PetSmart.com E-Commerce Redesign

The Challenge

PetSmart.com was a massive e-commerce platform with over one million pages serving millions of pet owners. As Senior Web Designer, I faced multiple complex challenges simultaneously:

• Scale: Redesigning critical pages on a million+ page platform where any change impacts massive traffic
• High-Stakes Homepage: The homepage was the most visited page on the entire site—every pixel mattered
• Navigation Complexity: Global navigation needed to accommodate thousands of products across multiple categories
• Platform Migration: The entire site was transitioning to a new technology platform during the redesign
• Brand Partnerships: Managing high-profile integrations like Universal Studios’ Secret Life of Pets
• Executive Visibility: Regular presentations to directors and executives on progress and decisions

Success required balancing user needs, business objectives, technical constraints, and stakeholder expectations—all backed by data.

My Role & Approach

Data-Driven Design

Every design decision was validated through:

A/B Testing

• Tested homepage layouts, navigation patterns, and call-to-action placements
• Ran controlled experiments on high-traffic pages to measure impact
• Validated design changes before full rollout

Heat Mapping

• Analyzed where users clicked, scrolled, and spent time
• Identified dead zones and high-engagement areas
• Optimized layout based on actual user behavior

User Behavior Analysis

• Studied navigation patterns and user journeys
• Identified drop-off points in conversion funnels
• Understood how customers actually used the site vs. how we assumed they did

This data-driven approach meant designs weren’t based on opinions—they were based on evidence.

Collaborative Leadership

Worked within a highly collaborative team structure:

• Presented to executives and directors on design strategy and progress
• Coordinated with in-house development team during platform migration
• Partnered with brand teams on visual identity and consistency
• Collaborated with merchandising on product presentation
• Worked with marketing on campaign integration

Key Projects & Accomplishments

1. Homepage Redesign

The homepage was PetSmart.com’s most popular and visited page—the front door to the entire e-commerce experience.

Challenges:

• Highest traffic page on the site = highest stakes
• Had to serve multiple user types (dog owners, cat owners, bird/fish/reptile owners)
• Balance promotional content with navigation and product discovery
• Maintain brand while improving conversion

My Work:

• Redesigned homepage architecture and layout
• Optimized for both browsing and direct product search
• Created flexible content zones for campaigns and promotions
• Improved mobile responsiveness and performance
• Maintained the homepage ongoing with continuous improvements

Approach: Used heat maps to understand engagement patterns, A/B tested layout variations, and analyzed user behavior to optimize the most critical page on the entire platform.

2. Global Navigation Transformation

Reimagined the entire global navigation system for a million+ page site.

The Problem: Traditional mega-menus didn’t scale well for PetSmart’s product breadth. Users got lost, couldn’t find what they needed, and abandoned searches.

My Solution:

• Restructured navigation hierarchy based on user mental models
• Simplified category organization for faster decision-making
• Improved mobile navigation for growing mobile traffic
• Created clear paths to popular products and categories
• Balanced merchandising needs with usability

Impact: Made it easier for millions of users to find products across thousands of categories, improving both user satisfaction and conversion rates.

3. Product Detail Page Structure

Reimagined the architecture and structure of product detail pages (PDPs).

Challenges:

• PDPs are where conversion happens—critical to get right
• Thousands of unique products with varying information needs
• Balance product info, reviews, recommendations, and upsells
• Mobile vs. desktop presentation

My Work:

• Restructured PDP layout for better information hierarchy
• Improved product image galleries and zoom functionality
• Optimized placement of reviews, specifications, and recommendations
• Created flexible templates that worked across product categories
• Enhanced mobile PDP experience

This work directly impacted conversion rates across the entire product catalog.

4. The Puppy Experience

Created an entire dedicated experience for new puppy owners.

Concept: New puppy owners have unique needs—training supplies, appropriate food, toys, healthcare products. Rather than making them search across the entire site, I created a curated puppy destination.

Features:

• Dedicated puppy hub with age-appropriate product recommendations
• Educational content about puppy care
• Curated bundles and starter kits
• Journey-based navigation (first week, first month, first year)

Impact: Provided value beyond just selling products—helping new pet owners while driving relevant product discovery.

5. Secret Life of Pets Partnership

Managed the design integration of Universal Studios’ “Secret Life of Pets” movie partnership.

