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Park Pet Supply
UX Designer
Park Pet Supply has been a trusted destination for pet owners since 1999, known for its commitment to providing natural, holistic, and premium pet products. The store prioritizes quality and care for pets and their owners by offering a thoughtfully curated selection of pet food, treats, toys, and supplies. To elevate the customer experience, Park Pet Supply aims to enhance its website by introducing a user-friendly, AI-powered e-commerce platform. This innovation will empower pet owners to effortlessly discover, explore, and purchase high-quality pet products, making online shopping seamless and tailored to their needs.
My Role: UX Designer & UX Researcher
Client: Passion Project
Tools: Figma, Miro, Internet, Pen & Paper
Duration: 4 Weeks
Roadblock to Success
Park Pet Supply's current e-commerce experience presents challenges in navigation, checkout, and order fulfillment, making it difficult for users to browse products, complete purchases efficiently, and receive timely order confirmations. My redesign focuses on streamlining these pain points by improving navigation, simplifying the checkout process, and introducing automation to enhance user satisfaction and business efficiency.
How Might We...
How Might We make it easier for users to seamlessly find, select, and order pet products online, ensuring a convenient and enjoyable shopping experience?
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To achieve this, we can streamline the site’s navigation by categorizing products based on pet type, ensuring users can find products quickly. Implementing a quick add-to-cart and checkout option can simplify the ordering process, minimizing steps from browsing to purchase. Additionally, we could introduce guest checkout to make the process faster for first-time visitors.
How might we leverage AI to provide personalized recommendations and search results that help users quickly discover the most relevant products for their pets’ needs?
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By integrating AI-driven personalization, we can offer tailored product suggestions based on each user’s browsing history, preferences, and previous purchases. An intelligent search feature could predict user needs and autofill suggestions to speed up search results. For added value, AI could provide care tips and suggest complementary items, like pairing pet food with recommended toys or grooming products, fostering an engaging and relevant shopping experience.
My Game Plan
The goal of this redesign is to create a seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable online shopping experience for Park Pet’s customers. By addressing key usability challenges and introducing modern design solutions, my approach focuses on:
Customer-Centric Design:
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Prioritizing simplicity and clarity in the user journey, ensuring customers can easily find, browse, and purchase products without confusion.
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Streamlined Navigation:
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Implementing a more intuitive site structure with clearly visible categories and search options. Users should be able to locate products quickly, whether by brand, pet type, or specific needs.
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Optimized Checkout Process:
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Transitioning from text-based order confirmation to a fully online checkout system that minimizes delays and provides instant order acknowledgment.
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Personalized Experiences:
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Integrating features like tailored product recommendations, wishlists, and subscription options for repeat purchases to enhance user engagement.
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Visual and Functional Improvements:
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Utilizing clean, modern design elements to improve visual appeal and functional clarity. Emphasis will be placed on mobile optimization to cater to on-the-go shoppers.
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User Feedback and Iteration:
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Incorporating feedback from current and potential customers to validate design decisions and iterate for continuous improvement.
By focusing on these key areas, the redesign will not only address pain points in the current flow but also position Park Pet as a competitive player in the e-commerce pet supply industry.
01
User Research
To design a user-centered e-commerce experience for pet owners, I conducted user interviews to understand their shopping preferences, motivations, and challenges. Key insights reveal the importance of convenience, trust in product quality, and personalized recommendations.
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Shopping Habits: Users frequently purchase pet supplies online, ranging from monthly orders to nearly all purchases made digitally.​
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What Users Love: Convenience and efficiency, fast delivery, and the ability to avoid in-store visits.
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Pain Points: Complicated ordering and return processes, misleading product descriptions, and lack of personalized assistance.
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Product Priorities: Essentials like food, litter, flea treatments, and toys, often chosen based on trusted recommendations (vets, reviews).
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In-Store vs. Online: Users value in-store expertise but prefer the ease of online shopping. They believe integrating detailed product descriptions and reviews could bridge the gap.
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The Power of Reviews: Product reviews play a crucial role in purchasing decisions, with users relying on multiple sources to assess quality.
By leveraging these insights, my redesign focuses on enhancing trust, improving product discovery, and creating a seamless shopping experience tailored to pet owners’ needs.
