How do we rate a web site? Our monthly e-pinion rates web site features and effectiveness on a number of criteria, using a scale from 0 - 5. These scores are represented by "Surf Boards", with five full "Boards" being a perfect score: = 1.5 = 5 (perfect) The average of all criteria is the site's overall score rounded up to the nearest half, as displayed next to the company's name at the beginning of the review. The sites are rated on the following criteria: Design Usability Branding & Message Content Customer Support Special Features Search Engine Friendly Interactivity Privacy / Security Is there a web site that you would like to see reviewed in the BUZZ e-pinion pages? Send us an email with the web site address, and tell us why you chose them!

e-pinion - Issue #7 web surfer's review:

www.Wegmans.com - 4.5

Design - 4

Patriotic is very "in" right now. The current web site carries the red, white and blue theme with the blue dominating. The flag in the background is subtle yet visible. This design is unobtrusive and allows the site's content to be the most prominent part of the page.

The interface does not stretch to fit the browser size but it does lend itself well to being viewed on various monitors. Another attribute to this simple interface design is that it not only downloads quickly but it reinforces that the page content is the standout feature.

The "Great Meals" section of the site is the most attractive page as it is enhanced with pictures of food and a friendly chef. The descriptions on how to prepare food have step by step instructions with photos.

The site's design would have rated a 4.5, but I deducted 1/2 a surf board for the interface design not stretching to fill the browser size.

Usability - 4

Navigation: It is very easy to find what you are looking for on the site; albeit, there are a lot of things to choose from and this can be overwhelming. There are three levels of navigation at the top, another level at the bottom, and then on interior pages, there is navigation to the left, to the right and within the body copy. This can be good as it is easy to find what you are looking for but it can have a negative affect where the user feels overwhelmed with choices and doesn't know which choice will best meet their needs. Clear, simple choices alleviate the guessing game of what link will match the user's expectations.

The navigation at the bottom of the pages, especially on long pages, was cumbersome. For example, the store locator, privacy policy, contact us and site map links were not accessible from the top of the page. The biggest problem is once you are at the bottom of a page, and many of the pages are long, you have to scroll up to return to the main navigation.

Cross Browser Compatibility: The site works best in Internet Explorer 5, but crashed each time I browsed the site in Netscape 4.5 for more than 3 minutes.

The site's usability could have ranked a 5, but I deducted a full surf board for the site not working in Netscape 4.5.

Branding and Message - 3

What I found most interesting is that no where on the home page does it say that Wegmans is a grocery store. The slogan and logo on the site assumes that everyone knows what Wegmans is. The logo, a text treatment of the word "Wegmans," and the slogan "makes great meals easy," could apply to cookbooks.

Even though the body of the page does not say that Wegmans is a grocery store, the "Title" of the page does tell the user that Wegmans is a "Food Market."

Content - 5

The Wegmans.com site truly is a one stop resource for anything food related. The site's content is geared toward an audience that will be using the web site for anything from product discounts, to planning a party, to creating a shopping list. The resources are always available, easy to use and subtly encourages the user to shop at Wegmans. The site is always fresh with new ideas and users can also request email newsletters that correspond with their interests.

Product recalls were helpful especially with concerns about Listeria and Ecoli. The sooner the consumer knows of the problem, the quicker problems can be averted.

Customer Support - 5

The site has a detailed Frequently Asked Questions area that is available to users at any time. There is also a form where users can submit there questions. If a user has an immediate question, they are directed to call an 800 number from 8am-5pm Monday through Friday.

Special Features - 5

Email News: I signed up for several of their email newsletters and this feature was easy to use and promised to give me discounts on products in exchange for my registration. As recommended by security experts, I have a different password for different web sites which makes it a chore for me to remember the password each time I return to a site. The Wegmans.com "forgot password" feature is therefore, important to me, but it was a little overly complicated, perhaps because of the cluttered design. It asked for more than my email address to get my password which is an unnecessary added step. See more under security.

The "fresh news" gave me great recipe ideas that linked to their web site for full details. All-in-all my experience was good except the recipe pages took a long time to download even over a cable connection. My browser (IE5) prompted me that "you are about to view pages over a secure connection." I am not sure why the recipes need to be secure, but it did not impede me from finally getting the information. The email itself was a little too lengthy and some information was stated twice. They listed their privacy policy and several URLs to go to change user preferences. This could have been condensed but the value of presenting this information to the consumer cannot be underestimated.

Shopping List: This is a nice feature that allows users to mark items that are on sale and to aid in meal planning. I especially like this because I can share my shopping list with anyone in my family who can then be the one to take the list to the store and buy what I had planned for the week.

Recipe Search: Figuring out what to make for dinner is easy with Wegmans advances recipe search and an area to store my favorite recipes. This also aids people in meal planning for the week as you are able to add ingredients from a recipe to your shopping list. It is easy to add and delete items to your shopping list while you browse other recipes and you can also add notes to each of the items on your shopping list.

Store Locator: This is not a feature steady Wegmans customers will use often but it is necessary.

Search Engine Friendly - 2

There are no meta tags for keywords or description on any of the pages of the web site. This does affect affect them in the search engines. For example, when I search on "grocery store Lawrenceville NJ" (where I know they are located) in Google, they do not appear in the results. But when I search on the word "Wegmans" in Google, the Wegmans.com web site comes up first.

Interactivity - 5

The special features on the site, listed above, are perfect examples of interaction between a web site and a visitor. The site functions as a food and party planning assistant.

Another area of the site that is interactive us the "family" section of the web site. It encourages children and parents to interact with activity sheets, characters that teach about the food pyramid, and food tours. There are tips for parents and a an activity calendar.

Privacy/Security - 4

The privacy policy was clearly listed at the bottom of email newsletters and at the bottom of every page. The site is uses Verisign security, which is a trusted name in the industry. Users will appreciate the Verisign security logo on pages where their information is being entered. The Forgot your password feature has an extra level of security by requiring not just your email address but some other personally identifiable information such as your first and last name. I don't believe this really increases security as a hacker that can access your email address can also access your name, but it may make the user feel more comfortable. Also, when I filled out the forgot password information, I received an email with my password in it. Email is not a "secure" way to send a password. They address this issue in the email they send by stating "If you have any concerns about the security of this email, please go to our log-in page at https://my.Wegmans.com/php/login.asp now and change your user name and/or password in "my account"."

Overall Score - 4.5

Wegmans.com is an excellent site, and scored an overall average of 4.5 out of 5 possible surf boards. The site sailed through most of our tests, with the biggest problem dealing with branding and search engine friendliness. Now, if Wegmans only delivered the food and/or party platters on your shopping list, the site would really be full service!

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