Scope:

• Worked directly with Universal Studios on brand guidelines
• Created campaign landing pages and promotional materials
• Integrated movie-themed products and experiences
• Coordinated timing with movie release
• Maintained PetSmart brand while honoring Universal’s IP

Challenges:

• Balancing two distinct brand identities
• Meeting Universal’s strict brand requirements
• Coordinating across multiple teams (legal, marketing, merchandising)
• Delivering on tight movie release timeline

This high-visibility project required diplomacy, attention to brand detail, and coordination across internal and external stakeholders.

6. Branding & Visual Identity

Helped define and evolve PetSmart’s digital branding.

My Work:

• Contributed to brand guidelines for digital experiences
• Ensured visual consistency across the platform
• Balanced playful pet-focused imagery with professional e-commerce
• Created design systems that scaled across templates

Collaborative Process: Worked within a team environment where multiple designers, brand managers, and stakeholders contributed to the overall visual direction.

Platform Migration Coordination

Throughout all this design work, PetSmart was switching the entire platform to a new technology stack—affecting over one million pages.

My Role:

• Communicated design requirements to development team
• Coordinated design implementation during platform transition
• Ensured design integrity throughout migration
• Prioritized features based on technical feasibility
• Tested and validated designs in new platform environment

Challenges:

• Maintaining design quality during technical upheaval
• Adapting designs to new platform capabilities and constraints
• Managing timeline pressures from both design and development
• Ensuring smooth user experience throughout transition

This required constant communication, flexibility, and technical understanding of platform limitations.

Executive Communication

Regular presentations to directors and executives on:

• Design strategy and rationale
• A/B test results and data insights
• Project progress and timelines
• Design decisions and trade-offs
• User research findings

Key Skills:

• Translating design decisions into business impact
• Presenting data to support recommendations
• Managing stakeholder expectations
• Communicating complex UX concepts clearly

Results & Impact

Measurable Outcomes

• Successfully redesigned the highest-traffic page on the entire platform
• Transformed global navigation serving millions of users
• Reimagined product detail page structure across thousands of products
• Launched innovative puppy experience creating new user value
• Delivered Secret Life of Pets campaign on time and on brand

Process Improvements

• Data-driven decisions replaced opinion-based design
• A/B testing became standard practice for major changes
• User behavior analysis informed all design decisions
• Collaborative workflows improved cross-team coordination

Platform Success

Maintained user experience quality throughout complete platform migration affecting over one million pages.

Key Learnings

Design at Scale

Working on a million+ page platform taught me:

1. Every Decision Multiplies A small change to navigation affects millions of page views. Test thoroughly, roll out carefully, monitor closely.

2. Data Over Opinions At PetSmart’s scale, assumptions are expensive. Heat maps, A/B tests, and behavior analysis reveal truth.

3. Consistency is Critical With thousands of product pages, design systems and patterns must be robust and well-documented.

4. Performance Matters On high-traffic pages, every kilobyte and every millisecond affects user experience and business metrics.

Collaboration & Communication

5. Executive Communication is Design Work Presenting to directors and executives isn’t overhead—it’s how design decisions get made and resourced.

6. Developer Partnership is Essential During platform migration, close collaboration with development turned potential conflicts into solutions.

7. Brand Partnerships Require Diplomacy Working with Universal Studios taught me to balance external brand requirements with internal needs.

User-Centered Design at Enterprise Scale

8. The Homepage is Sacred As the most visited page, the homepage carries immense responsibility. Every change must be validated.

9. Navigation is Never Finished On a platform this large, navigation is always evolving as products, categories, and user needs change.

10. Specialized Experiences Matter The Puppy Experience showed that targeted, journey-based design creates value beyond generic product listing.

Technical Environment

• Platform: Enterprise e-commerce (transitioning during project)
• Scale: 1,000,000+ pages
• Traffic: Millions of monthly users
• Design Tools: (Standard enterprise UX/design tools)
• Testing: A/B testing platform, heat mapping tools, analytics

Conclusion

The PetSmart.com redesign project demonstrated design leadership at enterprise scale. Managing the transformation of a million+ page e-commerce platform required balancing data-driven decision-making, collaborative teamwork, executive communication, and technical coordination.

From reimagining the homepage (the site’s most critical page) to creating the puppy experience, from transforming global navigation to managing the Secret Life of Pets partnership, every project required combining UX expertise with business understanding and stakeholder management.

Most importantly, maintaining user experience quality throughout a complete platform migration showed that good design isn’t just about interfaces—it’s about process, collaboration, and keeping user needs central even during technical upheaval.

Working on PetSmart.com taught me that enterprise design is about systems thinking, data-driven decisions, and the ability to communicate design value to everyone from users to executives.