Summary

At Henley Royal Regatta (HRR), I led the redevelopment of the existing online shop to overcome limitations in usability, flexibility and commercial capability. The project transformed a basic retail site into a scalable, marketing-enabled e-commerce platform, enabling seasonal trading, stronger CRM integration and improved customer experience.

Objectives

(1) Platform Capability: Address structural and UX limitations of the existing shop, particularly on mobile

(2) Commercial Flexibility: Enable seasonal merchandising, promotions and rapid in-house updates

(3) Customer Experience: Improve navigation, product discovery and conversion

(4) Data & CRM Integration: Strengthen first-party data capture and alignment with email marketing

(5) Future Proofing: Ensure the platform could evolve with HRR’s wider digital and commercial strategy

Approach & Delivery

• Led discovery & audit work to assess user behaviour, performance data and UX barriers

• Prioritised a mobile-first approach, responding to insight that over 60% of purchases were made on mobile devices 

• Simplified and restructured navigation to improve usability and product discovery across desktop and mobile

• Introduced a redesigned shop homepage with clear product categories, featured items and seasonal offerings

• Enabled custom product groupings and landing pages to support targeted email campaigns and promotions 

• Integrated lead-generation functionality, including mailing list sign-ups and DOB capture to support email marketing

• Worked with developers to assess platform options, balancing flexibility, SEO and integration needs

• Ensured the retail experience aligned visually and tonally with HRR’s premium brand positioning

Outcomes & Impact

• Transformed the online shop from a static sales channel into a flexible, marketing-enabled e-commerce platform

• Significantly improved the retail team’s ability to trade seasonally and respond to audience behaviour

• Strengthened email marketing effectiveness through tighter alignment with product structure and landing pages

• Increased first-party data capture to support long-term CRM and customer lifecycle strategies

• Established a scalable foundation for ongoing optimisation and future commercial growth