User Research
Amazon's Customers
Who are amazon's customers? Everybody basically, they have reached 80 million prime customers in 2017. But they do target certain demographics and groups particularly strongly. Such as the two personas below, the early adopter, and new parents. The average amazon customer is 36.5 years old, are and generally more affluent. Data from Piper Jaffray indicates that more than 70% of upper-income American households (those earning more than $112K annually) are now Amazon Prime members. It is estimated that one half to two thirds of American households are currently prime members.
But Amazon isn't content with only affluent customers. They have recently launched a discount for Americans who are on government assistance, to reduce the cost of Prime by 50%. The lower income demographic is one typically Walmart has dominated, but Amazon is certainly making effort to make headway into that market.
Redesign
Introduction
I have been a longtime Prime customer with Amazon, and I have long found it to be very enticing with all the different perks and services it offers. But I felt the experience of the homepage left a lot to be desired, that the approach seemed to be throw as many things as they can at you and see what sticks. My redesign seeks to create a more agile and focused in this execution. While I have left the core basic layout intact I have made many improvements, refinements, and simplifications to refine the experience.
Process
I considered some more dramatic departures for the amazon design but in the end I walked some of those back. I think the current design does a number of things right, they would have to be for the wildly successful company that they are. But there are still a number of improvements that could be madee, as I have laid out in my redesign.
Key UX Decisions
- Simplify the main navigation and remove superfluous elements.
- Offer order status information embedded right into the homepage layout.
- Prime band dramatically improved with easy to access drawer menu to showcase all the various prime subscription content, offerings, and services.
- Remove the right column in the design that basically contains a bunch of ads to other amazon services, or enhancements. These detract from the overall experience.
Key Design Decisions
- Create more space to breathe in-between all design elements. This helps to not overwhelm the user with too many choices in a small space. And as my redesign seeks to improve the recommendation engine, more focused product recommendations should equate to more sales.
- Very clean design, removing many of the unnecessary design elements.
Wireframes
Current Amazon Homepage
Redesigned Amazon Homepage
Full Design
Invision App Prototype
Sources
https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/21/who-is-amazons-favorite-customer.aspx
http://time.com/money/4294131/amazon-prime-rich-american-members/
https://www.statista.com/chart/5232/amazon-prime-members/
http://files.constantcontact.com/150f9af2201/77e5428e-4173-4044-bf3a-8e3e8cb8d8f1.pdf
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/29/how-much-average-amazon-prime-and-non-prime-member-spends-each-year.html
http://time.com/money/4807035/amazon-prime-membership-discount-ebt-card-food-stamps/
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2279027
