User experience—it’s not just for websites and apps. It’s for anything that gets used. The experience of the person using the product is important.

Here’s a shopping cart I used at Ace Hardware. It has a cupholder, a modern convenience. How nice, right? But the cupholder on this shopping cart is at the bottom, close to the wheels. I would have to bend over and put my cafe latte down by my ankles. Not so convenient.

User experience is very often directly related to money. If a shopper on an e-commerce site has a hard time figuring out the purchase process, they may not make the purchase. So spending the time and money to ensure a good user experience is a wise investment for the e-retailer; there’s ROI.

How about this shopping cart? I don’t see the ROI on good usability with this product. Ace Hardware corporate must have bought a whole boatload of them for their stores. (Maybe these were cheaper than the ones with the cupholders up higher, within easy reach for the shopper. Who knows?) Am I going to stop shopping at Ace because their shopping carts are poorly designed? No. Does Ace have any incentive to buy better shopping carts, then? Not really. Is this still a poor user experience that gets me all worked up?

Yes. Yes it is.