Neiman Marcus is an American chain of luxury department stores with $4.9 billion in revenue.
Neiman Marcus had made an effort to adapt their Japanese website to the local market. However, they weren’t seeing high conversion rates. They decided to seek input from website localization experts to grow their business overseas.
The initial designs for Neiman Marcus Japan were developed by the localization SaaS company. I did a thorough audit and found a number of problem areas. For example, the tapping area to delete an item was too close to the quantity changer, causing people to delete items from their shopping carts.
I revised their designs to optimize the user experience. I also advised them on mobile e-commerce and UX best practices.
The original size chart was a generic, universal size chart with Japanese size conversions. This led to confusion and frustration, as Japanese users prefer more precise measurements specific to the item.
I redesigned the size chart to include the specific dimensions in both centimeters and inches. The chart now shows only the measurements of the specific item category, instead of a generic chart.
The original language switcher included a flag image. However, this caused an issue when we applied the template to other countries that are bilingual.
After exploring several variations, the final design is a simple text-based language selector. On mobile, it includes a universal globe icon with translated “Browse in (language)” text.
Customers use the fashion designer directory on the US site to browse all products by a specific designer.
I added this feature to the Japanese site to cater to Japan's brand-conscious culture. I also designed multiple variants for both desktop and mobile to ensure the directory is easy and enjoyable to use on different devices.
Localized content includes custom holiday marketing campaigns.
Site modules cater to local preferences to view top selling items.
Duty/tax details satisfy local desire to know exact price before making a buying decision.
Quick links in the footer design is in line with other local e-commerce sites.
A localized Japanese site allowed Neiman Marcus to acquire and convert profitable international customers.
A localized Japanese site allowed Neiman Marcus to acquire and convert profitable international customers.
The site caters to Japanese users’ love of brands with featured content and functionality such as the designer directory.
The site was optimized with local preferences in mind, paying careful attention to translations, market behavior, and user experience. After launch, we saw more customers switching from the English US site to the localized site.
Optimized user research questionnaires, analyzed user research data, and helped the team localize their participant recruitment approach.
Developed processes to scale localization, including design systems and component libraries.
Educated client on best practices in mobile e-commerce, A/B testing, usability, and user research.