02
Competitive Analysis
The e-commerce pet supply industry is rapidly evolving, with businesses leveraging advanced digital platforms to meet growing consumer expectations. This competitive analysis examines how Park Pet's online presence compares to leading players in the market, such as Chewy and PetSmart, and identifies opportunities to enhance its e-commerce strategy.​
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Persona
Sarah Jackson
Occupation: Marketing
Age: 32
Location: New Orleans, LA
Pet (s): Two dogs (Labrador and a Beagle)
About:
Sarah loves her pets and considers them part of her family. She lives with her two dogs. With her tight work schedule, Sarah values the convenience of online shopping and for her pet supplies in-store and prefers the convenience of online shopping and orders pet supplies regularly.
Goals:
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Easily order and reorder pet supplies without spending extra time searching.
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Find new products, like toys and treats, through personalized recommendations tailored to her dogs' needs.
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Receive orders promptly with delivery tracking and notifications.
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Save time by managing her shopping list, placing repeat orders, and having access to product subscriptions.
"I want a one-stop shop for all my pets’ needs. Something that understands what my dogs love and gives me recommendations I can trust. With my busy schedule, the easier it is to find the right products and discover something new, the better!"
Challenges:
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Having to search for her regular items repeatedly on websites with poor search functionality.
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A lack of tailored recommendations often leads her to browse longer than planned.
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Annoyed when there’s no option to schedule repeat deliveries or when delivery times are unpredictable.
04
User Flows
Current Flow:
Park Pet’s e-commerce experience seems to be simple, but in reality, it’s a bit of a maze. Here’s how the process currently works:
Finding Products:​
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On the homepage, it’s not immediately clear how to start shopping. You need to spot a floating button in the bottom-right corner and click on "browse" to browse products.
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Browsing Options:
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Once you open the menu, you can choose to shop by brand or browse by categories like Dogs or Cats. It’s a decent setup, but it’s not the most intuitive.
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Adding to the Cart:
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Instead of a straightforward “Add to Cart” button, you have to click “Inquire.” It’s not obvious, however, that this is how you add items to your cart, which can confuse users.
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The Checkout Process:
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After you’ve added items, the process shifts far from what you’d expect. You don’t just checkout online, instead, you have to fill out a form and you wait for a text message to confirm your order. It could take hours or even days for someone from Park Pet to acknowledge your order and begin fulfillment.​
What should feel like a quick and easy online shopping experience ends up being slow and clunky. Simplifying these steps would go a long way in making the process more user-friendly and enjoyable.
New Flow:
The new user flow for Park Pet's e-commerce site aims to provide a seamless and user-friendly shopping experience. By addressing previous complexities, this flow simplifies key interactions while optimizing for efficiency and accessibility:
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Home Page: Users begin their journey here, with clear navigation to sign in, create an account, or explore products.
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Product Discovery: Users can either search for products using keywords or browse by categories such as dogs, cats, or specific brands.
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Category Selection: Once a category is chosen, users view a product listing page that includes detailed product descriptions and images.
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Add to Cart: Users can select products and add them to their cart effortlessly.
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Checkout Process: From the cart, users can choose to continue shopping or proceed to checkout.
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Sign-in or Account Setup: Returning users can sign in directly, while new users can create an account to enhance their experience.
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Curbside or In-store pickup: Users select the in-store or curbside pickup option at checkout.
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Order Confirmation: After placing the order, users receive a confirmation notice for review and next steps.
This new flow emphasizes intuitive navigation and streamlined actions, ensuring an improved shopping experience for Park Pet customers.
06
Sketches and Wireframes
Sketches:
The sketches represent the initial design concepts for the Park Pet e-commerce platform, focusing on streamlining the user experience. These visuals outline key elements such as simplified navigation, clear category selection, and intuitive checkout processes. Each sketch captures a specific stage of the user journey, ensuring that the design addresses pain points from the previous flow and emphasizes usability and accessibility. These drafts serve as a foundation for refining and validating ideas through user feedback.
Wireframes:
The mid-fidelity wireframes for the Park Pet e-commerce redesign offer a more detailed user experience visualization. These wireframes focus on layout, functionality, and navigation flow, incorporating feedback from the initial sketches. Key elements such as streamlined product browsing, a prominent search bar, and a straightforward checkout process are highlighted to address user pain points. These wireframes set the stage for usability testing and further refinement before moving into high-fidelity prototypes.
Current Park Pet Supply platform:
Users can browse items by clicking the floating button in the bottom-right corner.
Users will get an order confirmation.
Users must click "Inquire" to add items to the cart.
Users click on "view shopping cart".
Users proceed to checkout without selecting a payment method.
After checkout, users receive a text message.
Hours later, users receive a text confirming their order but without purchase details unless requested.
New Park Pet Supply platform:
