This is one of those times where I'm going to be very critical of Sears, so hold on!
I'm very frustrated with Sears.com. It seems that everyday I go to the site something has changed -- and rarely for the better. Icons that don't show up, script errors and a site that looks like someone forgot that Internet Explorer was the "Default" web browser for most folks. It's been a struggle, but I kept gritting my teeth and thinking "ok, they are working on it -- they know about this."
Well this morning I login and see the site has changed again. I start searching for chainsaws -- I type in "Craftsman chainsaw" the exact same thing I typed in last week. This time I get back next to nothing. I start browsing, and nada -- I narrow things down and it just gets worse. Finally out of desperation I type in "chain saw" and whala -- there they are! So why did "chainsaw" work last week and this week I have to use "chain saw".
So now that I found what I wanted, I notice that the little layaway icons are gone. Strange, last week I placed it on layaway just fine. Why is it this week its gone? I start looking all over Sears.com and I can't find one mention of the word layaway anywhere. It's just gone.
Now let's step back and think about this. Commercials are airing left and right for layaway, and yet it's nowhere to be found. I'm pretty used to the quirks of the Sears.com site, but imagine a casual shopper trying to shop here -- they would probably run out of the room screaming.
I'm not being mean here, because I'd love to see both Sears and Kmart come out of this holiday season going GREAT -- but come on folks. Is anyone doing usability testing on the website? Is there any type of quality assurance being done? I've worked with automated QA tools for the past ten years and what I am seeing even a novice QA person should be picking up on.
I sure hope someone is listening and sharing these concerns. As for me, I've given up trying to buy that chainsaw. Maybe I'll try back later, but at this point I'm exhausted just trying to figure the site out!