ADIDAS
The Beginning

In the competitive world of e-commerce, delivering a seamless user experience is key. Adidas, a global  leader, must continually evolve to meet rising customer expectations for efficiency and reliability.

Following an in-depth ethnographic case study analyzing Adidas’ e-commerce performance, including a review of 601 design elements and benchmarking against 200 sites, key opportunities for growth were identified. These opportunities were structured as epics and distributed across design and agile teams for implementation. After successfully navigating the labyrinth of NDA hurdles, I’m allowed to share just two for now — consider it a sneak peek!

Epic 1
Wishlist
Functionality
Utilization
Epic 2
Hype Launch Campaigns
Epic 3
Adiclub Loyalty Program
EPIC 1
Revolutionizing the Wishlist: From Friction to Functionality
 2017 was a turning point for Adidas' wishlist functionality. The wishlist redesign began with a challenge:

"why was wishlist usage so low?"

While analytics highlighted pain points like abandonment rates (62% on desktop and 79% on mobile), and conversion rate 7% the underlying reasons required deeper investigation. Many users resorted to keeping multiple browser tabs open instead of using the feature was it actually not useful or is the experience bad. Lets Find out!!!
Challenge
Our challenge was to overhaul the outdated wishlist functionality, which made adding items unnecessarily cumbersome and complex. To address this, we first needed to understand the wishlist’s purpose for our customers and identify the core issues contributing to its inefficiency
Solution
  • Enable users to save products seamlessly, quick and intuitively, improving their decision-making and purchase journey.
  • Increased wishlist conversion % = Increased sales $$  
  • Aligning the wishlist with industry leaders like Amazon,  and Nike 🤫 strengthened Adidas' competitiveness and reinforced its customer-first approach.
Approach
Role:
  • Led User Research activities to better define the problem through Discovery
  • Led Design Strategy across 4 agile cells — including our Product Listing Page (PLP), Product Description Page (PDP), Checkout, and Navigation teams
  • Ensure  Design consistency across Web, iOS & Android user interface and interactions
Collaboration Strategy:
  • Clear Communication: Regular stand-ups and retrospectives helped surface roadblocks and align priorities across disciplines.
  • Iterative Development: Partnered with developers to refine functionality, ensuring technical and design requirements aligned seamlessly.
  • Critical Design Reviews: Brought representatives from each agile team (PLP, PDP, Checkout, Navigation) to align business priorities and to provide input and sign off on flows, ensuring solutions were holistic.
UX Strategy
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Competitor analysis with top brands in the ecommerce space. 
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Conducted user interviews and testing to compare our wishlist functionality against four competitors—John Lewis, Amazon, Victoria’s Secret, ASOS, and Nike—Utilized with UserTesting.com to get users that fit the persona.
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Facilitate ideation and brainstorming workshops with core team and other teams potentially linked to the wish list functionality. To utilize insights gathered
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Defining user flow and  ideation iterations  of Wireframes, Hi fidelity Designs and Prototypes for testing
Discovery
Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis user testing of 4 wishlists — John Lewis, Amazon, Victoria Secret, ASOS (partnered with UserTesting.com).

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Remote Interviews and User Testing
To create a wishlist experience that truly met user needs, we conducted remote user testing with 14 participants from our largest markets, the US and UK. This approach allowed us to quickly gather insights on how users interacted with wishlist features across four competitor platforms: Amazon, Victoria’s Secret, ASOS, and John Lewis.
DEMOGRAPHIC
  • Number of users: 14
  • Gender: both
  • Age: 18-35
  • Income: all
  • Country: US & UK
  • Platform: mobile & desktop split
  • Experience using wishlist: 50%
Objectives 🎱
  • Understand how and why users use wishlists.
  • Identify pain points when using the feature.
  • Identify must-have and nice-to-have features.
  • Observe user behavior and preferences across different platforms.
  • What symbol is most Identifiable for wishlist functionality? 
Participant Feedback 💬
💬 "I use wishlist when I can’t afford items right away.”
💬 "The wishlist is great because my memory is terrible. It helps me revisit items I liked later."
💬 "Why do I have to log in and select a size just to save an item? It’s way too much effort."
💬 "I couldn’t find where my saved items were—it’s like they disappeared into a black hole."
💬 "I use them most around Christmas for gift planning."
💬 "I wanted to share my wishlist with a friend, but there’s no easy way to do it."
💬 "I use them most around Christmas for gift planning."
💬 "I wish I could organize my wishlist—right now it’s just one big messy list."
Key Findings  🔎
User Goals:
  • Saving Items for Later: To remember products they liked for future consideration.
  • Tracking Unaffordable Items: To revisit items they want but can’t purchase immediately.
  • Event Planning: To create lists for occasions like holidays or birthdays.
Painpoints:
  • Complexity: Logging in and selecting a size to save items created unnecessary friction.
  • Limited Features: No options for organization, personalization, or easy sharing.
  • Accessibility & Feedback: Users struggled to locate saved items and lacked confirmation when adding item.
Features Prioritization 🔑
We conducted a collaborative workshop with product managers, designers, developers, and researchers to prioritize wishlist features. Using insights from user testing and competitor analysis, we applied the MoSCoW method and an Effort-Impact Matrix to focus on high-value, low-complexity features.

