Redesign: Pet Valu
Tailored to your pet's needs, Pet Valu helps you find everything from food to grooming essentials
Role
Conducted 4+ interviews to shape IA, led interactive design process, usability tests to spot pain points, and designed low/high-fidelity prototypes to deliver user-focused solutions.
Scope
Tool
Duration
OVERVIEW
About Pet Valu ━ why redesign?
Pet Valu, one of Canada's leading pet food and supply retailers with over 630 locations, is the largest small-format pet specialty retailer globally. They offer a wide range of brands and services while supporting local communities.
Why
The decision to redesign this website stemmed from the need to address evolving user expectations and enhance overall engagement. Our initial research revealed that users often found navigating the site challenging, impacting their ability to quickly locate products.
Since the pandemic, there has been a significant shift toward contactless delivery and pickup options, this redesign prioritizes a seamless, mobile-first experience, ensuring users can easily browse, order and arrange for non-contact fulfillment, aligning with their current interaction preferences for online shopping.
Objectives
In this project, our key objectives were to enhance the site's navigation, reduce user friction and develop a more personalized online shopping journey that reflects the brand's exceptional in-store service.
RESEARCH
Analyzing User Behavior and Interaction Flow
Kickoff
Pet Valu's existing digital experience presented a significant user experience challenge. The design was marred by invasive location prompts, unclear navigation, and cluttered product listings, creating barriers for online shoppers.
The current experience with Pet Valu's digital platform is complex and distracting.
Collect data
To gain insights into the user experience with Pet Valu, we conducted a survey involving 22 participants. It highlighted a significant disconnect between Pet Valu's stellar in-store experience and its online presence. While 71% of customers reported positive interactions in physical stores, the digital platform struggled to translate that same level of personalized service.
This discrepancy suggests potential gaps in the digital experience, highlighting areas for improvement in how users interact with the website across devices.
We used a combination of open-ended and structured questions to understand user pain points. Participants shared detailed feedback about navigation challenges, highlighting significant usability challenges. They specifically noted problems with call-to-action buttons, describing unclear labels and a confusing visual hierarchy.
DEFINE
Shaping the Problem
Confusing landing page
multiple disruptive location prompts
unintuitive user interfaces
Navigation complexity
inconsistent menu structure
unclear product categorization
Product information barriers
difficult price and weight identification
poor information hierarchy
Personalization absence
no tailored product recommendations
missing special connection to users
We distilled these challenges into strategic "How Might We" questions, challenging ourselves to reimagine the digital experience. How might we create a welcoming digital environment that guides users effortlessly? How could we integrate the personalized assistance that defines Pet Valu's brand into the online platform?
Target audience and user flow
Pet owners aged 25-70 who prioritize convenience, personalized pet care, and seamless online shopping experiences. These digitally-savvy consumers value brands that understand their pets' unique needs and provide intuitive, helpful online platforms.
IDEATE
Visioning the Solution
We used the Double Diamond design method to create user-focused solutions. Our team quickly sketched different design ideas to solve key problems (crazy 8), prioritizing mobile-friendly approaches.
The goal was to create an intuitive design that has a clear navigation, product discovery page and personalized recommendations similar to in-store shopping guidance.
Solution #1: Landing Page
One of the most important challenges was addressing the overwhelming user frustration with location prompts and initial site navigation.
Multiple disruptive modals ➔ A streamlined prompt that minimizes user interruption.
Solution #2: Navigation
Navigation complexity presented another significant hurdle for users. Users found the existing menu structure confusing and unintuitive. Our solution involved a comprehensive card sorting exercise that helped us re-organize the menu structure.
Solution #3: Product Listing
We addressed this by implementing a more user-friendly design that allows customers to easily select product weights, view prices, and add items to their cart with a single touch.
Each design challenge was met with a strategic, user-centered solution that prioritized simplicity, accessibility, and personalization. By breaking down complex interaction problems and approaching them with empathy and creativity, we transformed the digital experience to more closely align with Pet Valu's renowned in-store service.
Solution #4: Cart
Nothing happens when users add an item to the cart, so users don't notice if the selected items is in the cart or not. We addressed cart interaction issues by adding clear visual feedback, simplifying checkout options (pickup or delivery), and introducing product subscription choices at key touchpoints.
Solution #5 Personalization
We created a personalized recommendation system that offers pet-specific guidance, similar to in-store expert advice.
It was desktop-first design for this part because it provides comprehensive view of the layout and interactions, allowing us for more detailed design refinement before adapting to smaller mobile screens. (it was a challenge for us!)
PROTOTYPE
How was your experience with our designs?
For usability testing, we conducted a test with over 5 users, guiding them through the entire user journey from landing page to product page. The proposed location prompt received positive feedback from users.
Based on their input with the final design, we implemented key improvements to enhance the user experience.