Site design scores: Web companies get credit for a jump in online retail

Online retailers are beaming over strong holiday Internet sales.

But the unsung heros of the season might be the software elves developing more pragmatic, consumer-friendly Web sites instead of the glitzy and oh-so-cool 1990s pages that techies loved but customers hated, analysts say.

"It's more practical today,'' said Harley Manning, vice president of Forrester Research in Cambridge, noting menu selections that are simpler, Web language that's clearer and online ``shopping carts'' that are easier to use, among other advances since the ``new economy'' days of the '90s.

A number of Bay State companies are big players in retail Web designs, including Sapient Corp., of Cambridge, and Molecular Inc., of Watertown.

Ralph Folz, founder and head of Molecular, said the whole goal in the post-dot-com era has been to reduce the confusion and increase the usefulness of online shopping sites.

"What we can do is give (retailers) soups-to-nuts services,'' said Folz, who said his 120-employee firm has grown 20 percent this year alone.

"Online customers can get confused easily,'' he said, adding that his firm has developed its own "single-screen checkout'' software for online shoppers.

Among others, Molecular has built Web sites for such retailers as TJX Cos. Inc., of Framingham.

Jeff Lanctot, a vice president of media for Avenue A-Razorfish, said the shift from techie-hip Web sites to more practical pages can be appreciated just in the way the business is now described.

Gone is the self-important phrase ``e-commerce,'' replaced by the more basic ``online retail,'' said Lanctot, whose firm also designs Web pages for major retailers from Best Buy to Ann Taylor.

"That's what it's all about: retail,'' said Lanctot, who describes the '90s approach to online retailing as "irrational hubris.''

"There's no 'new economy,' '' he said, adding that his company is growing at 50 percent per year. ``The retail business is not so different. It's still about retailing.''

Not that everything is well in the online retail software.

Forrester's Manning said 50 percent of all online ``shopping carts'' loaded up by customers at sites are still simply abandoned, often due to confusing procedures required to complete sales.

"That's a huge problem,'' he said.

It's a problem the software elves say they'll be busy working on before next year's holiday season.