Project background —

A multi-storey shopping centre, consisting of over 170 retailers, restaurants and cafés and the area’s largest theatre and cinema. I worked on the Woking Shopping website for approximately 8 years. Initially, the client wanted to modernise the online presence of the centre, while utilising new web technology and improving customer relations. The key objective of the new website was to convert digital visitors to in-centre footfall. 

 

Scoping and planning —

We began by reviewing the analytics of the existing site to find the most visited pages, the pages with the longest dwell time and to understand the current user flow. From this information we were able to identify the pages that required more prominence, outline improvements for page signposting, resolve accessibility issues and restructure the overall information architecture.

 

Design —

Once the UX strategy had been defined I then worked closely with the designer of the selected concept to ensure accurate detailing and consistent brand representation would be integrated throughout the site. This ensured that the features of the improved interface were perfectly aligned to work both aesthetically and practically within the new site. 

 

 

Build —

As lead developer for the new site, I built the foundation and styling for all pages and worked with third party teams to gain access to the necessary APIs (such as the cinema listing, national rail data and Google Indoor Maps integration. The website is built on a Linux server and uses an open source CMS that provides a basic framework setup that can then be customised and build upon by developers. I created a new design system for the build in order to ensure consistency across all elements. This also meant that when new pages were required, there was often a reference or module block that could be utilised to make the process as efficient as possible for both the web maintenance team and also the client.

 

Testing and launch —

Prior to launching the new site, it was tested initially by the internal team and then by the client to ensure any issues or amendments were completed before the site could be viewed by the public and also before being revealed to search engines for SEO indexing. During this phase, we also reviewed the website accessibility to ensure that it adhered to the latest WACG guidelines and GDPR regulations for personal data.

 

Analyse and iterate —

We also secured a retained maintenance contract with the client, which meant we were able to quickly complete updates and new requests, while monitoring the overall website functionality. This also meant that we were able to review the ongoing user journey, mystery shopper feedback and in-centre visitor data to identify areas for improvement to further enhance the user experience. 

 

Potential enhancements —

If I were still part of the maintenance team for this site, there are a number of potential enhancements that I feel could give the shopping centre the edge over its competitors and also further enhance the user experience. Such as:

 

User profiles

By allowing users to create a profile on the shopping centre website, the client would not only be able to better tailor the experience, but they would also be able to gain valuable insights into their visitor demographic. 

 

 

In-centre product search 

In-centre product search could be a fantasic service to offer visitors to drive footfall to relivant retailers and also connect the digital experienece to in-store transactions. Ideally the system would connect to each stores stock levels within the store to provide the user with results that are in stock at the time of their search, however there is also the opportunity to present suggestions rather than stock levels. In this case, the user could search for an item and the sytem would present them with the stores that are most likely to have it in stock.