Best Practice for Product Filtering Menus

Question

I have implemented a horizontal Filtering bar based on articles posted by Baymard. Link Here

I revised my original concept to be a more standard dropdown however the Client has come back and requested a Filter mega menu. I have a good feeling this would be slightly overwhelming however I'd like some suggestions. See below:

Original Horizontal Filter Bar with options also displayed horizontally.

Revised More standard vertical dropdown which I think appears more clearly.

Client Requested A Filtering Mega Menu, the question is, is this an optimal alternative to mine?

Answer 1

1. It's always a good idea to reduce the amount of content users see at once. This reduces cognitive load. So, your approach in this case would be better. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/minimize-cognitive-load/
2. For the client approach. Is it scalable? How many filtering options will it have in 2 years from now?
3. Would users know what "by type" means? Maybe yes or maybe not, in this case the clients approach would be better.
4. Do users multi-filter? For example, by country AND by milk AND by type? In this case, the client's approach would give a better overview of filtering and reduce the amount of tasks and clicks users have to do.

A third approach to this could be to have the filter options in a left column which is a common practice for most ecoms out there.