The Challenge
Peak trading is the most commercially important period for the business, where performance directly impacts revenue. Seasonal activity had historically relied on promotional homepage modules and landing pages optimised for efficiency but limited in structure and depth. The challenge was to introduce a more immersive seasonal layer that increased product discovery, encouraged exploration, and strengthened brand storytelling, without compromising navigation, performance, or conversion.
My Role
I defined and led the UX and visual design vision across the behavioural model, interaction and system architecture of the seasonal commerce experience. Working cross-functionally with engineering, brand, and copy to prototype, test, and refine the system to align with both brand and trading performance.
Hypothesis
Providing customers with a clear seasonal layer that integrates brand storytelling with guided discovery and decision support would increase engagement and improve conversion performance.
The Discovery
Discovery focused on defining the seasonal layer’s role within the broader ecommerce platform. Rather than operating as a standalone campaign surface, the Village needed to sit alongside core merchandising, search and edit routes.
Through stakeholder alignment, journey mapping and concept exploration, we identified key behaviours including browsing, gifting intent, category switching and repeat visits. The opportunity was to support user mindsets while maintaining clear pathways into core commerce flows.
This positioned the Village not as a microsite, but as a structured discovery hub integrated into the primary commerce architecture.
Structuring the Narrative
The system was designed as a layered architecture.
At the top level, the Village acted as an immersive entry hub. Beneath this, curated boutiques, decision tools and engagement pieces take users into product edits and checkout pathways. The brand storytelling and interaction enhanced the discovery journey while high-intent routes remained intact. The seasonal layer functioned as an interface sitting over the platform, placed between inspiration and transaction based on user intent.
The Village - Immersive Entry Hub
A storytelling-led entry hub designed to orient users through the themed navigation into curated boutiques and unique experiences.
Curated shop interiors guiding users from seasonal inspiration into structured product pathways. Gift Finder introduced decision logic to reduce product discovery friction. Card Generator as an interactive participation layer to build brand affinity.
Rewards, product drops, delivery deadlines, and saved items unified within a structured seasonal dashboard. State-aware and time-based surfaces introduced cadence, urgency, and personalised continuity into peak trading.
Design System
A scalable design system extending the core branding through components, typography, colour, and illustration. This enabled consistent rollout across the site and cross-channel marketing touchpoints.
Outcome
The festive virtual hub introduced a structured discovery and engagement framework into peak trading, increasing interaction with curated pathways and interactive tools.
Users who entered through the Village explored more cross-category content per visit than direct product traffic. Campaign analysis also surfaced a key behavioural insight that while immersive exploration increased engagement and revisits, conversion performance differed from high-intent traffic routes. Users navigating directly to the Christmas edit converted 12% higher than those entering via the Village.
This modular structure allowed the seasonal framework to be repeatable across future trading moments beyond Christmas.
Evolve
Future iterations would test hybrid entry models, combining immersive navigation with stronger high-intent shortcuts to optimise both exploration and conversion efficiency. Behavioural data suggests different user mindsets during peak trading and designing adaptive entry points would allow the system to respond to both discovery-led and purchase-led intent. This approach would evolve the seasonal layer into a performance-aware commerce framework.
