Petbarn already had a website but E-commerce hadn't always been a top priority for the company, with 95% of its sales coming through retail stores. Redefining their business strategy to become more digitally focused involved transitioning to a new e-commerce platform (Magento). It was a great opportunity to refresh the design, define the current pain points, understand the user journeys and develop a more seamless path to purchase.
Working with the UX Lead, we created multiple iterations of the product pages, shopping cart and payment pages and ran them through a series of user tests including heat maps, to identify how consumers were engaging with the designs. We also spent considerable time re-designing the landing page to cross-promote the other services that Petbarn offer.
The new website increased Petbarn's conversion rate by 44% over the previous year. They can attribute some of ths growth to the shift in consumer habits as a result of the pandemic, however I'd like to think that I have contributed to this through the work we did on designing a fabulous website.
During my engagement with Petbarn I also worked on some web and social animations for various campaigns. Head over to my Video and Digital design pages to check out some of the work.
Petbarn provides additional services such as Grooming, Same Day Delivery, Loyalty Rewards program as well as Greencross Vets. Developing an App would become a one stop place for customers to view and manage these services - introducing the Pet Concierge.
I was tasked with creating the initial concepts for the App so at this early stage it was not specific to Android or iPhone. It was a sales piece - to get buy in from the wider business unit and help convince the key decision makers this would be an invaluable resource.
I wanted it to be engaging and addictive - using the fantastic animal illustrations as a way to navigate the app, while also providing functionality and ease of use. After a bunch of sketching and brainstorming sessions, we concluded that the “must haves” for the app were order/delivery options and updates, the rewards account and grooming bookings. We wanted to keep things very simple and focused for the initial phase.
The designs were received with a lot of positivity from management team and as a result a new Petbarn App would be in the pipeline for development.
A secondary phase of the project involved bringing the Greencross Vet website (a sub-brand of the Petbarn company) in line with the Petbarn site. After considerable work on the main e-commerce site, some of those insights and designs could be utilised here. The main difference being that Greencross would be more content, article and blog focused as opposed to selling products. The 2 sites would share similar navigation and key components such as the footer and booking tool.
This was a great project for me as I have a deep affection for animals and worked as a Vet Nurse in another life. I felt I had insights into this industry and a passion that I hope shined through in the designs.
