Search FAIL

Published By Ryan on May.05.2009 at 12:00PM

Future Shop's search results. FAIL.

I was recently searching on the Future Shop web site to compare prices on a Home Theatre stereo system, the Sony DAV-HDX975WF, and got the results pictured above when I used the search box on their home page.

For the record, Future Shop does sell this system and to find it using search you must remove the dash from the model name. That aside, the search did not find the results I was looking for. I decided to try the search again, this time without the dash — but wait!

Where is the search? On the home page of the site it sits where the "Shop by department" dropdown menu is. So where is it?

The Search Results tell me to "Please try your search again" but there is no search box to try again with; what gives?

Why isn't this easier? Does Future Shop want me to go to another store? Do they not like me so much that they want to frustrate me on purpose? Are they hoping that I will click back to the home page and notice some fabulous sale before I search again? What is the reason for this?

In my opinion, the site fails for search. If my search does not yield any results, or simply no results that satisfy my needs, there should be an obvious and immediate way for me to try again.

The rules of the web are simple: For every additional click someone makes trying to find the content they want, it brings them one step closer to giving up and going somewhere else to get what they need.

Future Shop, if you're reading this, please reconsider your search. I'm sure that I am not the only one who gets frustrated with your site.