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Search Field

177 design examples manually annotated by Baymard researchers

What’s this? Here you’ll find 177 annotated “Search Field” design examples from Baymard’s UX benchmark of 63 major e-commerce sites. (Note: this is less than 1% of the full research catalog.)

The search field itself represents the initial step of the user’s search process, and the search field design is therefore a key aspect in crafting a great search experience. However, our large-scale e-commerce search usability study shows that the design of the search field is instrumental at an even more fundamental level — the field design can influence the user’s entire approach to how they find products on the site.

More ‘Search Field’ Insights

  • While an advanced search engine logic is the backbone of delivering a great search experience, our usability testing reveals that a great search field design, placeholder text, and button design can set the right expectations and steer users toward better search queries — but it only takes a few minor design hiccups to severely mislead your users. During testing, minor design quirks for the search field led to severe usability issues such as users completely misunderstanding the search results, often abandoning the site as a direct consequence.

  • To a large extent users see the prominence of the search field as an indicator of how strongly the site “recommends” search as a way to find products, versus the alternative of navigating categories via the site menus. During our usability testing the subjects adopted search as their primary product-finding strategy much more frequently on sites that had a very prominent search field, while the test sites with a subdued search field design saw increased category navigation.

  • Mobile Examples: Besides the desktop examples below, we also have 55+ mobile examples of Search Field implementations.

  • Learn More: Besides exploring the 177 search field design examples below, you may also want to read our related articles with our (free) research findings on “E-Commerce Search Field Design and Its Implications” along with “E-Commerce Sites Need Multiple of These 5 ‘Search Scope’ Features”.

  • Get Full Access: To see all of Baymard’s 51 e-commerce search research findings you’ll need Baymard Premium access. (Premium also provides you full access to 61,000+ hours of UX research findings, 750+ e-commerce UX guidelines, and 77,800+ UX performance scores.)

Thermofischer (2020)

1 adhered 0 violated

Cole-Parmer (2020)

0 adhered 0 violated

Arrow (2020)

0 adhered 0 violated

Hitachi UK (2020)

0 adhered 1 violated

Hitachi UK (2020)

0 adhered 0 violated

Berlin Packaging (2020)

0 adhered 0 violated

Walmart (2019)

9 adhered 0 violated

Amazon (2019)

8 adhered 1 violated

Kohl's (2019)

8 adhered 1 violated

Grainger (2019)

7 adhered 0 violated

Musician's Friend (2019)

7 adhered 1 violated

Sephora (2019)

7 adhered 2 violated

Newegg (2019)

7 adhered 0 violated

Staples (2019)

7 adhered 0 violated

Office Depot (2019)

7 adhered 1 violated

Argos (2019)

6 adhered 2 violated

John Lewis (2019)

6 adhered 3 violated

J.C. Penney (2019)

6 adhered 1 violated

Nordstrom (2019)

6 adhered 1 violated

Best Buy (2019)

6 adhered 2 violated

B&H Photo (2019)

6 adhered 1 violated

Wayfair (2019)

6 adhered 0 violated

Williams Sonoma (2019)

6 adhered 1 violated

Macy's (2019)

6 adhered 2 violated

Overstock (2019)

6 adhered 1 violated

Target (2019)

6 adhered 2 violated

Walgreens (2019)

5 adhered 2 violated

Neiman Marcus (2019)

5 adhered 2 violated

Adidas (2019)

5 adhered 2 violated

ASOS (2019)

5 adhered 1 violated

REI (2019)

5 adhered 1 violated

Foot Locker (2019)

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Urban Outfitters (2019)

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Lowe's (2019)

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Crate & Barrel (2019)

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Home Depot (2019)

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Rakuten (2019)

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Sears (2019)

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Cabela's (2019)

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Gilt (2019)

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GAP (2019)

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L.L. Bean (2019)

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Build.com (2019)

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Etsy (2019)

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Bass Pro Shops (2019)

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Ann Taylor (2019)

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Costco (2019)

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Debenhams (2019)

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Tesco (2019)

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Marks & Spencer (2019)

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Nike (2019)

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Apple (2019)

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Crutchfield (2019)

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Northern Tool (2019)

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TigerDirect (2019)

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H&M (2019)

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Zalando (2019)

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Disney Store (2019)

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Victoria’s Secret (2019)

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American Eagle Outfitters (2019)

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Dell (2019)

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HP (2019)

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IKEA (2019)

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Microsoft (2019)

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Hayneedle (2019)

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Target (2019)

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Target (2019)

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Amazon (2017)

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Overstock (2017)

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Walmart (2017)

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Grainger (2017)

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Walgreens (2017)

8 adhered 4 violated

REI (2017)

7 adhered 3 violated

Cabela's (2017)

7 adhered 1 violated

Wayfair (2017)

7 adhered 1 violated

Office Depot (2017)

7 adhered 3 violated

B&H Photo (2017)

7 adhered 2 violated

L.L. Bean (2017)

6 adhered 1 violated

Musician's Friend (2017)

