A Case Study of Zara’s Website: How design aesthetic can influence purchase intent

The Challenge Recently, I began my UX journey with a series of challenges and tasks, which also involved a personal project at the end. This was carried out through a 7-week UX skills Bootcamp with the School of UX design. We were asked to pick a website or an app we like to use, and were given the task to review the design. This involved more than having a critical eye, but also the ability to problem solve. UX design is a constant and consistent process of iteration. Before reviewing Zara’s website design, I would like to say that as I was analyzing their constant online, I found one or two design changes everyday. This is proof that great UX design and content involves iteration. This is what separates anything from just good work. For our final project, we identified a business problem. From analyzing Zara’s website content, as well as their shopping app. I came up with two hypotheses to test within my Design Review. Hypothesis 1 — What is more important: Aesthetic design vs. functionality? A complex design might deter users from buying? Hypothesis 2 — How does design branding elements and overall layout of website impact purchase decision and potential conversion rates? Retaining customer attention and interest is the biggest challenge in today’s digital age. Whilst some users are simply browsing with no particular intent of buying, globally there are about seven in ten carts which are abandoned, according to consumer research on Statista. In total, 24% of UK fashion online shop users say they like ZARA. However, 2022 stats show: in actuality, among the 86% of UK respondents who know ZARA, 28% of people like the brand, as research found. Therefore, prior to the recent revamping of Zara’s website and app, it can be assumed that consumers preferred to purchase from physical stores as opposed to online.