Localised user centred design: an Amazon India takeover

We all know that undercurrent of guilt you feel as you click ‘buy’ on your latest Amazon order. With terrible workers’ rights records and a reputation for being a soulless money-making machine, there’s a desire to go elsewhere but it’s just oh-so-convenient.

Coming from a graphic design background the Amazon interface with its busy, product pages, multiple font sizes and lack of good space and hierarchy has always frustrated me, but they know exactly what they’re doing. Even the confusing parts of the size are like that on purpose (don’t get me started on their manipulation tactics, that’s a whole separate blog). However ethically they use this skill, they really do understand people very well. That’s what Amazon do best, they get under the skin of their audience and make themselves fast, easy and indispensable.

Amazon accounts for at least 30% of all online sales in the UK, and that trend is reflected around the world. Dubious ethics and tax avoidance aside, much of their success is down to their relentless innovation and careful attention to user behaviour.

There are still, miraculously, parts of the world not yet dominated by the retail giant, but Amazon has set its sights on them too and is investing a significant amount of effort in targeting them to unlock new audiences, with effective results.

Unlocking new markets in developing countries

Across South America, Africa and Asia, many countries are starting to roll out 3G networks in rural areas, creating new internet users who may not have had much dealings with digital technologies and who are unlikely to have owned internet enabled phones.

Since the introduction of internet access there has been some fantastic initiatives where technology is being used to bring benefits in health, micro-finance and education to more isolated communities. Then there are the big tech companies: whatever we think about their attempt on world domination, there is a lot we can learn from their approaches to these new markets.

Facebook and Uber ‘lite’

These more remote areas of developing countries may now be connected, but we would be naive to think that their experience is comparable to our own here in the UK. The average mobile internet download speed in the UK is around 20MB per second (the global average is around 22MB), but in India average speeds are around 7MB and in Nigeria it is down to around 5MB. In rural areas it is possible to experience speeds below this average. Add on top of that the likelihood of patchy or unreliable signal and a higher number of low quality smart-phones and you have a very different mobile browsing experience to that which many of us are used to.

This therefore has an impact on product usage and means that understanding users’ priorities becomes more important. Facebook and Uber have created unique versions of their apps specifically designed to improve the experience of those with lower internet connection speeds.

The Facebook Lite app is less than 1MB in size to download and has a number of features to reduce storage space and data usage. The images in the feed are low resolution until the user chooses to click on them, videos do not auto play and the interface is more stripped-back with larger buttons and other UI elements for clarity on small screens. The experience delivered seems to live up to expectations as the core needs are met in an efficient and optimised way. The Uber Lite app similarly creates an optimised experience, de-prioritising the map (which is still accessible if needed) for a simple text interface to determine destination and estimated arrival times.

Universal design

This is a globalised approach to a localised challenge, and though they work well, I question whether there isn’t a more graceful solution to the User Experience Design. Is there a need to have separate apps that the user must choose between depending on where they live and how much they can afford to spend on a phone?

In the late 1980s, architect Ron Mace coined the term ‘Universal design’ with the aim of

Designing products to be “aesthetic and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life” (Centre for Universal design).

It seems a shame that we are now trying to retrofit solutions or present alternatives for those in a certain demographic rather than just a geographical location. This is less the localisation model and more a model catering for those likely to be living in poorer areas. Can we as designers continue to innovate and push boundaries whilst catering for a variety of phones and browsing experiences?

Amazon in India

Amazon avoids these challenges as it already has separate, localised websites for different parts of the world. In India, Amazon recognised that there was a huge, untapped market of over 47 million mobile internet users in rural areas who previously had not been able to access online shopping. However, there were a number of challenges that they had to tackle:

• Basic smart-phones
• Poor internet connection
• Multiple languages
• Low literacy rates
• Inconsistent banking methods
• Inconsistent or often no postal addresses
• Lack of technical experience.

So to summarise: they were trying to sell online in an area with bad internet, to users with little internet experience, who may not be able to pay online, and might not have an address. Even the most inexperienced business person would call that an uphill struggle. But in Amazon’s ultimate mission to conquer the world, of course, they would find a way and some of their solutions were really surprising.

Multiple languages and low literacy

Though Amazon is used in English in many areas of India, they wanted to access users who may not be confident in using English. The site now allows you to switch the site to Hindi (though still in Beta testing) and they have plans to roll out other languages too. To further aid understanding, icons and imagery are used extensively to signpost categories, with icons for the main categories and small images for the sub-categories. After switching the language to Hindi, I was still easily able to find my way around the site.

No postal address? No bank? No problem

Many parts of rural India have close communities and most transactions happen within the same group of people. If someone needs to get something to Mr Agarwal for example, they know he lives behind the temple in the third house along the track. Sadly, that description is not much use to Amazon’s databases.

Amazon has two solutions for this: the first is that the website allows a user to drop a pin to create a given location for delivery which can then be stored against their account. The second is that they simply employ drivers local to the area, usually on mopeds, who are familiar with the community and can accurately deliver orders to the appropriate buyers. There are also a myriad of small pickup locations based in roadside shops.

As for banking, Amazon allows cash on delivery or on collection from their pickup points. Again this is a huge concession for Amazon to make as it must drastically complicate their sales process, but they evidently feel that it is worth it to build customer loyalty.

Lacking in technical experience – a surprising solution

Their most surprising solution, however, was one that goes completely against what you associate with the online store. We see Amazon as being quite impersonal, with large efficient warehouses, the minimum amount of human interaction and a completely virtual experience.

If you were to walk down the street however, in Ponnuru, Andhra Pradesh, India, you might pass an Amazon shop. A physical store, branded as Amazon. The store however has no products.

Curiouser and curiouser.

The stores contain computers and an IndiaBuys representative who has chosen to set up the store in a franchise model. This representative welcomes you in and seats you at a computer where you proceed to browse Amazon online, with assistance as you do so. You can order directly to the store and they will help you with your returns if you need it.

So, from the masters of impersonal automated experiences, with rumours of deliveries by drone, Amazon has created an experience where you not only shop online but also have one- to-one tuition on internet usage as you do so.

So why the effort?

Many users will only be buying small items, so we have a huge amount of effort on Amazon’s part: physical stores, training and bespoke approaches to payment and delivery, simply to allow someone to buy something as small as a pair of socks.

Amazon has always been about volume however, and this is evidenced in their latest figures; they topped $7 billion gross sales in India in 2018 and they expect this to triple over the next three years. 80% of this revenue they expect to come from outside of India’s big cities. Making these efforts now means that they are in at ground level, customers will be familiar with them and their brand as they become more confident online and as infrastructure becomes more sophisticated.

The Amazon approach is based on well-executed user testing that has allowed the team to question even the most basic of User Interface elements and interactions. At the other end of the scale, their approach has been to look at the bigger picture and to be open-minded about their business model when addressing the barriers faced by users in accessing their services.

A success in localisation so far. Once again, Amazon is set to conquer.

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Or read her related post about Localisation and Globalisation in design

Credits:
Main research source: Wall Street Journal, December 2018
Main image: Amazon India plastic wrapper, Nagpur, Maharashtra India: Homesh Nasre/Shutterstock.com
Women at phone repair shop, Uganda 2015: Sarine Arslanian / Shutterstock.com
Woman on laptop, corridor district Katni Madhya Pradesh: NEERAZ CHATURVEDI / Shutterstock.com