Grass4You and the case of having a good problem

A redesign project to keep up with complexity without slowing down performance.

Deliverables
Customer Experience Design
Design System
Content Wording
Shopify Solutions Development
Performance Optimization
Run, Grow & Enhance
Grass4You is the leading seller of natural and artificial grass turf, and related outdoor decoration accessories in Portugal. They asked us to redesign their online store & website. Our initial discovery revealed what we call a good problem: the kind of problem that arises with success.
Imagine you set up your site and online store on Shopify.

You choose your Shopify theme and start selling with the advantage of the platform's simplicity. Good news: business is good.

Sales grow fast, and naturally, you want to develop the business

You want to promote new services and create more content, so you need new features on your website. What do you do?

Easy, you install the new features via apps you buy in the Shopify app store. Great news: your business keeps growing. So you need more complex features and you add more apps to your website. And the cycle repeats: more feature, more apps.

Then one day you notice something.

Your browser crashes frequently. Your website is now as fast as a snail.

Its buttons, menus and components behave weirdly and their design isn’t always consistent.

On top of that, to update your content you have to deal with multiple backoffices of multiple apps, with multiple, complex interfaces.

You check your monthly bill: in addition to your Shopify fees, you’re paying subscription fees for more than 20 apps.

What do you do?

Grass4you’s growth brought new needs and requirements for their website. The kind of complexity that goes beyond what a do-it-yourself Shopify solution can manage.

Our initial discovery revealed:

  • A Shopify store built on an out-of-the-box template
  • More than 20 external apps running on the template, some of them conflicting
  • Inconsistent design components from different apps
  • UX flaws and “improvised” look & feel
  • Low site speed performance
  • External Content Management Systems with diverse, complex interfaces
  • Significant Shopify app subscription costs

The Solution

We solved the technical issues by:

  • Removing more than half of the external Shopify applications;
  • Replacing them with native Shopify solutions - embedded in a new, tailor-made theme;
  • Keeping relevant features that Shopify doesn’t include like additional product upsell and customer reviews;
  • Centralizing all relevant client information, previously scattered.

We redesigned the website to:
  • Make products and services easier to find with filters and a rearranged information architecture;
  • Improve the entire shopping experience and interface with a full redesign, including the product page, cart presence, and checkout flow;
  • Create a fresh and consistent design, with a new take on the color palette, fonts and custom duotone icons;
  • Improve the mobile experience by designing a mobile optimized interface and interactions · Improve the header hierarchy and adding a “request quote” button;
  • Rearrange the Main menu, adding space, categories, and product images;
  • Improve the Blog, making categories easier to find, and adding text and image dynamics;
  • Highlight advantages like fast shipping and WhatsApp support channel;
  • Rearrange the footer for easier reading and future growth to include more products.
Our Solution allowed:
  • A better User Experience and Shopping process, with more intuitive navigation and direct access to content;
  • A mature look & feel that reflects the brand’s position as the market leader, and better branding and design consistency;
  • Significantly better performance and faster website speed;
  • A streamlined process for maintaining the store and website up-to-date;
  • A flawless experience for mobile users;