Fabric.com is an online fabric retailer and subsidiary of Amazon. It launched fits first website in 1999 to test the concept of selling cut-yardage fabrics directly to consumers. Since then, Fabric.com operates without a traditional brick and mortar store. It currently has over 60,000 products, offering a wide range of cotton print, home décor and apparel fabrics for sewers, crafters, and businesses.
Amazon acquired Fabric.com in 2008, and in 2021 decided to shift the Fabric.com e-commerce onto its own platform. The challenge was to transition Fabric.com shoppers, many accustomed to a website specializing in fabric, to the vastly different experience of shopping for fabric on Amazon.
The outcome of this move enabled customers to take advantage of Prime benefits and a larger product selection, while also reducing business costs needed to maintain a separate e-commerce experience and warehouse management system.
How do we create a seamless and trustworthy experience for customers as they journey from Fabric.com to Amazon?
For over a decade, Fabric.com customers were not aware of Amazon’s acquisition. A sudden change forcing customers to purchase on Amazon would be unexpected and challenge customers' trust, as many fabric shoppers assumed fabrics would be lower quality.
“Shopping for fabric is not like shopping for electronics!”
Both qualitative and quantitative research was vital during the entire lifecycle of the project, from understanding customers' needs and wants to validating design changes to the site.
Customer interviews, usability testing, and feedback sessions revealed that many fabric shoppers were hesitant to shop Amazon for fabric due to missing features, cumbersome search and filtering, lack of specialized customer service and more.
A/B testing and analyzing site metrics showed that customers were initially not adopting the option to check out on Amazon from a Fabric.com detail page. Click through rates, conversion, and average order values were tracked with each change, and improved after clearer calls to action and subtle design changes were made.
Tracking the customer journey from fabric.com through Amazon's checkout was a challenging task, as both sites used different tools, queries, and KPIs. Piecing data together was crucial in understanding drop-off points, checkout behavior and impact on the bottom line.
Ongoing research confirmed the current Fabric.com website needed design enhancements before it would be ready for customers to change their shopping habits.
This included rebranding the site to show its relationship to Amazon, ensuring ADA compliance, improving the mobile experience, and offering Amazon checkout options from Fabric.com.
Meanwhile, the Fabric.com on Amazon experience also needed improvement, as Amazon’s Arts, Crafts & Sewing framework was missing functionality and features that Fabric.com customers expected.
The ability to purchase in half yard increments, display bulk quantity discounts, and easily see collection variations were missing from Fabric.com on Amazon, and the desire for more innovative features such as color picker tools, inline search, project galleries and product videos were in demand.
Customers can find and purchase fabric easier and faster on Amazon, with a greater selection and Prime benefits.
Improving the Fabric.com product detail page by providing clearer calls to action resulted in increased click through rates to Amazon. Customers had a better understanding about why they were being to taken Amazon, and its benefits.
Meanwhile, improvements to Amazon’s detail page better met customer expectations and allowed them to shop for fabric with the same tools and information they had on Fabric.com, but with a greater selection, faster shipping and Prime benefits.
After talking to many customers who had made the Fabric.com to Amazon transition, many were excited about the fast shipping, free returns, and numerous customer reviews. Overall, customers appreciated the vast selection and felt that Amazon was a company they could trust for their fabric shopping needs.