Must-haves like cross-device syncing and login-free saving were prioritized for launch, while nice-to-haves like wishlist sharing were planned for future iterations. This approach ensured efficient development and team alignment.
Must-Have Features
  • Save items without signing in (on PLP and PDP). (Dropped out off MLP due to technical Constraint)
  • Edit product details after adding to the wishlist.
  • Notifications for added items and clear rules.
  • Cross-device syncing
Nice-to-Have Features
  • Sharing lists via social media.
  • Organizing items within the wishlist.
Trade Off Considerations
  • Users found signing in inconvenient, especially for casual browsing. This friction not only impacts features like personalization and social sharing but also significantly reduces sign-ups, ultimately affecting customer retention. Instead of completely discarding these users, we explored a potential design compromise: allowing guest users to create a temporary wishlist. This gives them a taste of the experience to lure them in, with the option to save it later by signing in.
Next Steps
Using these insights, we developed a “customer decision flows” and user Journeys to outline the desired wishlist experience. This flow was shared with agile teams across PLP, PDP, Checkout, and Navigation for implementation discussions and brainstorming workshops.  By prioritizing user needs and leveraging competitor strengths, we aimed to design a wishlist that was intuitive, functional, and impactful.
User Flow
Keeping in mind the goal of making wishlist easy and intuitive, we wanted to alleviate the need of having to sign-in and choose product size first. To  eliminate the behavior of customers creating multiple tabs on the product listing page, we wanted to introduce a wishlist icon on each product. To guide users through this experience, we wanted to indicate the number of products added to wishlist with a simple motion in the header.

Wireframes

Wireframes

WIREFRAMES

WIREFRAMES

Services
Wireframing
All the screens and interactions were sketched to scale and presented with stakeholders. Instead of jumping to the computer for wireframing, I kept this in sketch form allowing us to move more quickly to the design process. This gave us more time to focus on designing the interactions.
Design System

Utilized the Adidas Yarn Design System to rapidly prototype ideas and screens , which is a great way to help stakeholders make more quick & effective decisions. The Yarn Design System provides a comprehensive set of components and guidelines, making it easier to create cohesive and user-friendly designs

Hi Fidelity Mock- ups
When rolling out the updated wishlist, we focused on the MLP (Minimum Lovable Product) first. Updates included — adding wishlist to the Product Listing Page, ability to edit your list from differents parts of the app, ability to select variations of your product, emphasing the wishlist icon and adding wishlist animation to the header.
We delivered on all platforms Andriod, iOS and Web
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Live prototype (Andriod)
Caveat: This might have a few bugs, quirks, or not work perfectly because, well, life happens—but over here, we call it 'character'! If something breaks, just consider it a feature. Thanks ! 🙃
This is a live prototype! Feel free to click around and explore. Complete Tasks 1-3 by navigating through the sidebar on the left. Check the descriptions below for details on each screen functionality and then you walkthrough the prototype. Let me know if you have any feedback !

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Outcomes
The Launch and Impact
  • Increased Engagement: 72% growth in wishlist usage post-launch, with users actively saving and revisiting items.
  • Higher Conversion Rates: Wishlist users were 7% conversion rate compared to non-wishlist users, this number increased to 32% after redesign driving direct sales.
  • Improved Customer Retention: Reduced abandonment rates within 5 weeks , with 62% desktop and 49% mobile users engaging more after the streamlined functionality.
  • Enhanced User Satisfaction: Positive feedback highlighted improved navigation, with 95% of participants preferring the new wishlist design for its simplicity.
  • Strategic Insights: Behavioral data showed 60% of wishlist users return within a week, aiding targeted re-engagement campaigns.
Customers appreciated the intuitive design, with feedback like:  
"I love the hearts in the corners of item photos and the navbar—it's fantastic! It makes navigating and connecting with the wishlist catalog effortless seamless."
Reflections: Key Learnings
  • Holistic Approach : Success came from thinking across the customer journey, rather than focusing solely on one agile cell.  
  • Ongoing Evolution : The wishlist is a dynamic feature with room for continuous optimization through research and iteration.
  • Collaboration : Strong communication and critical reviews involving product leads of different teams ensured alignment and smooth implementation.
Next Steps: Research and Optimization
Evaluate User Experience Checks
  • Do they understand the transition from wishlist to bag?
  • Are users navigating the wishlist flow seamlessly?
Optimize Design
  • Test the impact of adding wishlist functionality to the bag page.    
  • Determine if a first-time notification ("Added to wishlist") improves user engagement.
Iterate and Refine
  • The wishlist should remain a key focus as we strive to meet evolving user needs and maximize its potential
  • Determine if a first-time notification ("Added to wishlist") improves user engagement.
EPIC 2
Elevating Product Launches for Adidas
Coming Soon!!
Revolutionizing the Wishlist: From Friction to Functionality
Let's work together...

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