The Challenges

1. A catalogue sorted by delivery time, not by taste
   
   Fifteen cakes were grouped by when they could be delivered, and the only filters were halal-certified and nut-free. Nothing let a shopper narrow the range by flavour or by who the cake was for.
2. Search was not a way in
   
   Site search reached about one session in five hundred, so discovery depended on navigation, collection layout and filters.
3. Mobile carousels hid most of the range
   
   Each collection section on mobile was a carousel showing one cake at a time. Attention dropped sharply after the fourth card, so most of the range was never seen.

Key Objectives

1. Let shoppers narrow the range by taste, not by logistics
2. Show more of the catalogue in the same scroll
3. Prove every change against a live control

The Solution

1. Filters built around how people choose cake
   
   Flavour and audience filters replaced a filter row that only served dietary needs.
2. A collection layout that shows more at once
   
   A two-column grid on mobile in place of carousels that showed one cake at a time.
3. Every change tested against a live control
   
   Around twenty A/B tests, each against a concurrent control on the live store. Roughly half produced a change worth keeping.

Filters That Match How People Choose Cake

The collection page filtered only by halal certification and nut-free. Useful if you have a dietary requirement, no help at all if you are simply trying to pick a cake. We replaced it with the filters people actually shop by: bestsellers, chocolatey, refreshing and fruity, nutty, classics, and who the cake is for, including kid-friendly and elderly-friendly.

Results:
+8.7% add-to-cart rate from the product listing
+6.8% purchase rate
+2.7% average order value

Engagement with the filter bar rose by close to half. The kick-off research predicted it: shoppers give up on a choice that gets difficult, and it gets difficult faster when every cake on the page looks good.