ZARA USABILITY ASSESSMENT

Ashley Prince - August 2022

Dr. Pranjal Gupta - MKT656
The University of Tampa
Scope of Website

Zara is one of the largest global apparel retailers founded in 1975. Its corporate headquarters are located
in Spain, and they specialize in fast-fashion and a wide variety of inventory including womens, mens, and
children’s clothing, accessories, swim, jewelry, perfume, shoes, bags, beauty, home, and more. Zara
currently owns and operates 2,220 stores in 96 different countries.

Zara is known for its turnaround time in manufacturing clothing and other products. Zara is known for
being able to develop a product and deliver it to store fronts within two-weeks when other fierce
competitors take upwards of 6 months on average. Zara gives customers the ability to purchase their items
online and in-store. The purpose of Zara’s website is to advertise their products and product innovations
while offering a platform for users to purchase products from almost anywhere in the world.

Zara’s website is known in the clothing industry for being difficult to navigate. In 2020, when COVID
lockdowns began, users turned to online shopping as it was their only real option. Zara went viral on
popular social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram for their affordable, trendy items. The wide
consensus of the users was that it was a very poorly planned website from a usability standpoint so much
so, that software developers and website designers had video series on what they would change on the
website and why it’s deterring customers from shopping. When you open the website, the default home
page is laid out in an editorial magazine layout with one product per page. (Appendix A) The pictures of
the clothing or item are confusing and often leave the user wondering which item in the photo is being
sold (Appendix A.) Then, in a difficult to find icon in the left-hand corner, the drop-down menu button is
small and what you would usually see on a mobile site, over a desktop site. A good website would utilize
the space across the whole screen as opposed to a small 3-line icon that is difficult to find on the page.
(Appendix A) There is also no “Sort-by” feature for users to be able to see prices lowest-highest,
relevance, etc. They do have a filter function but often the options to filter are not applicable to the
product. Lastly, they have multiple sale sections labeled “Sale” or “Special Prices.” can be confusing for a
user.

Scenario Development
For the purpose of this usability testing assignment, we will focus on the Zara desktop website, not the
mobile app. Participants were asked to find a specific product on the website. The product is a “Draped
One-Piece Swimsuit'' to test the usability and convenience of the site. They were asked to find the
swimwear tab, filter their results to make it easier to find the product, look for the product, and add it to
their cart.
Based on this scenario, the participants in this study are asked to perform the following tasks:
● Task 1: Search “Zara” on Google
● Task 2: Press the website link and Navigate to the Zara homepage
 ● Task 3: Find the light-purple draped one-piece swimsuit
● Task 4: Add the swimsuit to cart

Recruitment

Zara target’s a younger customer that is price-conscious, stays up to date on the latest fashion trends, and
is sensitive to these trends (more likely to buy.) Zara does not define an age, gender, or customer with a
certain lifestyle when targeting customers, this gives them a larger market and an advantage over
traditional fashion retailers. The usability test that we will conduct will test individuals ranging from
gender, age, and lifestyle. Participants do not need to be “fashion-forward” or experts on the latest trends.
The less background knowledge the better on Zara because this will reduce preconceived thoughts on the
website (it is known in the Fashion community how poor the website is) and help uncover the challenges
of the website from an unbiased participant. One participant is familiar with Zara and shops there often
while the other two, have never purchased an item from Zara.

Instructions
1. Search “Zara” on Google
2. Press the website link and Navigate to the Zara homepage
3. Find the women’s light-purple draped one-piece swimsuit
4. Add the swimsuit to cart

Questions to improve the usability of the website:

1. Are there factors that would discourage you from using this site for this purpose?
2. What could the website do to make you want to come back here?
3. Are there factors that make you want to check out competitors as well?
4. What are factors that could maintain stickiness in the usability of this website in the future?
5. What would be on your wish list for a truly satisfying experience at the website?

