The Frustrating Truth About Your Favorite E-Commerce Sites

An abundance of products can be a great option at times, and other times it can lead to misleading results and confusion. When your shopping for products where dimensions or measurements are not a relevant factor, then a large number of options can be beneficial. Your decision is anchored to more subjective criteria like personal preference or your evaluation of reviews. At that point what you're really looking for is the best value to meet your needs. For these purchases, we often enter the shopping phase with at least a passing knowledge of the products, which makes comparing options a less frustrating exercise.

What happens when your purchase decision includes dimensions, materials, or styles? Or when a critical part of the shopping phase is learning about the product and what is available? Suddenly a wide range of options becomes an overwhelming barrier to making an informed decision. Shopping for a sink or faucet often starts with this type of basic research, as most consumers do not frequently purchase these products and find themselves thrust into the uncomfortable position of not knowing enough to make an informed decision. Trying to stick with a design theme, finding a product that will fit and exploring all of the available styles can feel impossible when presented with hundreds of options displayed with little rhyme, reason, or grouping. Your favorite e-commerce sites are usually a great option to find the best value, but in these moments, the abundance of options presented to you often leads to more confusion than clarity.

Everything and the kitchen sink

Consider your favorite e-commerce and the wide range of products sold on the website. Dozens of similar products from food to gardening tools are listed in a dizzying and often confusing list of categories. By design, these sites are intended for you to know what you're looking to buy and then find the best value based on your own criteria. Sites like Amazon, Home Depot, or Lowes, understandably seem like the “go-to” websites for just about anything, but here is the problem. These sites were never intended to cater to sinks and faucets. This lack of specialization means that their filter and search options will only complicate things during the research phase of your buying decision. Don’t take it from us, go to one of these sites and see how difficult it can be to focus on the criteria critical for your research, get informed, and feel confident enough to make a final decision.

It’s all about ad space and confusion

Perhaps the most confusing and frustrating part of being on any of these superstore e-commerce sites is that ad spending influences results. This approach means that regardless of your specific search, you will get unrelated products mixed in with what you’re trying to research. Often leading you to click on those products only to realize that you've wasted time looking at products that do not match your measurement criteria.

In addition to a lack of proper search functions and filters, you can guarantee that you’ll be missing out on products, and perhaps even the perfect product to complete your project. Why? Because there is not a consistent approach to entering attributes. Even the most basic and important criteria are not available to search on, requiring you to click into product after product to assess if the product meets your needs. And for those options that are available, the lack of consistency and accuracy by each seller means that even though you picked the right filter, many matching products don't even show up.

Relying on global brand names

Household names for sinks and faucets have one thing in common; they do not sell products online through their websites. They rely on other stores and e-commerce sites as resellers for their products. While they offer you the opportunity to search their catalog these are not by nature commercial sites and lack key functionality. This distinction also makes it complicated to transition from research to purchase because it is now on you to start visiting a host of websites where these brand names are sold. Let's further complicate the matter by stating the fact that the product's price will vary wildly across different e-commerce websites.

What makes us different?

At AlloraUSA, our e-commerce site was designed from the ground up to help you get informed, shop available options, and purchase your product, all on one site. We engineered our website to make it easily accessible and friendly for both homeowners and professionals. Whether you’re just starting your search, with no idea about the available options, or you’re contractor, specifier, or builder who knows what you need, you’ll find our website a welcome reprieve from the chaos of large superstore e-commerce sites. We only sell Allora USA products and give you the precise filters and search options you need to get to a qualified list of products quickly.