Apple has killed off its Online Store. Instead, its customers can now purchase their favorite devices and accessories straight from Apple's website itself.
Apple.com, which is one of the 50 most visited websites in the world with more than 1 billion unique visitors every year, is now integrated with store.apple.com, which was a standalone domain that Apple customers could visit to purchase Apple products, that is, until Thursday afternoon.
The revamped website, which shows more a change in structure than a change in aesthetics, shows each of the major Apple products, the Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple Music, featured in its own tab at the top of the screen, with the Store tab, which was once shown alongside these products, now gone.
When users click on one of these tabs, the website opens sub-tabs that further take them to a more specific product. For instance, clicking the iPhone tab will lead to sub-tabs for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. The main tab itself showcases two main links. One is Learn more, where the user can get more information about the product, and the other is the Buy link, which takes them to a page where they can buy the product.
The main tab for Accessories has also been removed. Instead, each major product gets its own Accessories sub-tab. A Compare sub-tab also appears here, so users can still compare various models like they were able to do in the old Apple Online Store.
The new structure makes it easier for users to navigate the website without having to switch back and forth between Apple's main website and the now defunct storefront. The product page, where users can buy the product, also makes it easier and faster to use as users can complete the purchase in just a single page, which should be beneficial to Apple, as streamlined websites that are easier to use often have higher conversions.
"We redesigned Apple.com knowing that our customers want to explore, research and shop in one place," an Apple spokesperson tells TechCrunch. "The new Apple.com takes the very best of our existing site and our online store to give customers one simple destination to learn and buy without navigating between two different site. We've also improved several of the site's features to make shopping easier than ever for our customers."
