Amazon is phasing in a new design for its mobile apps and website. The new appearance is noticeably brighter and somewhat surprisingly includes a change to the look of the 'add to cart'/'buy it now' buttons, which have generally stayed consistent over the years. While the colors and styles are the most apparent visual changes, the new layout is designed to make it easier for consumers to navigate and shop with one hand.

In an era where digital commerce has boomed, shopping continues to surge online. Like more online retailers, Amazon has seen huge spikes in growth this year, which is astounding to say for a company that has achieved enormous growth for most of the past 20 years. However, Amazon has not achieved the same growth as companies like Target, Walmart and others. This was in part due to limited fulfillment capabilities, as well as by a wave of new store shoppers turning to mobile. With new shoppers moving online and a drop in ecommerce market share, these changes are intended to improve Amazon's shopping experience as we head into the most important 3 months of the retail shopping year.

Redesigns by nature are indented to bring improvements. In general, the changes are intended to make it more convenient for customers, even when shopping with one hand. From Sarah Perez at Techcrunch:

The redesign’s larger aim, Amazon explains, was to make it easier for users to find what they are looking for — even when they’re using their iPhone with one hand, as is common.

As you move through the updated app, you’ll notice a new “Quick Access” bar floating on the bottom of the screen that offers shortcuts to the most frequently accessed features. This bar provides links to the app’s Home page, where you’ll find your personalized shopping recommendations, program offers and other seasonal content. The second button, a profile icon, takes you to your account page where you’ll find your orders, lists, account options and previously browsed and searched items.

As Amazon pushes to make it's mobile shopping experience better for customers, the changes are nearly guaranteed to improve the conversion rate of all Amazon shoppers. A company with the near endless resources only implements a widespread change like this after thorough, data-driven testing. The colors get brighter, the experience gets smoother, and Amazon continues to grow.