Homepage development.
Updating the homepage of the UK’s #1 retailer.
The Problem
In2022 the M&S homepage was comprised of many different sections and content was owned by different trading teams, resulting in a disjointed presentation and a very long scroll.
The page needed to be redesigned to ensure the business presented a coherent brand story and fulfil the needs of the modern M&S shopper.
The Solution
I worked with the design, trading and analytics teams to explore use of the homepage in the context of different visitor journeys.
We found that very few shoppers were taking the time to explore the homepage for inspiration, with a tiny percentage scrolling below the fold. New designs were developed to encourage easy exploration and more entertaining content.
Over many weeks, I researched various iterations of the homepage until we identified the most effective route.
The Outcome
A retail homepage needs to inspire users to explore and communicate a brand image, whilst balancing this with trading requirements. The trading teams are most interested in encouraging users to leave the homepage and visit the product pages where the purchase journey begins.
The new homepage achieves this by retaining the global header but with a much shorter, simpler, cohesive layout – around 1/3 of the original length.
This refined design also uses space saving modules that allow shortcuts to hero content, and cookies will allow M&S to use targeted content for more personalised inspiration.