Conducting the test (Voice Memo Copy & Answers to questions are located in the Appendix)

The usability assignment was administered to three participants. They were given the four tasks and
instructions to talk through their process of finding the specific item. The transcripts of the three tests can
be found in Appendix (B). These are very close to exact, but some words may have been omitted due to
audio difficulties. Once the item was found and put into the cart, the improvement questions were asked.

Analysis
Overall, the usability of the website had mixed reviews. Two users found that the website was hard to
navigate, lacking in breadcrumb navigation, search filters were off, and confusing jargon while one of the
respondents was easily able to find the search bar, find the product, and add it into cart. The two users that
found the website more difficult to use decided to search the product from the hamburger icon menu
drop-down instead of the search bar. This brought them to the display page of swimsuits that had one to
two pictures per row making it a long scrolling process to see the different swimsuits. When searching for
the swimsuit via the menu bar, one user attempted to filter out some options to make the search easier
once they landed on the swim tab. The user was trying to filter out between bikini’s and one-pieces and
the only options to filter out were color (no purple option), size, “details” which included “hat” and
“printed” as filter options as well as “accessories, sandals, shoes, skirts, and shoe size” as filter options
within the swimsuit section (Appendix B). This made it incredibly confusing to that user.

Respondent (B) was able to locate the search bar within seconds and type in the name of the bathing suit.
Respondent (A) and (C ) never mentioned that they could not find the search bar but chose to use the
hamburger icon drop-down menu. All three respondents agreed that the Zara website was creative and
eye-catching. Respondent (B) mentioned that having large pictures made it easier to understand and
locate products. All three respondents also agreed that having a “recently viewed” (breadcrumb
navigation) section would be easier for them to find and browse items, they also agreed that if they were
not searching for a specific item, the scrolling with one-three products per page would get frustrating
when trying to browse. Confusing jargon was brought up at least once per respondent with “Renewcell”
and “Special Prices” being brought up the most.

When designing this study, I had shopped on this website previously and went to browse the website
again to refresh my mind on the issues that went with the website. I chose a swimsuit because when I was
searching, there was no swimsuit tab at the time I created these questions. Only two weeks in between the
creation of the instructions and when the respondents went through the usability assessment, there was
now a swim tab available so I was interested in what the responses would be. I chose a one-piece in a
specific color (light purple) as the item because I wanted users to trial out the filter function where I found
a few issues when navigating myself. Most websites I frequent have the option to filter “one-piece, bikini
tops, bikini bottoms, bikini sets, tankinis” while Zara had filters that weren’t even applicable to swimsuits
(ex: hats, shoes, accessories.) In addition to that, Purple is a common color but was not an option to filter
during the search.

Respondent (B) and (C ) were both successful in adding the swimsuit to their cart. Respondent (B) was
able to navigate there quickly while respondent (C ) took slightly longer but ultimately was successful.
Respondent (A) kept getting a “session-timed out” warning when trying to add her item into the cart
(Appendix A.)

To summarize, navigating to the light-purple draped swimsuit was performed easily by 1 out of 3 of the
participants. Two were successful in adding this item to cart while one was not. There were some stand
out issues when it came to the usability of the Zara website including the functionality, navigation, and
reliability when it came to finding this specific product. Each respondent had wish list items on what
could be changed to create a better user experience and I will incorporate those into my
recommendations.

Recommendations:
The User experience on Zara’s website is mixed. From 2021, when there was an internet rage about the
poor usability of the website, it seems as though Zara has listened and made some of these corrections to
bring users a better experience than in 2021. I discovered issues with the site back in 2021 that are not
appearing here as issues today. Although not all issues were addressed like adding a sort button, clearing
up confusion on their terms like “Renewcell” and “SeerSeeker”, the new corrections have made it easier
for some users as they were able to easily find the search bar now, Zara has added more menu tabs to
categorize their products even further, updated their Responsive Web Design to fit users screens on their
desktop, app, and mobile website (which was a large issue before), and indeed an option to add more
pictures per page (which none of my respondents utilized)

