Apple integrates online store with main website in major Apple.com redesign

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2015
Apple on Thursday made a huge change to the way it handles online shopping by integrating the Online Apple Store with its main Apple.com website, merging the two Web presences into a unified view, adding a persistent shopping bag link and performing slight design tweaks to product pages.




As seen in the screenshot above, Apple's online store is now completely integrated with the company's official website. Major product lines still show up with the usual "Buy Now" buttons, but clicking on those assets adds items to a virtual shopping bag instead of redirecting to "store.apple.com." This makes shopping on Apple's website even easier than before, as customers no longer have to hop back and forth between Apple.com and a separate Online Apple Store.

Individual product landing pages have also been revamped, with sub menus up top directing to device and model information, available accessories and model comparison pages. Each device page's link hierarchy points to older Web assets like the Explore menu, the main difference being seamless integration with Apple's online purchasing system.

While purchase pages for Apple's major product lines like iPhone, iPad and Mac also remain largely unchanged from designs seen on the erstwhile Online Apple Store, accessories are displayed in grid form with links to separate buy now pages. In both cases, the old buy button has been replaced by an "Add to Bag" graphic.

Clicking on the new shopping bag icon located to the extreme right of the navigation bar invokes a drop-down menu with links to user's "bag," favorite items, orders, account information and an option to log out. The icon replaces Apple's "Store" link that sat in the same position for years.

Search has also been revamped with quick links and query handling for four main categories: Explore, Accessories, Support and Apple Stores.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    Eh...I don't think I like this. Apple.com should be about more than selling you more product.

    (Though with the way they've been purging support articles that may no longer be the case, so thanks Angela!)

    Does this mean the entire site will have to go down when events happen?
  • Reply 2 of 32
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Possible BI headline: To reverse falling sales, Apple merges online store with corporate site.
  • Reply 3 of 32
    robmrobm Posts: 1,068member
    jungmark wrote: »
    Possible BI headline: To reverse falling sales, Apple merges online store with corporate site.

    Not bad, but I think they'd use something far more odious.

    Corporate Crisis ? Apple Restructures.
  • Reply 4 of 32
    Everybody hold on to your hats! Apple is moving off of WebObjects!!! :O
  • Reply 5 of 32
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Cue the "this sucks! Makes me not want to shop on apple.com anymore" comments. People spend less than 5 seconds on the new site and immediately hate it because it's different. :rolleyes:
  • Reply 6 of 32
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Eh...I don't think I like this. Apple.com should be about more than selling you more product.

    (Though with the way they've been purging support articles that may no longer be the case, so thanks Angela!)

    Does this mean the entire site will have to go down when events happen?

    I don't see any selling on the main page. And when you go to the product pages you have a learn more link and a buy link. I don't see what's wrong with that. Hopefully this means the website won't be taken down anymore when new products are launched.
  • Reply 7 of 32
    jungmark wrote: »
    Possible BI headline: To reverse falling sales, Apple merges online store with corporate site.

    "Desperate Apple pushes web visitors even harder to buy their failing products."
  • Reply 8 of 32
    Everybody hold on to your hats! Apple is moving off of WebObjects!!! :O

    How can you tell?
  • Reply 9 of 32
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member

    Initially I couldn't figure where the store was but once I started looking at products, the Buy button was added and it made adding items to my cart much easier than finding info about the product then going back and forth to the store until I was done. I think I can get used to it.

     

    I also accessed my Apple EPP web site and that's been changed for the better. I'm not a former Apple employee but because of where I worked I can get the discount. Sample of entry page. Everything offered is easy to find and select. I like it.

     

     

    added 8/7/2015: I just noticed the Apple home page is now including a direct link to the EPP store at the top of the page. No more worrying about going through my retiree benefits website.

  • Reply 10 of 32
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post



    Eh...I don't think I like this. Apple.com should be about more than selling you more product.



    (Though with the way they've been purging support articles that may no longer be the case, so thanks Angela!)



    Does this mean the entire site will have to go down when events happen?

     

    You don't like something Apple has done, with zero real justification. News at 11. You've become quite the troll. 

