Product design question

How would you increase the basket size on Walmart's eCommerce site?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Tests ecommerce growth thinking: can you name concrete cross-sell and merchandising mechanisms rather than generic 'recommend more products' advice.

Clarify the goal: increase average order value (basket size) without hurting conversion rate, since aggressive upselling can backfire and reduce checkout completion.
Identify levers: bundling and cross-sell recommendations at product and cart pages, free-shipping threshold incentives, and subscribe-and-save options for recurring household items Walmart sells heavily.
Prioritize a free-shipping threshold nudge as a quick win, showing users how much more to add to reach free shipping, a proven ecommerce tactic for lifting basket size.
Prioritize cart-page cross-sell recommendations next, surfacing complementary items (like batteries with electronics, or recipe ingredients together) based on what's already in cart.
Consider a loyalty or bundle-discount mechanism, like a small discount for buying a curated bundle, to nudge multi-item purchases without discounting the whole cart.
Define success as average order value and units per order, guarded against a drop in conversion rate or return rate from over-nudged, unwanted add-ons.

Names the free-shipping threshold nudge specifically, a well-established and effective ecommerce lever, rather than only generic recommendations.
Distinguishes cross-sell (complementary items) from up-sell (higher-tier version), since Walmart's assortment favors cross-sell for household basket building.
Adds a guardrail against over-nudging, noting that pushing add-ons too aggressively can raise return rates or hurt checkout conversion.
Picks metrics (AOV, units per order) that are precise to the basket-size goal rather than generic revenue.

Proposing generic 'personalized recommendations' without a concrete mechanism like threshold nudges or cart-page cross-sell.
Ignoring the risk that aggressive upselling can reduce checkout conversion or increase returns.
No guardrail metric to catch negative side effects of the basket-size push.

How would you personalize the free-shipping threshold nudge by customer segment?
How would you test whether cross-sell recommendations are cannibalizing other purchases?
What would you do if AOV went up but return rate also increased?