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SPEC PROJECT
2 week sprint
BRANDING
ECOMMERCE
PRODUCT STRATEGY
IA
Gallery of Pets is a beloved, local pet store known for their expertise and offerings in fish and exotic birds. I was tasked to design an online shopping experience since they currently don't sell products online.
I redesigned their website and added eCommerce to their storefront, 1) helping them showcase their products, services, and expertise, while 2) reimagining – but taking care to stay true to – their brand.
“Even though I live [far], I like this place so much I'll drive across town to go there.”
Leah S.
Yelp review
During my research phase, I interviewed shoppers and then performed a heuristic analysis of the current site and a competitive analysis. I organized a list of 100 random items into categories and built out a sitemap based on that feedback. I developed a user flow based on e-Commerce standards and Gallery of Pets' content inventory, and created a hifi mockup of the final redesign.
Gallery of Pets' reimagined website creates two new storefronts for pet services and pet items. Because the store is locally known for its trusted expertise and knowledgeable staff, the new site also houses staff-recommended content, where staff can also add short messages to their items of choice.
Gallery of Pets is a legendary pet store that's been around since 1977. They offer more than 100 years of pet knowledge and specialize in birds, reptiles, small mammals, and fish. A quick peek on Yelp and Google showed me that the store has a very large, dedicated, and loyal customer base.
Despite their great reputation and incredible longevity, they have yet to offer online shopping to their customers. Instead, their website serves as a place for the community to find out about who they are, what they offer, and when they're open.
Before I did anything else, it was important for me to find out their core mission. Getting a good grasp of who they are and how they serve would help me create the best possible experience for their customers.
“Attention to detail is an important aspect of [our] customer service. Our patrons travel a great distance for our customer service, expertise, and quality products.”
After doing some research, I found their biggest selling points were their dedicated, knowledgeable staff and their specialty in birds, fish, and exotics. Going forward, I knew that my solution needed to stay true to the image they'd cultivated, while also emphasizing these unique selling points.
Job seekers reach a one-page form by clicking the Job Seeker button on the homepage. Once a job seeker submits the form, they wait to be matched with a job opportunity. They receive information about the position, as well as potential interview times, via text notification.
Current Crewcollar homepage and submission form
Before I could design a site based on a shop, I had one important thing to do: visit the store in person. This let me explore the products they sell, as well as gain a general vibe for the design. I also had the opportunity to chat with the owner who elaborated on the unique services they offer (like pet sitting and bird boarding).
Next, I took a look at the competition to gain an idea of industry expectations. To do so, I performed a task analysis of each site: find a treat for my bird. Each took about 6-8 steps and gave me some great ideas on how to make my design more effective.
I interviewed 4 people who shop online on a semi-regular basis (at minimum). I organized my user findings into the following categories:
“I sometimes abandon my shopping cart because I get distracted by other things on the site.”
I spent a full day synthesizing the data from my user interviews primary and secondary personas, which served as north stars to guide my design decisions.
When designing my solution, I wanted to emphasize GOP's biggest selling point: the staff's rich knowledge, care, and expertise. How can we convey this in the most effective way? I had a few ideas:
I screened usability testers with the question: have you ever shopped online for a pet? Then, I asked them to complete the following tasks while thinking out loud:
I made changes to my wireframes to address various pain points. I've outlined two of the most important ones below.
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Finally, I created a high-fidelity screen to showcase the new design. I wanted to streamline a few areas that had opportunities for growth, but since GOP has been around for so long, I also wanted to remain as faithful as possible to their brand.
My hifi mockup file was somehow lost to the void, and I had to recreate it! This was an unexpected setback for me, but it was good practice (and also a lesson in making it a habit to back up your files to the Cloud)! I also was redid the mockup much faster the second time since I already had a good idea of the vision I wanted.
If I continued this project, I’d like to take the following next steps:
