Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 64

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Popular Culture Review

the site reflects a design based on functionality. The house metaphor is no longer
used. E-commerce is the purpose of the site. The transaction moves to the fore and
interaction moves to the background of the site’s construction.
Recipes, tips and craft instructions are still provided to the site visitor free of
charge, but these are available only after tunneling to them. The link between the
Martha By Mail Web store and the weekly television and radio program guides is
just as apparent as it was on the original Web site. What has changed is the location
of these former “rooms.” Program guide information is now located on the lower
right side of the browser screen. Program information is now several mouse clicks
away from the splash screen.
A nearly seamless e-commerce experience has been designed for the site visitor.
Immediately available to the site visitor, on the upper left side of the browser
screen, is a thumbnail image of some MSLO product featured under the Martha
By Mail heading. A mouse click and the site visitor is inside the Martha By Mail
Web store. Entry into this virtual store is an immediate experience when using the
new www.marthastewart.com Web site. The user who prefers to use buttons to
navigate through a Web site will find that the Web store is the first button on the
left of the button row across the top of the browser screen. If the user likes to use
icons to navigate, a mouse click on any one of the eight product category icons
featured in a circle in the center of the browser screen will take the user immediately
to the Web store.
This reinvented Web site represents a clear change from the initial Web site’s
design. While the Martha By Mail Web store was a room in the house, it was not
the first room the visitor encountered. The new Web site makes it clear that the role
of www.marthastewart.com is not to provide “fish food” to site visitors but to
provide ample opportunities for the site user to engage in e-commerce.
Form follows function at www.marthastewart.com. The synergistic nature of
this organization is evident in the fact that the launch of the www.marthastewart.com
Web site was timed to coincide with the daily syndication of M artha Stew art Living
Television and the “askMartha” radio show.
Sales opportunities arise within the context of the site; many of the products
featured in recipes and craft projects are available through Martha By Mail. The
weekly program guide of the M artha Stew art Living television show is linked \o
the featured products sold in the Martha By Mail Web store. I he \iewei is led tt>
believe that the right equipment and the correct utensils are those Martha Stewart
uses in the demonstrations. The equipment and utensils are paired with the
appropriate episode information on the Web site. The viewer simply logs on to the
Web site and becomes a shopper in the Martha By Mail Web store with a few
mouse clicks. This is possible because the synergistic strategy employed by MSLO
provides a tightly controlled closed-system.