Categories - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 32

ting managers stick to the same old org chart. But, when implemented inflexibly, users get lost.
For instance, where would you look for luggage in this menu?
Figure 2-5. Users (and luggage) get lost.
It's a big question because suitcases and travel bags are high-margin products. In retail, luggage
is among the most profitable categories. But our e-commerce client had it hidden under “for the
home” because that's where it lives in the store. Users were lost - analytics showed “luggage” to
be the most common search term - and undoubtedly so were sales.
The problem of lost luggage was even worse on mobile. Unable to rely upon mega-menus to re-
veal category maps on rollover, our client served up the hamburger icon. Beneath this visible tip
of the iceberg were their invisible products, hidden under multiple choices, clicks and categor-
ies.
Figure 2-6. Most of the iceberg is invisible.
Once in the store, shoppers persist. They ask, browse, and will even use a map. Online, it's easy
to shop elsewhere, so taxonomies must be tuned for findability. And it's no good responding to
desktop without adapting for mobile and tablet. Stuffing categories into a big hamburger will
bring bellyaches to shoppers and sellers. Users can't buy what they can't find.
While findability comes first, we must also remember that categories are about more than re-
trieval. Classification helps our users to understand. Through splitting, lumping, and labeling,