Bloom Sustainable E-Commerce

The Problem

Bloom Collective is a marketplace for sustainable and ethical fashion brands. Their existing site had beautiful photography but a clunky shopping experience. Customers struggled to filter by their values (vegan, fair trade, organic, etc.) and the checkout flow had a 74% abandonment rate. The brand’s story — which was their biggest differentiator — was buried in a hard-to-find “About” page.

The challenge: Design a shopping experience where sustainability isn’t a filter — it’s the foundation.

Research & Discovery

• Customer interviews (20 participants) understanding shopping motivations and barriers
• Checkout funnel analysis identifying exactly where and why users abandoned
• A/B testing audit of previous experiments to understand what had already been tried
• Brand workshop with founders to define the visual and emotional design direction

Key insight: Sustainable shoppers don’t want to feel like they’re making sacrifices. They want to feel good about their purchases — both ethically and aesthetically.

Design Process

Sustainability-First Architecture

Every product page leads with its sustainability story: materials sourcing, labor practices, environmental impact. This isn’t hidden in a tab — it’s the first thing you see after the product photos.

Impact Dashboard

Designed a personal “impact tracker” showing customers the cumulative positive impact of their purchases: water saved, carbon offset, artisans supported. This created emotional investment and repeat purchasing.

Values-Based Discovery

Replaced traditional category navigation with a values-based exploration: “Shop by Impact” lets customers browse by the causes they care about most.

Streamlined Checkout

Reduced checkout from 5 pages to 2 with smart defaults, saved preferences, and a transparent cost breakdown including the “impact premium” — showing exactly where extra cost goes.

Before & After

Before: Traditional e-commerce layout, sustainability info buried, 5-step checkout, no impact visualization.

After: Story-first product pages, integrated impact tracker, values-based navigation, 2-step checkout.

Results

• 28% increase in conversion rate
• 19% increase in average order value
• Checkout abandonment dropped from 74% to 41%
• Repeat purchase rate increased by 35% (impact tracker effect)
• Brand partnership inquiries increased 4x after the redesign launched