The Patterns, IA, and Flow of Amazon.com
Amazon.com is a site that I frequent at what some may consider an unhealthy number of times. Whether it is actually searching for an item to purchase or just browsing around to see what new items are available or what lightning deal will suck me into giving some new product a try. And now Amazon is getting me to visit their app multiple times a day to submit for their giveaways following up to Prime Day, which I have convinced myself I actually have a decent chance at (I don’t).
Beyond all of that though, the real addiction to Amazon.com formed from my ability to easily find what I want, discover things I didn’t know I wanted, and have a high-level of trust in every purchase I make. In order to make this more easily understandable, I figured the best thing to do is take you through a real-life example of how and why Amazon.com can make this happen.
Task: I want to buy a new bag of dark roast whole bean coffee to make my mornings as bearable as possible. I have found one company that I like but am always open to trying new ones.

So the process starts with first searching for what I am looking on the Amazon.com homepage. The page provides a lot of directions I can take, either inputing my product into the search bar, browsing through the departments and categories within those departments, or viewing the “related to items you’ve viewed” section if I have been browsing coffee recently. I go ahead with the search bar route because I have a pretty specific item I am looking for. The auto-fill feature of the search bar helps me input my search faster and I am greeted with a results page topped with two advertised products.

Before I continue my search process, it is important to notice the layout and features of Amazon’s search results page. Along the left side of the page there is a column of filters for the user to activate during the search process. The information architecture is really quite incredible because of the shear amount of filters completely specific to coffee beans. Beyond the coffee beans, the user can also control the ratings, cost and whether it is available for 2-Day Prime delivery. The user is given as much control of the search process as one could want, and that can be a really pleasant surprise sometimes.
Back to my search process, I notice that the coffee I have been getting the last few times, the Koffee Kult Dark Roast, shows up third down the list. I decide I would like to browse around, particularly at the Verena Street coffee because it has a good amount of reviews, the price is $6 cheaper than Koffee Kult, and I like the packaging design.

I read the “About the Product” section and decide to browse the different flavors the company offers, and eventually select their other dark roast called “Nine Mile Sunset”. As soon as I do this, I notice that there is currently a Lightning Deal on this coffee for the price of $12.99. After reading a few reviews specifically for that flavor and like what I am hearing, I decide to add the coffee to my cart. Amazon informs me that I have 15 minutes to complete my purchase with the lightning deal. Therefore, I go straight to my cart, which can be found in the right hand corner of the page at all times (except the checkout process).

When viewing my cart, I see the subtotal is the correct $12.99 and I am able to view items that I have saved for later or items that I have purchased in the past and can easily “Add to [my] Cart”. This is a popular design pattern I have noticed in a lot of the sites I shop on because it keeps the items I have shown interest in on my mind and creates the opportunity for me to easily add them to my purchase. I resist the urge to grow my cart and continue forward with buying my coffee product.

Due to having an Amazon Prime account, the checkout process is very quick and easy because I have my information saved and don’t have to type it all in. I double check the Shipping Address and Payment Method is what I want and choose the shipping method I want to use. I also look over the Order Summary to make sure the total is as promised from the Lightning Deal and place my order. It’s quick and painless and I am excited to receive my coffee in two days.
Before closing this article out, I would like to make a few comments on the Flow during this checkout process. The first thing I notice when I am on the Amazon.com checkout page is that the header and page layout I am used to throughout the process is completely gone. I am now greeted with a somewhat foreign looking page that requires more effort than one would expect to get back to my cart and the Amazon.com layout and aesthetics I am used to. I understand the idea of this to try to get users through the checkout process but it can make the flow throughout the website quite difficult. However, in a positive light, Amazon‘s checkout page does a great job of showing the progress I am making in this process and making sure the most important information is easily visible for me to review and confirm. And once I am done with checkout, I am greeted with a screen of accomplishment.

Overall
Amazon.com has really become an incredible resource for shopping and is only growing more and more each day, both in product offerings but now in service offerings too. This is due to a very detailed and well-constructed information architecture and task flow. They have put the user in complete control of their search process while also providing the browsing user a plethora of options to pursue.