Improving Functionality
● Functionality was the most critical issue when assessing the usability of Zara’s website.
Respondent (A) had the most difficulty with navigation and touched on the item listings per page
(1 to 3 products per page), imaging is large and sometimes does not match the product being
described or is confusing on what item is being sold in the picture, filters were not applicable to
products (ex: accessories & shoes as filter options for swimsuits), and navigation that glitches
often such as the “session expired” issue with Respondent (A) and the random white space and
spacing between the product imagery noticed by Respondent (C ) left the users frustrated and
willing to leave the page entirely before making a purchase. I would recommend making the
default option 8-10 products per page to improve the convenience of the shopper. There was a
sliding bar that lets you increase the number of products per page but not one of the three
respondents noticed this feature and it can be easily overlooked (Appendix A). I would put a
word or a pop-up info box when you hover over it to say “more products per page” or something
of that nature. I would recommend updating all filter functions that match with each product type.
So, for swimsuits, match the filters with those options like “one-piece” or “bikini.” instead of
filters that do not match the product type. I would also have a web designer come in and audit the
website frequently. It seems like the current designers have overlooked issues like gaps between
listings, random bugs (session expired), and showing items that are out of stock but still keeping
the listing up. Changing this would create a better user experience for the user and encourage
them to buy.
Removing Confusing Jargon
● One of the main complaints between all 3 respondents was the confusion over unexplained terms
within the main navigation, menu drop-down, and item listing pages. “Renewcell” was on the
main landing page when the usability assessment was administered. There was a large video of
fabric and sparkles and models but no description of what “Renewcell” even was. When you
pressed the large, full screen video that was playing, there was no explanation on the Renewcell
product. Respondent (C ) pressed the Renewcell icon underneath the menu drop down where that
link held information on what it was (a new sustainable process they were using to make their
fabric) but I would change this and link all videos and graphics back to the information page to
explain what this was. The video experience showing the Renewcell fabric made it a richer
experience for the user as it gave a visual but without explanation, the video serves no purpose
for the user. This same issue was brought up when Respondent (A) and (C ) when using the
 hamburger icon drop-down menu to search and there was a “Special Prices” and a “Sale” section.
When pressing both icons, neither of them had any explanation of the differences and seemingly
seemed to serve the same purpose as items that were marked down. From a usability standpoint,
this is confusing, and I would combine these sections into one to make it easier to view.
Adding Breadcrumb Navigation & Anchor Links
● Respondent (A) and (C ) both experienced issues of being re-routed to the main landing page
when trying to add the swimsuit to their cart. Each respondent mentioned that if they pressed an
item, when they hit the back button, sometimes it would go back to the swimsuit landing page
and sometimes it would take them all the way back to the home page. By adding in breadcrumb
navigation with anchor links at the top of each search page underneath the “Zara” logo, this will
help respondents see the previous pages they listed, give them the ability to press the anchor link
to go back one page or a previous page they visited, and make it a more convenient shopping
experience for the user. Example: Home → New → Swimsuits → One-Pieces (cannot link this
one as there is no filter for one-pieces)

Appendix (A)

(One picture/product per page)

(Confusing pictures - what is being sold here?

Hamburger Menu Drop-down

Respondent (A) error message when adding the swimsuit to cart.

Sale vs Special prices – Respondent C wishlist item

(Sliding feature to increase the amount of products per page next to the filter function on the top
right - BEFORE)

(Sliding feature to increase the amount of products per page next to the filter function on the top
right - AFTER)

Appendix (B)

Respondent (A)
28 years old
Female
Sporty
Atlanta, GA
Does not shop often. Invests in less but higher-quality items.
In the military, has a unifrom.

