An extra page for three items creates work; hundreds of dissimilar items may need guidance.
Category landing page or direct product list?
A category landing page should help shoppers choose a meaningful subgroup, with a clear route to all products.
Research context: Baymard · Intermediary category pages ↗
Use intermediate levels for broad assortments. Small, uniform collections should often open the list directly.
Try the pattern
Task and expected result
- 01
Open Softy: reach products, not an empty guidance page.
- 02
Sketch a broad catalog: keep a view-all path.
- 03
Test whether an additional category actually helps a new shopper.
How to investigate value
Observe whether participants find an item meeting every need, not just how many cards they click. For measurement: relevant selections per eligible search/list visitor.
Watch for side effects
Zero results, false variant matches, lost list context and slow filters. More product-page visits are not necessarily better.
This is a proposed investigation, not a measured result. Choose one hypothesis and define the audience before testing.
Build a measurement plan for this concept ↗