One Stop Shopping: How Amazon Uses Patterns & Flows to Stay On Top of the Online Retail Pyramid
All flows lead to Amazon, thanks the the retailer’s robust, comprehensive information architecture and loyal user base
I have been an Amazon user since 2006 (as the company’s account dashboard is very happy to remind me), back before it was as ubiquitous of a household name as it is now—way, way back when it’s primary draw (for me, anyway) was the variety of books I could order and have delivered straight to my door in seemingly no time at all. Books were where it all started for me. I turned to Amazon to find titles that were harder to locate in brick and mortar stores or required a long wait-time for the shop to order and have delivered. I have always been an impatient consumer, and Amazon provided a speedy service that fed my constant, insatiable reading habit.
Now, of course, as a writer and avid book lover, I make a point to support my local brick and mortar bookstores (or what’s left of them) when I can, but in the 12 years that have passed since I first ordered from the online giant, Amazon has—as much as I hate to admit it—grown to become a one-stop shop for most of my household, office, and personal shopping, a trend which is by no means uncommon; studies show that between 52% and 55% of all consumers start their product searches on Amazon versus search engines such as Google (just 28%). Even if I opt to purchase an item from another retailer, Amazon’s website is integral step to my buyer research process and is home to the many, many shopping lists I keep and self-curate regularly—a sort of hybrid creation somewhere between Pinterest vision board meets old-timey hand-written shopping list, accessible to me on any device, from anywhere.
Need Halloween costume ideas? I keep a running list of inspiration by way of items I’ve liked over the years in my Amazon account. How about gift ideas for family, friends, and my significant other? Got ‘em! Books I want to buy? Done! Home office wears? Ideas for a friend’s bachelorette party decorations/games/prizes/etc.? Design books recommended by fellow UX-ers as I progress in my studies? Done, done and done! Sometimes I even use Amazon Prime Now to organize grocery deliveries when I don’t have time to run to the store. And whenever I am considering a big purchase, I usually check ratings and prices against Amazon’s listings first, as a starting point.
Oh So Many Flows
It would be a near impossible task to map out every possible user flow in and around Amazon.com. Of course Amazon’s information architecture is extremely robust, but looking at my own user habits I was able to map out a few typical flows I follow while browsing, searching for, and purchasing products.
Despite being an active regular user of the site, I almost always enter Amazon from the homepage, perhaps because it is so often a starting point for much of my online purchasing research, even more so than Google.
The homepage is my starting point of choice, also, because the retailer stores much of the pertinent account information within its primary navigation structure. This makes accessing my personal information, past orders and shopping lists easy and quick—often as fast as one click away!
Patterns on Patterns on Patterns…
In order to make its massive database of products accessible to users through such a substantial IA, Amazon relies on countless design patterns to built both an intuitive and comprehensive experiences for its users. Anyone who has used Amazon, even just once, is familiar with its standard navigation bar and its crown jewel: the search bar.
Amazon’s landing page (for signed-in users) also makes use of many product and feature sliders, linking directly to many other products and services the retailer is trying to promote, as well as services that apply directly to my account, such as Amazon Prime Video, Music, Alexa, Audible, and recently viewed products.
Amazon’s pages are packed with information, but it’s always displayed in bite-size segments, using scrolling to pack even more links to available products into modules with limited space. All elements are linkable, and fit within the retailer’s standard product template.
Amazon also relies heavily on a secondary left-hand side navigation, or “local nav”, which allows users to refine result parameters by a variety of custom filters, including brand, delivery options, and product ratings (to name just a few).
And users can always find where they are in the site, regardless of how much “deep browsing” they’ve done by taking a look at the site’s contextual navigation, located just below the primary banner/top navigation bar.
Of course, these design patterns are only the tip of the iceberg of Amazon’s extensive web hierarchy. However, these examples clearly illustrate the importance using strong and repetitive design patterns can have on developing and maintaining an effective Information Architecture, especially for a growing business in today’s highly competitive e-commerce environment.
This piece is a reflection on user flows and design patterns, as part of my UX Academy coursework through Designlab. Follow along as I chronicle my experience in the 6-month course in a series called UX Academy Journey.