Voice Memo:
● “So I am going on Zara.com… Going through google. It’s the first option on Google, here
we go…. WOAH okay now there are flying models everywhere ALRIGHT. Okay, the first
thing I see is privacy policy but I am looking for a swimsuit so… oh… everything just
went away. This is confusing. Oh… okay alright there are little words that I think I click
but when I click them they go away? Now there’s a pop-up with a Newsletter. Hmmm the
first option on the page is renewcell - what’s that? Again, I’m looking for a swimsuit…
OPE can’t see the words because the picture is black… is this a beauty product? I don’t
see a swimwear tab. Let me try to search the “New” section… THE PICTURES ARE
BACK… I cannot click anything now. What is renewcell? I just clicked it and I’m watching
the video. Is it beauty? Lingerie? Ooo i found the menu bar! Finally, the main website
was very hard to navigate.. It took me almost 2, maybe 3 minutes to find the menu bar.
Now I'm going to the swim section, Hmm… these pictures are giant. *scroll, scroll* I am
going to filter the color. No purple? They have magenta next to a purple color so I am
going to press that. Let’s see if we can filter the one-pieces….. Um? Okay nevermind
they don’t have that option. .Okay searching, Lots of purple suits…..Oooo finally! Here it
is. There’s the picture, here we go, let's click it. OPE now it says my session has
expired? What? I just logged on? *laughs* alright I just want this purple swimsuit. Alright
again…it made me re-load and go back to the homepage. Scrolling with pictures again,
from what I learned last time, I have to wait until the search bar pops up. I am typing in
“light purple swimsuit again”..... Here it is. TIMED OUT AGAIN! Is there an option to just
add it to cart? Looks like it’s in the recent items tab, okay i give up it keeps saying my
session has expired.

Questions & Answers:

Questions to improve the usability of the website:

1. Are there factors that would discourage you from using this site for this purpose?

Absolutely. The website was not only unusable, but it was also hard to find and understand the
options where to find a simple clothing item. The options were confusing and scrolling pictures
and random video that popped up made it hard to even read the links at the bottom. The search
bar was in the foreground and took me almost 3 minutes clicking through the bottom option links
to find the search. The search page was also confusing because I wanted a simple bathing suit
and the options were limited, making it hard to find the actual bathing suit because there wasn’t
a “swim” option.
2. What could the website do to make you want to come back here?

Zara could take away the scrolling pictures option at the home page that made reading the
options links at the bottom impossible. They could also take away the current option links and
make them clothing categories such as “Women, Men, Kids, Home” to make it easier to
navigate. They could also make the search bar more visible and be able to search within the
home page with predictive searches popping up below instead of taking me to another page in
which I had to figure out how navigate.

They could also make the search page with easier to read categories and have more in the
options chain once the category is selected.

3. Are there factors that make you want to check out competitors as well?

The degraded accessibility wanted me to look for other options because I wasn’t even able to
get to the bathing suit due to the page timing out.

4. What are factors that could maintain stickiness in the usability of this website in the
future?

Adding a better user interface and making the navigation easier. Also keeping the models’
photos but adding them to the foreground of the splash page instead of forcing the user to
navigate around it.

5. What would be on your wish list for a truly satisfying experience at the website?

● better navigation
● less distraction from the product
● more options when selecting categories to make finding items easier
● one page navigation
6. Did you use the search bar or did you use the hamburger icon to search?
● Hamburger Icon - I had trouble finding the search bar

Respondent (B)
24 years old
Male
Louisville, KY
Practical, shops mostly at Costco or Target for clothing
Sporty, Wears casual clothing to work.

Voice Memo:
 ● “Okay I have gone to google, searched and pressed “Zara.com”. Okay I am on the front
page and I see a white and black color scheme and a large moving picture in the middle.
I am going to the search bar on the top right of the page to find the purple swim suit. I
have found the draped swim-suit one piece by using the exact phrasing in the question.
Is this the light purple? Okay yes light purple. Do I need a specific size? Let’s do large. It
was relatively easy to find with that specific keyword to locate. I do not commonly buy
swimsuits, this one seems expensive. I might go to another website to compare pricing
but the website was easy to use. I am now adding it to the cart. I’m glad it says “this item
runs small” that it is easy for me to know what size I need to get! Okay it is in the cart.
Do people really spend $50 on swimsuits? Anyways it’s in the cart and I have followed
all instructions. I found it very easy to find the product and don’t see any major issues
with the website.

