A Better Shopping Experience

As shopping period for Brown University draws to a close, my back-to-school shopping time have also ended. I like to look back at each of my Amazon order to see how much I spent per month. Moreover, when I’m doing last-minute shopping at Walmart, I also pull out the app to see if I got something online for cheaper.

Each time I click “Your Orders,” I am always met with disappointment. I would expect a list of items and their prices to show up.

But no. I don’t know how much I paid for cotton pads last April.

When compared to other e-commerce mobile apps such as Jing Dong (popular in China), Amazon usability is inferior in comparison. Jing Dong’s interface clearly lists the price right below the product, which is more efficient than Amazon’s UI that only emphasize the product description.

Moreover, I cannot immediately access my open orders. Instead, I have to click “Filter orders,” “Open orders,” then “Apply” to arrive at a list of products in delivery. The filters are too detailed someone who bulk buys during sales season and only wants to see a list of products that are shipping. Thus, the multiple taps are troublesome and create stress for the common user.

Therefore, the interface for displaying all the orders is not user optimized. However, there may be two reasons why the designer made this choice. Firstly, Amazon’s ultimate purpose is to sell items, so its interface is strategically designed to encourage spending. By removing the price tags of items in prior orders, it decreases the consumer’s sense of guilt. The goal of this page is to propel the user to spend more, as the “Buy Again” redirection button is the first thing we see and each item is immediately followed by a repurchasing link.

Thus, the interface’s learnability is high. When the user understands that prices are listed in “Buy Again,” they will remember to click that on the menu next time. Yet, the affordance of a comprehensive “Your Order” page is neglected by requiring multiple filters to access certain information, which is troublesome for a fast-paced shopper.

Therefore, I propose the redesign of the “Your Order” user interface. The new UI mainly resolves 1) Price listing of entire orders 2) Access to open orders 3) Total spending per month.

The left screen shows the screen after the user clicks “Your Orders.” The four tabs at the top allow the user to easily switch between the type of order, while the time drop-down menu lets the user switch between the purchase time frame. Each item shows the price per item and the total of the order including shipping (price after the boat icon).

Furthermore, after the user clicks the pie chart icon, their spending each month is easily accessible, and this function is also useful for people who rely on Prime Pantry for groceries.

All in all, the current “Your Orders” page might be designed strategically to incentivize spending. However, I still believe the interface can be improved to better ensure user experience.

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