Amazon Bazaar
Amazon Bazaar is a brand new, value driven shopping segment within the Amazon India ecosystem, specifically targeting Tier 2 and Tier 3 consumers looking for unbranded fashion and lifestyle products.
Role
UX and Visual Designer
Organization
Amazon India
Year
2024
Amazon Bazaar
Overview
The whole idea behind Amazon Bazaar was simple but ambitious to bring the vibrant, deal-focused experience of a local Indian market right to the user’s phone. While the main Amazon app is designed for users who know exactly what they want to search for.
My job was to design the start of that journey. I worked on how users first discover Bazaar within the main app, and on the onboarding screens that welcome them and explain this new 'local market' vibe. I also teamed up with senior designers on the storefront navigation, like the vertical category carousels, to make sure browsing felt effortless and fun.
Target Audience & Business Goals
The business goal for Bazaar was huge as Amazon wanted to reach a completely untapped demographic. We were targeting value-conscious shoppers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities who are used to buying unbranded goods at their local street markets.
But designing for this audience completely breaks the traditional UX rules of e-commerce. For many of these users, buying something on Bazaar might be their very first online purchase. They aren't used to digital carts, complex filters, or high-intent search bars.
The Core
Challenge
Because I was brought in to execute specific flows, my main challenge wasn't defining the overarching business metrics but it was solving a massive point of user friction.
We had to design for users from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities who might not even have Amazon accounts yet. If someone opened the app to check out Bazaar and wasn't logged in, hitting them with a massive 'Sign Up' wall immediately would scare them away.
The entire entry and onboarding experience had to be visual, incredibly low-friction, and feel as welcoming as walking into their local neighborhood shop, regardless of whether they were a returning Prime member or a first-time internet buyer.
My Role &
The Team
Building something as big as Amazon Bazaar was a massive team effort. While our Senior Designer mapped out the overall structure of the store, I got to focus on the user's very first impression and how they actually find the store and what they see when they walk in.
Working closely with the team, my job was to connect the main Amazon app to this new 'local market' experience. I focused on three main tasks:
1. Discovery: I designed the entry points on the main Amazon homepage and the new Bazaar menu logo.
2. Onboarding: I created the splash screen and in-store hero banners too that greet the user as soon as they click, quickly explaining why Bazaar is different and showing off the low prices.
3. The Vertical Scroll: Once inside, I worked on the ux of the category navigation page. I designed the left-side vertical scroll menu to make one-handed browsing super easy. And also chose the bright, circular backgrounds for the categories and designed the 'highlighter' effect so users always know exactly where they are. I then worked with my senior designer to get this integrated into the final build."
Discovery
Designing the Visual Identity:
Before we could figure out where to place Bazaar on the homepage, we needed a visual identity that stood out but still felt natively Amazon.
My first task was designing the official Bazaar category icon. Since Bazaar was a brand-new, major addition to the ecosystem, I looked at how Amazon handled its other premium services. I took direct inspiration from the 3D, folded-paper style of the Amazon Prime logo. This ensured that while Bazaar represented unbranded, low-cost goods, the entry point still carried the premium trust and visual consistency of the core Amazon brand.
Mapping the Highest intercation points:
Before placing the new Bazaar entry points, I analyzed the standard Amazon homepage to map out where users naturally look and tap. I identified three high-interaction zones, each serving a totally different user mindset
The Strategy: Logged-In vs. First-Time Users
Knowing where users tap was only half the solution, we also had to make sure we didn't ruin the experience for our existing customers. If we put the new Bazaar icon right at the front of the Top Navigation for everyone, it would cannibalize the daily habits of our loyal Prime users or potential Prime Customers.
Evolution: Adapting to a Global Redesign
Shortly after our initial launch, the core Amazon app underwent a major global navigation update, shifting the top category bar into a new 'Pill' layout. Because Bazaar was driving so much value, it was granted a permanent pill spot.
While the homepage team designed the pill component itself, I was responsible for the visual identity inside it. Working collaboratively with my senior designer, we realized that keeping a static logo would eventually lead to banner blindness. To solve this, we pitched a dynamic entry point. I designed multiple icon variations for the pill.
