Taobao: Seamless Products Discovery

Continuing from the the previous post on Taobao's user flow, we are taking a look at the flow of discovery products in it.

P1 of Taobao Product Discovery

Starting with the home page, while it might be difficult to differentiate, I realized that similar to other competitors such as Lazada and Aliexpress, they used a masonry grid for the product content area. This is contrasted by the standard 2 column grids used by local competitors such as Shopee. From a product thinking perspective, I find that masonry grid is a wise choice as it allows more flexibility for future sub-components to be added into each product cards. From a visual standpoint, the masonry grid also allows more white space within each card as users aren't forced to view cards with various sub-components being cluttered within a card.

Tapping on the product card in the home page leads us to sub products page with a layout unique to Taobao. Users are able to scroll down and browse through products that are similar but offered by different sellers. This allows more discoverability for sellers and more options for the users.

Tapping on the selected product brings us to the next page, showing a familiar e-ccommerce layout for product information. Here, I was pleasantly surprised by the screenshot modal that appears everytime I screenshot the page. The modal prompted me to share this product with my contacts via Wechat.

Within the selected product page, there's a sticky tabs bar which the user can tap on, bring the user to either the description area, or the feedback area, or the product pictures, or the recommendations area. Similarly, this is a common e-commerce layout found in competitors' apps.
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P2 of Taobao Product Discovery

Continuing from P1, let's draw our attention to the meatballs menu. Tapping on it reveals several options ranging from allowing you to save the product page, to copying its link, to reporting for any issues, to customer service. I found the top layout of the customer service page to be interesting. I rarely see a 2 column container, with a right container being horizontally scrollable. Nevertheless, it was intuitive despite my first time seeing this. Again, I am fascinated by apps such as Taobao, as they sometimes reveal certain design patterns that might not be common in western apps, but are nevertheless intuitive to use.

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