Arrange Products Horizontally for Browsing

Customers browse horizontally, but they search for specific products vertically.

Shows links to shoes, pants, and shoes. Shows them horizontal for someone browsing, yet vertical for someone searching for a specific item.

Overview

Customers browse horizontally.

Human eyes are aligned in a horizontal line, which makes it easier to scan horizontal assortments (Deng, Kahn, Unnava, & Lee, 2016).

On Amazon, a general search—books—shows a horizontal list of books:

General search for "books" yields a horizontal assortment of books

Vertical lists help customers find specific options. Thanks to the left-alignment, it's easier to look for specific words.

If you search for a specific book—Methods of Persuasion—Amazon shows a vertical list:

Specific search for the book "Methods of Persuasion" yields a vertical assortment of results with the correct book at the top

Plus, these options now appear at the top — in the exact location of the customer's gaze. Less relevant products will be hidden below, especially on mobile devices (Huang, Juaneda, Sénécal, & Léger, 2021).

Walmart follows this strategy, too. Recent searches are vertical, but trending searches (which encourage browsing) are horizontal:

Recent searches (e.g., stock pot, workout bench, blender) are vertical, while trending searches (e.g., toddler toys, dawn dish soap) are horizontal

Deng, X., Kahn, B. E., Unnava, H. R., & Lee, H. (2016). A “wide” variety: Effects of horizontal versus vertical display on assortment processing, perceived variety, and choice. Journal of Marketing Research, 53(5), 682-698.
Huang, B., Juaneda, C., Sénécal, S., & Léger, P. M. (2021). “Now You See Me”: the attention-grabbing effect of product similarity and proximity in online shopping. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 54(1), 1-10.