fishing e-commerce website
Transforming a fishing
e-commerce website: from complexity to clarity for a better shopping experience.
In late 2020, I collaborated with a team to revamp J-Peche.com, a fishing equipment website owned by Jérôme, a passionate fisherman. Our goal was to enhance the user experience, simplify navigation, and highlight Jérôme's expertise to boost online sales. None of us was familiar with the fishing industry and we took it as an interesting challenge, we wanted to create an attractive website for a subject that is not very “sexy” from the outside.
Secondary Data
Before interviewing Jpêche's owner, we wanted to learn more about a field that was completely unfamiliar to us and about which we had certain preconceptions. Our keys findings were the following:
Despite the stereotypes, fishing is not an aging leisure.
The fishing industry was hit hard by COVID-19, but the surge in e-commerce sales shows strong potential for recovery.
Our competitor review showed that JPeche lacks detailed product information and helpful content compared to other resellers, but the founder’s passion and existing tutorials offer a strong opportunity to rebuild the website around richer expertise.
Stakeholder interview
We interviewed Jérôme because it was essential for us to understand our client, his problem, and what he expected from us. We learnt that he had built the website himself with WordPress and was very proud of it. Even if it didn’t feel user-friendly, it clearly represented a huge amount of work. We also sensed that he was a bit hesitant about changing the homepage layout, as everything he had created followed a logic of its own.
A lot of work was needed: the website had too much information, too many logos and colors, and several sizing issues. To build a better version, we first needed to understand how Jérôme perceived his own brand and what made his approach unique. As mentioned earlier, he is deeply committed to his work, fishing is a family passion. He values quality over quantity, which is why he doesn’t offer as many references as his competitors; he takes the time to select every product carefully for his customers.
The challenge we needed to solve was:
How can we help Jérôme improve his website (organization, content, and overall experience) so he can sustain and grow his activity?
User flow
Before starting the prototype, we reviewed the structure of the existing website. Creating the site map took time and clearly showed how dense and hard to navigate JPeche’s platform was. This helped us identify our main challenge: simplifying a highly technical website. We then built a user flow to understand the customer journey, which highlighted the key pain points to address in the prototype, especially the importance of filters and categories.
Mid-fidelity prototype
Based on the user flow, we created the mid-fidelity prototype, a simplified version with limited interactions. The most challenging part was redesigning the menu bar, since the range of technical products made it difficult to define clear groups. User interviews were especially helpful here. We also noticed the lack of efficient filters, so we introduced a new filtering system with a dedicated icon set at the bottom of the page. Overall, our goal was to make the homepage much clearer for users.
Usability testing
We conducted usability tests on the mid-fidelity prototype to validate the UX as a priority. Five experienced anglers agreed to help us. We asked them to complete simple tasks based on an interview guide:
Go to the menu
Find the catalog
Find the category “rods and reels”
Apply specific filters
Select a product
Add it to the basket
While the feedback was generally positive, we noticed struggles at the most important stages. For some fishing experts, the categories were not clear enough, so they helped us redistribute items more simply. Additionally, most did not instinctively click on the filters icon to sort the selection. We focused on these two key insights and also listed other minor improvements.
With these changes, we were getting closer to delivering a satisfying result!
Final prototype
Branding
Before transforming the mid-fidelity prototype into the final version, we focused on establishing our branding. We started by defining the brand attributes: sharing, quality, and passion, which then guided the creation of our moodboard. This moodboard helped us select the colors and overall aesthetic for our design system. Once it was clear enough, we defined a full style guide, chose our brand colors, and began working on the high-fidelity prototype. Throughout this process, we made sure to incorporate insights from user feedback to ensure the design truly met their needs.
High-fidelity prototype
After the tests and polishing the branding, here are the major changes we made:
We simplified the categories by creating an accordion menu instead of showing everything on the same page. The previous version is on the left (current website) and our new version is on the right.
(photo à rajouter)We redesigned the filters. Instead of a fixed icon in the middle of the page, we added an icon with text at the top, making it much clearer for users.
(photo à rajouter)We created a dynamic homepage, simpler and more modern than the current one, encouraging users to explore more about JPeche.
We added a content-focused section, highlighting JPeche’s history, video tutorials, and classes users can attend, not just products.
Desirability testing
The last step of the project was desirability testing to understand the emotional connection users would have with our product. This testing checks whether the brand’s intended effect matches the user’s emotional response.
To evaluate if the JPeche responsive website was perceived as intended, we used a reaction cards test with 20 participants. Participants saw the screens for five seconds and then picked 5 words from a list of 30 to describe the design. The most frequent words were: Reliable, outdoorsy, technical, family-oriented, friendly.
Some of the participants’ quotes captured our goals perfectly:
“The app shows what we are looking for, we are not lost at all.”
“It makes me want to go fishing with my father at a lake.”
“The website looks secure and gives the impression we’ll get good advice.”
It was such a relief and excitement for us to hear this, as it matched exactly what we had hoped for!
As one of the first UX projects I had the opportunity to work on, this experience taught me a great deal. The topic was unfamiliar, the timing was tight, and we lacked essential inputs such as data - yet it allowed me to apply a solid UX methodology that I still rely on today. The project was incredibly formative and helped shape the way I work now.
It also confirmed something important for me: while I naturally gravitate toward certain domains, I genuinely enjoy stepping into industries I know nothing about. Exploring unexpected subjects challenges my assumptions, broadens my perspective, and keeps my practice up to date. This project reminded me how fulfilling it is to be taken out of my comfort zone and how much I thrive in that kind of environment. Jérôme was truly happy with the direction and the clarity we brought to his brand, which made the whole experience even more rewarding.
