Case study

French Connection

Modernising the ecommerce journey

Role: Lead Designer
Platforms: Responsive web
Focus: Ecommerce UX, research, UI design and optimisation
Team: Product, content, copy, engineering and creative

I led the UX and UI redesign of French Connection’s homepage, product listing pages and product detail pages—creating a clearer, more premium and mobile-first shopping experience.

Homepage redesign

The homepage was French Connection’s busiest digital storefront, but it had a 40% bounce rate and wasn’t meeting the needs of a predominantly mobile audience.

With 75% of customers shopping on mobile, the experience needed clearer navigation, more engaging content and better ways to discover fashion and homeware.

The previous French Connection homepage on desktop and mobile — The previous homepage experience across desktop and mobile

A new storefront

Using analytics, session recordings, customer surveys, A/B testing and competitor research, I redesigned the homepage around how customers actually shopped.

The new experience introduced:

A shorter, more focused hero
Clearer routes into key ranges
Greater visibility for homeware
Personalised product recommendations
UGC and social proof
A cleaner hierarchy and reusable content templates

Annotated homepage designs showing a shorter hero, guided navigation, homeware content and personalised recommendations — A shorter hero, guided navigation, dedicated homeware content and personalised recommendations

Annotated homepage designs showing UGC, editorial content and interactive social elements — UGC, editorial content and interactive social elements created more ways to engage

The impact

+18%

increase in conversion and revenue

40% → 20%

bounce rate reduced

+12%

time on page increased

Traffic up

to womenswear, menswear, homeware and PDPs

Faster

design and content process across teams

Improving discovery

A survey of 4,595 active and dormant customers highlighted further friction across the product listing and product detail journey.

Customers wanted better filters, richer product information, clearer reviews and an easier way to know when their size was back in stock.

The previous French Connection product listing page and product detail page designs — The existing PLP and PDP experience highlighted gaps in filtering, product information and decision support

Designing the journey

I created a more premium, mobile-friendly experience featuring:

More comprehensive filtering and sorting
Clearer product information and fit details
Ratings and reviews brought forward
Back-in-stock notifications
Consistent CTA states and mobile interactions
Personalised recommendations and “Complete the look”
Options to discover popular and trending products

The redesigned French Connection product listing page and product detail page — The redesigned PLP and PDP introduced a cleaner hierarchy and more confident path to purchase

Filtering and navigation

The PLP introduced faster category navigation and a more comprehensive mobile filtering experience. Clearer menus, larger type and highlighted categories helped customers understand where they were and refine the range more easily.

Annotated PLP designs showing scrollable categories and a clearer filter overlay — Scrollable categories and a clearer filter overlay

Annotated PLP designs showing expanded filter options and highlighted categories — Expanded filter options and stronger journey orientation

A more useful PDP

The PDP brought key information and actions forward, helping customers choose the right product and size with greater confidence.

A collection of redesigned French Connection product detail page screens — A cleaner, mobile-first product experience with clearer actions and recommendations

Back-in-stock alerts for unavailable sizes
More detailed product and fit information
Ratings and reviews made easier to access
“Complete the look” outfit inspiration
Personalised recommendations based on browsing behaviour

Annotated PDP designs showing detailed product descriptions and personalised recommendations — Richer product information and relevant recommendations supported better decisions

The outcome

The concepts were tested through low-fidelity prototypes and shaped directly by customer feedback. Implementation was paused due to the business impact of COVID-19, but the work established a clear customer-led direction for the future PLP and PDP experience.

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