The Impact:
By making our initial entry points based on the user's login state, and later evolving our visual assets to power a dynamic pill system, we created a massive, high-visibility funnel for Bazaar.
We successfully grabbed the attention of new users the second they opened the app, while keeping the entry points fresh to prevent fatigue. Most importantly, we maintained the natural discovery experience to millions of users without cannibalizing the daily habits of Amazon's core customers.
Onboarding
The Problem: Establishing Trust
When a user taps the Bazaar entry point, they are making a massive leap. They are transitioning from the core Amazon experience, where they expect branded goods and standard Prime shipping, into a purely value-driven and unbranded marketplace.
If we just dropped them onto a grid of ₹99 products with zero context, the immediate reaction would be suspicion. Are these products legitimate? Is the quality terrible? Will I have to pay massive shipping fees? Before they even started scrolling, we had to instantly answer these doubts, build trust, and set the right expectations for this new 'local market' experience.
The Solution: A Multi-Stage Trust Funnel
To overcome this immediate skepticism, I designed a multi-stage onboarding flow that aggressively communicated our core value propositions (USPs) before the user even saw a product.
The Grand Opening Hook: For the initial launch, I designed a high-energy splash screen that explicitly stated what to expect.
The In-Store Reassurance: Once inside, we didn't just leave them guessing. I designed an educational 'Why shop on Bazaar?' module that broke down the exact benefits.
The Maturation Phase: As Bazaar gained traction and users became acquainted with the value proposition, we didn't need to shout the USPs every single time. I designed a cleaner, branded splash screen.
The Impact:
By directly addressing the user's biggest hesitations, like hidden shipping costs and return policies, and before they even saw a product, we successfully bridged the trust gap. This proactive onboarding flow lowered the immediate bounce rate. It transformed skeptical, first-time clickers into confident shoppers who clearly understood the rules and value of this new local market.
The Vertical Scroll
The Challenge:
We were designing primarily for new internet users from Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities. While our main Bazaar feed was meant to capture the chaotic, bustling energy of a local street market, we knew that pure chaos gets overwhelming.
Users needed a dedicated space to browse that acted like the organized, individual shops within that market. The challenge was creating a category navigation that was crystal clear, deeply trustworthy, and didn't rely on complex, traditional app menus that might confuse a first time user.
Research & Ideation:
Before opening Figma, I looked at how physical Indian street markets actually function. Real-world vendors build trust and wayfinding by hanging their actual physical products right at the front of the stall. I wanted to translate this exact mental model into our digital architecture.
I conducted a competitive visual analysis of leading e-commerce and quick commerce apps. Evaluating these existing architectures helped us identify the most used navigation patterns and visual cues.
After gathering these digital inspirations, I moved into the sketching phase. Because we are targeting Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, I had to design for the reality of their hardware maybe low-end Android devices with smaller, low-resolution screens and slower network speeds.
These technical limitations defined my two core structural constraints:
Thumb Reachability: Ensuring comfortable, one-handed navigation that feels native on smaller devices.
Maximizing Real Estate: Stripping away heavy UI elements to use every available pixel for clear, actual product photography to maintain trust.
Final High-Fedility Screens
The Impact:
By combining a highly visual 2-column grid with an ergonomic, one-handed vertical scroll, we stripped away the cognitive overload of traditional nested menus. We successfully organized the chaotic energy of a value bazaar into clear, deeply trustworthy digital storefronts. The result was a browsing experience that felt native and frictionless, even on low-end devices, drastically increasing cross-category discovery for our new Tier-2 and Tier-3 audience.
Reflections & Key Takeaways
Launching Amazon Bazaar was a masterclass in building a 0-to-1 product within one of the strictest, most established design systems in the world. It required balancing the trusted Amazon DNA with the raw, value-driven energy of an Indian street market.
Behind every wireframe, iteration, and final pixel was an incredible, highly collaborative team. From intense working sessions at the standing desks to celebrating our milestones at Design Day '24, this project was a massive group effort. Getting to sign that launch board in March 2024 wasn't just about shipping a new UI but it was about successfully building something for the next billion customers, together.
