Browsing taxonomies in e-commerce websites: Evaluation criteria

This paper presents the result of a Master's thesis that aimed to develop and validate a set of evaluation criteria of browsing taxonomies used in e-commerce websites. The reason for choosing e-commerce websites is their widespread use of browsing taxonomies. The bibliographic review of the paper covers theoretical aspects about taxonomies and e-commerce. For this purpose, the following two evaluation criteria were established: Communicability and Organization. The sample selected for the application of the criteria consisted of five virtual stores. The result of the evaluation was heterogeneous and the virtual shops were classified as regular or excellent. Finally, the results were considered consistent and the criteria validated. The development of taxonomies is considered a subjective activity, but minimum recommendations should be followed.