Reimagining Coles Category Pages into Intent-Led Shopping Experiences
Project Overview
Discovery & Problem Framing
I led discovery to understand how customer behaviour changes by category and shopping intent. Using a combination of qualitative research, behavioural data, and stakeholder inputs, we identified that customers approach categories with fundamentally different mindsets—ranging from routine and mission-based shopping to browsing, inspiration, and deal-seeking.
This work surfaced key problems with existing PCPs, such as poor value visibility, lack of clear navigational paths, and limited flexibility to cater for different shopping intents. This then formed the foundation for clear opportunity areas and experience principles.
Customer Co-Design & Value Prioritisation
To ensure the category page hierarchy was driven by real customer value, not internal assumption, I ran a series of customer co-design testing sessions. These sessions combined moderated interviews with structured prioritisation exercises, where customers were asked to rank features, content types, and value cues based on what they found most useful when shopping across different categories.
Insights from the co-design sessions were synthesised into clear value signals that directly informed the information architecture and visual hierarchy of the PCPs. High-value elements consistently surfaced by customers were elevated into prominent, repeatable positions within the page, while lower-value or situational content was deprioritised or made contextual.
Experience & Visual Design
I led the end-to-end design process for the uplifted product category pages, translating all of the research and hierarchy decisions into clear, tailored, and highly valuable category experiences. Particular attention was paid to interaction patterns to ensure customers could quickly orient themselves, understand value, and make confident choices, particularly in high-density categories.
The UI balanced customer clarity with commercial requirements, ensuring supplier media and promotional content provided real customer value.
Impact & Ongoing Value
The outcome was an adaptive, customer-centric framework that could be customised for the needs & nuances of each category. One that better reflects how people shop, surfaces value earlier, and provides a durable foundation for ongoing optimisation.