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AliExpress

AliExpress

UX Case Study

Current look of AliExpress

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aliexpress.png
aliexpress phone.png

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

Portrait of a confident Asian man

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

  • Finish med school

  • Find a cheaper supplier

  • Save some money for school expense

Frustrations

  • "I want to finish school but I don't want to spend all my allowances on school supplies."

  • "Amazon only has the basic ones"

  • "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

AliExpress Journey Map.jpg

User Flow

Task: searching for acupuncture needles, creating an account and checking out

User Flow.jpg

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.

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