Officeworks Homescreen
Officeworks is a leading office supplies and stationery retailer in Australia. As part of their product roadmap, they aimed to introduce a personalised home screen experience to better serve their customers.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Company
Officeworks
Year
2019
Squad
Mobile apps team
Context
The existing app hadn’t been updated in some time and lagged behind other major retail apps in both functionality and user experience.
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App analytics revealed that users were highly goal-oriented—they came in knowing exactly what they needed and were ready to make a purchase. This insight was key in shaping a streamlined and relevant user experience.
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This case study outlines the discovery, definition, and design phases of creating a more personalised and purposeful app experience.
Discovery
Competitor Analysis
I explored popular retail and travel apps, highlighting personalized and seasonal content features. Sharing these insights with stakeholders helped secure their buy-in.
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Research and Analytics
I conducted baseline usability testing with 5 users through Askable and there were no prior studies. The landing screen, which required users to navigate 5-6 subcategory levels to find products, was difficult to browse. Unlike standard retail apps that offer curated sections for quick browsing, our app lacked an intuitive starting point.
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Store Visits
Equipped with gift cards as incentives, I visited an Officeworks store to gather customer feedback on our landing screen. It was insightful to speak with diverse customers in-store.
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User Behavior
Users spent about 20 seconds on the landing screen, with 23% of the 3000 visits going directly to the search function, indicating a lack of browsing experience. Analytics and user comments showed that most users visited the app with a specific purchase in mind.
Ideation workshop
I organized and facilitated a workshop for homescreen ideation, involving 22 participants. I coordinated with stakeholders, arranged lightning talks, and ensured speakers were prepared.
The session fostered keen collaboration and contributions to app development.
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In the session, we had a warm up activity and a crazy 8 exercise.
After the crazy 8, I asked the participants to pair up and work on one design that they think would work or that they really like.
Once that was done, we discussed those as a group.​
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The workshop went on for 2.5 hours. After the workshop, I collected all the amazing ideas from the room and worked on the vision piece.
Design
The research and the ideas everyone came up with helped inform the design direction for the homescreen.
Reflection
I wasn’t able to see the project through to completion, as my contract ended before the final implementation. However, Officeworks later launched a version that closely reflected the vision I had worked on. It was rewarding to see my contribution influence the direction of the current experience.