. These ads are off to the left side or down on the bottom. The ads are for similar products that the viewer clicks on or is interested in. There is no link rot and it is fairly easy to navigate, however I wouldn't think that I would find many older people or men using the Target website, it looks a little overwhelming and shows more female products than male products.