6 adhered 1 violated

Home Depot (2017)

6 adhered 0 violated

Dell (2017)

5 adhered 4 violated

Nike (2017)

5 adhered 3 violated

Apple (2017)

5 adhered 0 violated

Macy's (2017)

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Rakuten (2017)

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Lowe's (2017)

5 adhered 3 violated

J.C. Penney (2017)

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Newegg (2017)

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Hayneedle (2017)

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Best Buy (2017)

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Nordstrom (2017)

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Staples (2017)

5 adhered 3 violated

TigerDirect (2017)

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Foot Locker (2017)

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Gilt (2017)

4 adhered 1 violated

Neiman Marcus (2017)

4 adhered 6 violated

Bass Pro Shops (2017)

4 adhered 3 violated

Urban Outfitters (2017)

4 adhered 1 violated

Kohl's (2017)

4 adhered 5 violated

Sears (2017)

4 adhered 4 violated

Target (2017)

4 adhered 6 violated

Crutchfield (2017)

4 adhered 6 violated

Microsoft (2017)

3 adhered 5 violated

Victoria’s Secret (2017)

3 adhered 1 violated

Ann Taylor (2017)

3 adhered 4 violated

Northern Tool (2017)

3 adhered 3 violated

Sephora (2017)

3 adhered 1 violated

Debenhams (2017)

2 adhered 5 violated

H&M (2017)

2 adhered 5 violated

HP (2017)

2 adhered 5 violated

Costco (2017)

2 adhered 4 violated

Toys'R'Us (2017)

2 adhered 5 violated

Williams Sonoma (2017)

2 adhered 6 violated

Crate & Barrel (2017)

2 adhered 3 violated

Etsy (2017)

2 adhered 3 violated

Gap (2017)

1 adhered 3 violated

Build.com (2017)

1 adhered 6 violated

American Eagle Outfitters (2017)

1 adhered 3 violated

Disney (2017)

1 adhered 3 violated

Marks & Spencer (2016)

7 adhered 5 violated

ASOS (2016)

7 adhered 3 violated

John Lewis (2016)

5 adhered 5 violated

Argos (2016)

4 adhered 5 violated

IKEA (2016)

4 adhered 2 violated

Tesco (2016)

2 adhered 5 violated

Adidas (2016)

2 adhered 5 violated

Zalando (2016)

0 adhered 6 violated

Amazon (2014)

10 adhered 4 violated

Walmart (2014)

9 adhered 3 violated

Shoebuy.com (2014)

8 adhered 3 violated

Overstock (2014)

8 adhered 2 violated

Home Depot (2014)

7 adhered 1 violated

Sears (2014)

7 adhered 4 violated

Newegg (2014)

7 adhered 4 violated

Rakuten (2014)

6 adhered 6 violated

Hayneedle (2014)

6 adhered 3 violated

Nordstrom (2014)

6 adhered 2 violated

Dick's Sporting Goods (2014)

5 adhered 4 violated

Grainger (2014)

5 adhered 2 violated

Disney Store (2014)

5 adhered 4 violated

Lowe's (2014)

5 adhered 3 violated

Staples (2014)

5 adhered 5 violated

Crate & Barrel (2014)

5 adhered 5 violated

Crutchfield (2014)

4 adhered 6 violated

drugstore.com (2014)

4 adhered 3 violated

Walgreens (2014)

4 adhered 4 violated

Foot Locker (2014)

4 adhered 4 violated

Sephora (2014)

4 adhered 7 violated

Musician's Friend (2014)

4 adhered 3 violated

Cabela's (2014)

4 adhered 5 violated

Build.com (2014)

4 adhered 5 violated

Urban Outfitters (2014)

4 adhered 5 violated

Costco (2014)

4 adhered 4 violated

Kohl's (2014)

4 adhered 7 violated

Etsy (2014)

4 adhered 6 violated

Neiman Marcus (2014)

4 adhered 5 violated

Toys'R'Us (2014)

3 adhered 6 violated

J.C. Penney (2014)

3 adhered 4 violated

Macy's (2014)

3 adhered 7 violated

American Eagle Outfitters (2014)

3 adhered 5 violated

L.L. Bean (2014)

3 adhered 5 violated

TigerDirect (2014)

3 adhered 5 violated

CDW (2014)

3 adhered 6 violated

Best Buy (2014)

3 adhered 6 violated

OfficeMax (2014)

3 adhered 4 violated

Office Depot (2014)

3 adhered 5 violated

Williams Sonoma (2014)

2 adhered 3 violated

Northern Tool (2014)

2 adhered 6 violated

CVS (2014)

2 adhered 8 violated

REI (2014)

2 adhered 8 violated

Gap (2014)

2 adhered 5 violated

Ann Taylor (2014)

2 adhered 5 violated

Target (2014)

2 adhered 10 violated

Wayfair (2014)

2 adhered 6 violated

Zulily (2014)

1 adhered 5 violated

J.Crew (2014)

1 adhered 7 violated

Gilt (2014)

1 adhered 7 violated

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