ABSee / Guides / Search and navigation
GuideThis guide covers what ecommerce brands test in site search and in navigation together: the two ways a shopper finds a product without browsing. ABSee has recorded 50+ brands testing here over May to October 2026.
Updated October 2026 · Source: ABSee record · Methodology →
What changed The homepage no longer shows the 'All categories' block of round shortcut tiles or its heading, so shoppers scroll straight from the hero into the featured brand campaign.
Seen 22 Aug to 30 Aug 2026
Each tile is one kind of change brands tested in the search box, on search pages or in the menu. The chip is a size word: how many brands in the record tested it.
Mega-menus rebuilt with product tiles, text links swapped for image cards, mobile menus rebuilt.
New moved first, a deals tab, the outlet link highlighted, a category dropped from the menu.
A full search field under the header, or the box collapsed into an icon; both directions.
Rotating placeholder text naming products, a question-style prompt.
Product carousels, popular searches and category tiles when a search finds nothing.
Popular searches in place of recent ones, recommendations inside the overlay, prices in suggestions.
Natural-language search, an AI overview on results, an assistant button, camera search.
Quick-filter tabs at the top of results, an outlet button at the end.
A cart badge animation, an account icon added to the mobile header.
Four of the themes, with what brands changed. Menu and search changes are only partly labelled in the record, so the size words here are a floor.
Brands tested both directions: a full search field exposed under the logo against a box collapsed into an icon, a field moved to the left, and a pulsing ring on the search icon until the first tap.
When a search finds nothing, brands tested what to show instead: product carousels, popular searches and category tiles, so the shopper has somewhere to go next.
Natural-language search screens at two luxury brands, an AI overview panel on results, an assistant button in the header, and camera search entry points. They recur from July to September rather than arriving in one month.
Mega-menus rebuilt with product tiles, text links replaced by image cards, and mobile menus rebuilt as shortcuts above an open category list. Galeries Lafayette tested removing its homepage category shortcut tiles, shown at the top of this page.
No search experiment is among the public examples yet, so here is one record in full from a category page, where many menu journeys land.
Seen 8 Jun to 21 Jun 2026
Three hypotheses to bring to your assistant about search and navigation, each written as if, then, because:
Our hypothesis: if we show a full search field under the header on mobile, then more shoppers will search, because the box is visible without a tap.
Comes back with comparable experiments, for and against.
Our hypothesis: if we show popular products on the no-results page, then fewer shoppers will leave after a failed search, because they still have a next step.
Comes back with comparable experiments, for and against.
Our hypothesis: if we move New to the first menu position, then more shoppers will reach new arrivals, because it is the first thing they see.
Comes back with comparable experiments, for and against.
Start from where your own shoppers leave or hesitate.
Find brands like yours, what they tested and what they did next.
Only your own experiment tells you what works on your site.
No outcome rates. Whether each brand kept a change is part of the Intelligence plan.
First seen is when ABSee first recorded a test, not when the brand began it.
One experiment is one brand's decision, with its own shoppers.
ABSee publishes no rate for any theme here. The record shows, per experiment, whether the brand kept the change; that is part of the Intelligence plan.
They are the two ways a shopper finds a product without browsing a category, and brands often change them together. Search experiments alone are too few in the record for a page of their own.
Several brands in the record tested new kinds of search, from natural-language search to an AI overview on results and camera search. Whether each brand kept it is part of the Intelligence plan.
Galeries Lafayette and Lancôme, as public examples. The brands testing search are named in the record.
What have brands tested in site search and navigation?
Works in Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini once ABSee is connected.
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