Founded in 1939 and headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Dollar General has become one of the largest discount retailers in the U.S., with over 20,000 stores across 48 states. The company’s mission is to offer customers convenient access to affordable, high-quality products. Its extensive brand portfolio includes Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestlé, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo. As Dollar General continued to expand, it recognized the need to enhance its digital presence to align with its modern brand identity and meet the evolving expectations of online shoppers.
Dollar General’s previous website faced several challenges:
• Mobile Experience: As mobile traffic continued to increase, the previous design was not fully optimized for smaller screens, leading to a cumbersome browsing experience.
• Usability and Accessibility: The site had various usability and accessibility issues that hindered users from navigating efficiently and finding products quickly.
• Outdated Brand Identity: The digital presence had not fully incorporated the updated brand guidelines, leading to inconsistencies in design elements and visual appeal.
• Complex Navigation: The site's information architecture was not intuitive, which made it difficult for users to quickly locate products or categories of interest.
Implementing New Digital Brand Guidelines
The redesign began by aligning the website with Dollar General’s updated digital brand guidelines. This included refreshing the color scheme, typography, and visual elements to create a modern, cohesive look and feel. The new design enhanced brand consistency across both digital and physical touchpoints, making the site feel more polished and in line with Dollar General’s reputation for value and accessibility.
Mobile-Focused Design
Recognizing that an increasing number of customers shop via mobile devices, we prioritized mobile-first design principles. The responsive design ensures that the website is fully optimized for smartphones and tablets, offering a seamless and efficient experience regardless of device. Key features such as simplified navigation, larger touch targets, and a more intuitive search function were implemented to enhance usability on smaller screens.
Overhauling the Product Search Experience
A core component of the redesign was a complete overhaul of the product search functionality. The previous search experience was disjointed, leading to frustration and longer time spent finding products. The new search flow now includes a more robust filtering system, predictive search suggestions, and an improved layout that helps users quickly narrow down their choices. This overhaul ensures that customers can easily find products, whether they are searching by category, brand, or specific product names.
Simplified Site Navigation
To reduce friction and enhance the user experience, we streamlined the website’s navigation. The updated menu structure is simpler and more intuitive, allowing customers to easily browse through categories, deals, and seasonal promotions. A prominent search bar is now centrally located, ensuring that users can quickly access any part of the site. Additionally, the navigation structure better supports the diverse range of Dollar General’s product offerings, creating a more fluid path from discovery to purchase.
Introducing Hierarchy to Highlight Seasonal Offerings
In response to customer feedback and business needs, we introduced a more prominent hierarchy on the homepage and category pages to feature seasonal offerings. These seasonal promotions are now easily accessible, with dedicated spaces on the homepage to showcase holiday sales, limited-time offers, and themed product collections. This update not only helps drive sales but also provides an engaging, time-sensitive experience for customers.
Addressing Usability and Accessibility Issues
Usability and accessibility were central to the redesign process. We conducted comprehensive usability testing and identified key pain points, such as poor navigation structure and a lack of accessible features for users with disabilities. In response, we made the site more accessible by adhering to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards, ensuring that the site is fully navigable via keyboard, and incorporating screen reader support. Additionally, visual contrast was improved, and alternative text was added to images to make the site more inclusive for all users.
Creating an Intuitive, User-Centered Design
The redesign emphasized a user-centered approach to ensure the final product was intuitive and easy to navigate. Through extensive user testing, we iterated on the design to prioritize customer needs, simplifying complex interactions and creating clear calls to action. The end result is a site that guides users effortlessly from product discovery to checkout, enhancing both user satisfaction and conversion rates.
The redesign of Dollar General’s website has had a significant positive impact on the overall user experience, sales, and customer engagement.
Key outcomes included:
• Improved Mobile Experience: Mobile users now have a seamless browsing experience, leading to increased time spent on the site and a reduction in bounce rates.
• Enhanced Product Discovery: The overhauled search functionality and simplified navigation have resulted in faster product discovery and a smoother shopping journey.
• Increased Accessibility: Addressing usability and accessibility issues has made the website more inclusive, resulting in improved satisfaction for a broader range of customers.
• Boosted Seasonal Sales: Highlighting seasonal offerings has helped Dollar General capture customer attention during peak promotional periods, driving higher engagement and sales during key times of the year.
The redesign of Dollar General’s website successfully addressed key challenges, aligning the digital presence with the company’s updated brand guidelines and focusing on usability, accessibility, and mobile optimization. By improving navigation, simplifying the product search process, and creating an intuitive, user-friendly interface, the redesign has enhanced the overall shopping experience and helped drive better business outcomes for Dollar General.