Questions & Answers:

1. Are there factors that would discourage you from using this site for this purpose?
● No, it was not, I had a specific item to find so I searched it and it came up as the 3rd item
on the search.
2. What could the website do to make you want to come back here?
● I have never shopped here but maybe if the website helps me put together an outfit, I will
use this website again.
3. Are there factors that make you want to check out competitors as well?
● I would check out other websites to compare product pricing and reviews to see if I am
getting a high-quality product for my money.
4. What are factors that could maintain stickiness in the usability of this website in the
future?
● *He did not answer this one. *
5. What would be on your wish list for a truly satisfying experience at the website?
● Larger words on the picture would make it easier for me to press, the pictures are huge,
but the text is very small.
6. Did you use the search bar or did you use the hamburger icon to search?
● I used the search bar.

Respondent (C)
62 years old, Male, single.
Lives near Zara and has purchased a few button down tops.
Tampa, FL
Must wear nice, professional clothing to work, and doesn't care much about fashion
outside of work.
Voice Memo:

“Alrighty! Here I am searching for the “light purple draped one-piece swimsuit”. Okay first I am
instructed to go to google and search for “Zara”. Okay done and it’s the first option. I will click
this and WOAH here we are! I see a huge video in the middle of the page and a few tabs
horizontally on the bottom of the page saying “Renewcell - New - Denim - Shoes - Lingerie” I
feel like there should be more options down there? Whatever, let's go to the menu! Okay I’m
scrolling, why is there a sale and special prices? Isn’t that the same? Whatever okay let’s figure
out what Renewcell is…. Its a pulp material? Okay this makes more sense it’s supposed to be
an eco-friendly thing. okay I’m getting distracted. Im on the menu again and I had to scroll to
find the swim section. Here we go… okay theres one large picture with a girl in a one piece, i
am going to see if we can make this easy…. Okay i don’t see an option to filter the type of
suit…. Okay let me just scroll…. What i don’t understand when I am looking is some of the
products have huge white bars in between the next product. Some pages have 4 products in a
row and some have two, a huge white space, then one more product. That just seems weird to
me and confusing. Okay moving on and scrolling… HERE IT IS! I like the color, maybe they
make it in trunks too? Okay pressed the picture, I’m going to pick Medium annnnnnnnnd done
it’s in the cart!

Questions & Answers:

1. Are there factors that would discourage you from using this site for this purpose?
● I think the landing page can be a little clearer for the user. I thought it was weird that they
had a horizontal search bar, but it was on the bottom of the page and the options to
press were limited. I didn’t like the amount of scrolling I had to do so I probably would
just go in store to make a purchase.
2. What could the website do to make you want to come back here?
 Updating their filter options to make it easier to find an exact product and more products
on each page.
3. Are there factors that make you want to check out competitors as well?
● I have bought shirts from Zara before, and I love them. Based on the website, It wasn’t
so bad that I wouldn’t use it but I could see where someone would get frustrated if they
didn’t have a certain item in mind. If I wanted to browse for a new summer wardrobe or a
time when I needed more than an item or two, I would use a different website.
4. What are factors that could maintain stickiness in the usability of this website in the
future?
● I would make it easier for a user to search a product.
5. What would be on your wishlist for a truly satisfying experience at the website?
● New filters, search bar, utilizing blank space on the website.
6. Did you use the search bar or did you use the hamburger icon to search?
● Hamburger menu icon
Appendix (B continued )

(see the filtering options on the side, these were the options for the “swim” section of the
website)

https://www.businessoffashion.com/organisations/zara#:~:text=The%20company%20operates
%20over%202%2C220%20stores%20and%20is%20present%20in%2088%20countries.

https://www.zara.com/us/