Why the Tesco website is pants

Site reviewed on 10th December 2003

Yes, tesco.com. The world's most sucessful online grocer and a top 10 site in the UK for E-commerce. However, other top 10 sites such as Argos are listed here, showing that even the biggest companies can have major usability problems.

On a search for Christmas gifts, I came across the Electricals Dept, Gifts for her. How thoughtful to have an entire section where I can be guided by tesco.com rather than having to scratch my head for hours trying to think up ideas for presents. Right away something has caught my eye, that bath picture looks inviting, how about a bath spa?

Funnily, the bath spa being shown in the photogragh wasn't listed on the page above, so I try navigating by section instead:

Select the category above for the attractive bath spa shown in the main section and end up here. Nope, still no bath spa. Not even an "Out of Stock" message. Do they actually sell this item?

Decide to try searching again, click on the "Gifts for her" link to get back to the main page (remember, it was the one with the photo of the bath spa which seems impossible to buy). Upon clicking the link, I got this.

The problem above was due to Tesco entering the incorrect URL for the relevant link - it pointed to a template page rather than the one I had visited previously.

At this point the sale was lost and resumed on a competitor's website (the subject of a future pants article - watch out for it!). However, I decide to drown my sorrows in a bottle of whisky. That's whisky spelled whisky because it's Scotch Whisky I'm interested in, not whiskEy (Irish and American Spelling) . However, Tesco demonstrate their ignorance here by using the Irish and American spelling to advertise the Scottish Product. At least Glenmorangie can spell whisky correctly, even if Tesco can't!

Update: 19th December 2003.

Went to use the Tesco site in a hurry to check on a pending order. Received this. Don't you expect websites to work like cars, when you can put the key in the ignition and turn it and the engine starts day after day, year after year without problems? At least that's how my Toyota behaves, why are websites so unreliable that a piece of software comprising the site is fundamentally significantly more unreliable than a complex mechanical device such as a car?