    Oh, and here's a tip: Apple has always been about "selling product", so I'm not sure where your confusion lies. 

     

    I don't see any real negatives to this updates. It removes redundant pages, creates a global shopping cart, prevents the need to jump back and forth between different domains, and makes the buying experience more intuitive and efficient. A solid improvement, but of course if you're someone who is irrrational enough to view Tim Cook as "John Scully", then really I don't know who should take your "opinion" on anything seriously. Why don't you provide us a list of negatives that outweigh all the positives, since you think this is a bad move? Wait, that would assume you actually took the time to give the redesign thoughtful consideration, instead of a 5 second conclusion based on nothing. 

  • Reply 11 of 32
    cashxxcashxx Posts: 114member
    Makes more sense.....you can see the advertising on the site for the product and simply add it to cart and buy it.

    What happens to the education store and how do you see the refurbs and stuff?
  • Reply 12 of 32
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member

    What I can't seem to find is the Education store that provides student/school employee discounts...

    Well, I sorta found something, but it's really unwelcoming, and harder to see the "discount"...

    I guess I'm still waiting for something I like about Apple's retailing changes since the Age of Angela began...

  • Reply 13 of 32
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cashxx View Post



    Makes more sense.....you can see the advertising on the site for the product and simply add it to cart and buy it.



    What happens to the education store and how do you see the refurbs and stuff?

    http://www.apple.com/education/pricelists/

  • Reply 14 of 32
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    There's still some pages on apple.com that haven't been updated to responsive design yet. You can really tell on your phone because when you load the page you can hardly read anything on it. One of them is the public relations page where all their press releases are. I'm a little surprised that hasn't been updated yet.
  • Reply 15 of 32
    cashxxcashxx Posts: 114member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by boredumb View Post

     

    http://www.apple.com/education/pricelists/




    Refurb store is at the bottom of the main page as well!

  • Reply 16 of 32
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Looks fine to me. I will have to learn my way around the new structure, but once learned, it should be more straight-forward and simpler. Good move Apple.
  • Reply 17 of 32
    pistispistis Posts: 247member
    slurpy wrote: »
    You don't like something Apple has done, with zero real justification. News at 11. You've become quite the troll. 
    Oh, and here's a tip: Apple has always been about "selling product", so I'm not sure where your confusion lies. 

    I don't see any real negatives to this updates. It removes redundant pages, creates a global shopping cart, prevents the need to jump back and forth between different domains, and makes the buying experience more intuitive and efficient. A solid improvement, but of course if you're someone who is irrrational enough to view Tim Cook as "John Scully", then really I don't know who should take your "opinion" on anything seriously. 

    He loves to complain
  • Reply 18 of 32
    9secondko9secondko Posts: 929member
    I thought I wouldn't like the change.

    After hiring Angela, it seems Apple's sales efforts just completely turned people off.

    The whole Watch sales overcomplication was ridiculous.

    Some of the retail choices have been... Questionable.

    So when read here that the site went in this direction I was a bit concerned, just wishing Ahrendts would stop pushing change for change sake.

    So I go to check it out... And to my surprise.... It's GREAT.

    It now works as simply as most woocommerce enabled Wordpress themes. Lol

    The awesome presentation of product detail that Apple has always had is still moving forward. The only difference is that now we have a much smoother and more convenient way of making the purchase instead of navigating away to the store.

    An added benefit is that Apple has thought through the entire process yet again with nice touches such as information on financing etc right away. Sort of hand holding in a good way.

    Was ready to be sad, but now I'm glad.

    So... Uh... Thanks Apple for turning my frown upside down?

    Now if they could just seem to manage stocking the store with Skylake MBPs and iMacs soon so I can finally pull the trigger on a new Mac...
  • Reply 19 of 32
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    There's still some pages on apple.com that haven't been updated to responsive design yet. You can really tell on your phone because when you load the page you can hardly read anything on it. One of them is the public relations page where all their press releases are. I'm a little surprised that hasn't been updated yet.

     

    Maybe the old pages are cached under the same name (though the time stamp would usually have initiated a refresh).

  • Reply 20 of 32
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,462member
    The MacPro page, on mobile at least, uses the old design.
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