AliExpress
AliExpress
UX Case Study
Current look of AliExpress
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Project Overview
The Product
AliExpress is the B2C (Business-to-Consumer) subsidiary of the B2B (Business-to-business) site Alibaba. Selling products directly to customers with no middle person, AliExpress is an online,
e-commerce platform for buy products at cheaper prices than Amazon and other similar services
Project Duration
Feburary 2022 to March 2022
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February March
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Summarize
The Problem
Despite Alibaba’s success with B2B customers, B2C customers lack trust for AliExpress. Customers report feeling that the site seems sketchy or untrustworthy. Aiming to compete with retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco in North America, AliExpress needs its site to showcase the reliability of its brand.
The Goal
To understand and find a solution to increase AliExpress site trustworthiness
My Role
UX researcher and designer trying to understand how to make AliExpress site look more reliable to its users
Responsibilites
Analyzing AliExpress Interview Transcripts, conduction user experience studies and creating personas, journey map, user flow and site maps to display my findings.
User Research
SUMMARY
From analyzing the interview transcripts, I have understood that pricing is the top reason why people choose to shop online for daily supplies. Under one circumstance, the site looks reliable.
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This user group agreed that AliExpress doesn't look reliable at first glance and research revealed that the professionalism,
organization, reviews of the site plays a big factor in building trust with its users.
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Another factor that the interviews pointed out is how easily can the users find what they need. I have created user flows to understand how the user navigates the AliExpress site.
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PAIN POINTS
Navigation
Users prefer a site that has easy nav so they can find what they want quickly
Pricing
If two items have similar qualities and shipping time, users would rather choose the cheaper one.
Reliability
Certain e-commerce sites doesn't look legitimate turns away many potential users
Shipping Time
Many buyers are prefer choosing something they can receive at an earlier time
Persona
STEVEN TIAN
Age:
Education:
Location:
Occupation:
24
Chinese Medicine
Chicago IL, USA
Student
"I wonder why the school tuition doesn't cover the supplies"
​Goals
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Finish med school
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Find a cheaper supplier
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Save some money for school expense
Frustrations
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"I want to finish school but I don't want to spend all my allowances on school supplies."
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"Amazon only has the basic ones"
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"I need them in bulks, I use them everyday and they run out so quickly."
Steven Tian is currently studying Chinese Medicine and acupuncture in Chicago and is trying his best to find the best site to purchase his Chinese medication supplies (acupuncture needles, cups, etc..). Large quantities of supplies are needed each semester for his clinic shifts but he is not in a hurry to get them.
Journey Map
Steven Tian's journey on AliExpress to purchase medical supplies
User Flow
Task: searching for acupuncture needles, creating an account and checking out
Site Map
Click on see the board to view entire site map
Next Steps
SUMMARY
1.The organization of different components on the page lowers the usability
Possible Solutions:
Reorganize page, remove right hand black bar from safari browsers, add credible sources to the home page or footer
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2.Navigation was a major point that all three interviews mentioned.
Possible Solution:
Consolidate similar categories
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3.Knowing that there will be a long shipping time from purchasing through AliExpress since most products are from China
Posiible Solution:
Alternative shipping options/expediate shipping
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No wireframes or low and high fidelity prototypes were required for this project.
Next steps for these results would be to create these so more usability testing can be done and finally implementing on the actual site.