How will you improve Amazon? [Product Management Interview Question]

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

Interviewer: How would you improve Amazon?

Shailesh: Okay, before I jump onto the solution, I want to clarify my understanding of Amazon. Amazon has different business verticals like Amazon marketplace, Amazon AWS, Amazon Prime, Firestick etc. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are the broad business verticals. Do you want to add something to it, or is it good?
Interviewer: Yeah, it is okay.

Shailesh: I have some questions that I want to clarify; since Amazon has different business verticals, which vertical are we trying to improve, or can I decide as I go ahead with the problem?
Interviewer: You can decide.

Shailesh: Okay, for this, I am assuming that we are trying to improve the Amazon marketplace. Since improvement can be of different types like acquisition, engagement or monetisation, what kind of improvement are we focusing on? As per my understanding, we should target engagement because Amazon is currently in a growth phase and rapidly expanding in developing countries like India.
Interviewer: Yes, you can go ahead with the engagement.

Shailesh: Alright, so for this improvement, are we targeting any specific demography, geography, or devices (desktop or mobile)?
Interviewer: We want to improve the Amazon marketplace globally; you can consider mobile devices for now.

Shailesh: Okay, let me reiterate the goal of our problem; we want to improve the engagement of the Amazon marketplace globally.
Interviewer: Perfect, please go ahead.

Shailesh: Okay, sure, the way I would like to approach is, first will see different customer segment and their user journey. With the help of that, we can see their pain points, and we will try to think of solutions for the pain points. We will also see the metrics to track whether our solution is working fine. At last, we can think of the future of the features or some trade-off if we have. Does this sound correct?
Interviewer: Sounds great.

Customer Segment/User Personas

Shailesh: Let me think of the user personas

1. People who know exactly what they are going to buy from the platform.
2. People who know what to buy but are unsure about the brand or type. They compare a lot of brands, reviews etc.
3. People who don’t even know what to buy just do window shopping, and if they like something, they might buy.
4. Advertisers
5. Sellers

Since customer segment #1 is too focused, they know exactly what they want. As soon as they get the item, they will leave the platform. So, it makes sense to target the people (segment #2) who know what to buy but are not sure of the brand and type. Since these are the users whose number is larger than any other customer persona, the data we get from this customer segment can help us in the future value proposition. I want to focus on the second customer segment. What do you think?

Interviewer: Yes, go ahead.

User Journey

Shailesh: Let’s see their user journey to assess their pain points

1. They feel the need for something; they try different e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart etc.
2. They select the item and compare it with different brands.
3. They share the items with their close friends, buddies and families to seek approval or guidance. They also search on the internet.
4. Finally, they add the item to the cart and apply different coupon codes available with them.
5. They select the address and place the order.
6. They track the item and check if it is according to their expectations after it gets delivered.
7. If it isn’t according to their expectation or damaged item, they call for support or place a return request.

Pain Points

Now let’s see the different pain points

1. Comparing the items from the different brands is painful. For example, if I buy a mobile phone, I need to go through different blogs and Youtube comparison videos to understand which one is the best. This is simply a waste of time.
2. It is painful to find a person who has bought a similar item because sometimes reviews are not very helpful. Trusting random reviews can sometimes prove disastrous. It is very unlikely to find reviews for the new products as well.
3. Seeking validation is one of the human traits. So, getting validation from family and friends can be painful. Currently, we generally take a screenshot and send it to our friends. There is a lot of trash that is generated on the phone.
4. Sometimes I want to buy some product which is out of my budget. In that case, I feel disheartened and search for an alternative product.

Solutions/Features

1. Amazon can have something like “Amazon Social” where we can follow our friends. So, whenever we buy a product, we can reach out to our friends who have already bought it. We can chat with them and seek guidance from them.
2. Socialising is something that we have missed a lot in the pandemic era. Amazon can have features like virtual “Amazon Shopping Rooms”, where we can shop from Amazon along with our friends. [MoonShot]
3. There can be a feature like Customization Comparison in which we can compare the product in a similar category. For example, if we are confused between Samsung and OnePlus, we can add both phones to the customisation comparison. This will also provide a summary of the point of difference and points of similarity between the product.
4. There can be Amazon in-house blog where we can find blogs or review videos from the experts. Here we can search for the product we want to purchase. Currently, such reviews are present on Youtube, so users have to switch between apps.
5. We can have features like “Chat with expert” from whom we can take guidance about a particular product, usability and they can suggest us the suitable product. This can be part of Amazon's premium subscription.
6. There can be a feature where we can chat with people who have posted reviews for some product. Here we can integrate the gamification feature; for example, if we want to buy something and none of our friends has bought it, in that case, we can chat with the person who has posted a review for that product. If we find their advice useful, they will earn some Amazon points, which can be redeemed in the future.
7. A feature like alternative suggester can use AI to suggest an alternative product with similar functionality and use cases.

Prioritisation

Now I want to prioritise the solution depending on their impact and effort.

Must-Have — #3, #4, #5, #7

Should have — #6

Could have — #1, #2

Success Metrics

Now let’s look at some of the success metrics for the features we have defined.

1. Average number of product comparisons per day.
2. Average watch time or reading time on the blog by a user in a month/week.
3. Average number of people who chat with an expert per day.
4. Ratio of the product which is suggested by alternative suggester and bought by the user to the total number of suggestions made by suggester.

Interviewer: Yeah, we can do that, thank you.

-- Technomanagers