Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, I took on a Shopify website revamp for a client drowning in their own success. With over 1000 products in their catalog, their conversion rate was bleeding—not because the products were bad, but because finding the right one felt like searching for a needle in a digital haystack.
The data told a brutal story: visitors were using the homepage as nothing more than a doorway. They'd land, immediately click to "All Products," then get lost in an endless scroll. The homepage had become irrelevant.
Here's the thing—every "best practices" guide preached about hero banners, featured collections, and carefully curated product sections. But when everyone in your industry follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why I turned the homepage into the catalog itself (and doubled conversions)
The mega-menu navigation system that handles 1000+ products seamlessly
How AI workflows automated product categorization across 50+ categories
When to break industry standards and when to follow them
The specific metrics that proved this unconventional approach worked
Sometimes the best ecommerce homepage structure is the one that removes features entirely.
Industry Reality
What every ecommerce "expert" recommends
Walk into any ecommerce design agency, and they'll show you the same blueprint. The "perfect" ecommerce homepage structure looks something like this:
Hero banner with your main value proposition and a generic "Shop Now" button
Featured products section showcasing your best-sellers or newest arrivals
Collections grid with pretty lifestyle images leading to category pages
Social proof section with testimonials and trust badges
About us snippet to build brand connection
This approach exists because it mirrors traditional retail thinking. In a physical store, you have a front entrance, featured displays, and organized sections. Digital agencies simply translated this logic to websites.
The theory makes sense: guide visitors through a curated journey, showcase your best products, build trust, then funnel them toward conversion. Most successful brands follow this structure, so it must work, right?
But here's where this conventional wisdom falls apart: it assumes your homepage is the primary entry point. In reality, with SEO and social media traffic, visitors can land anywhere on your site. More importantly, it assumes all visitors want the same curated experience.
When you have hundreds or thousands of products, this structure creates a fundamental problem: it puts barriers between visitors and what they're actually looking for. Every additional click is a conversion killer.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When this client approached me, they were stuck in the classic "more products, lower conversions" trap. Their Shopify store had grown from 50 products to over 1000 in two years, but their conversion rate had steadily declined from 3.2% to 1.1%.
The existing homepage followed every "best practice" in the book. Beautiful hero section, featured collections, lifestyle imagery, social proof—the works. It looked professional, on-brand, and exactly like their successful competitors.
But the analytics told a different story. Using heatmap analysis and user session recordings, I discovered a painful pattern:
67% of homepage visitors immediately clicked "All Products" or used the search bar
Average time on homepage: 12 seconds
Most users never scrolled past the hero section
Featured products section had a 2.1% click-through rate
The problem became clear: visitors weren't coming to browse a curated selection. They were coming to find something specific among the 1000+ options. The homepage was functioning as nothing more than an obstacle course.
The client's previous designer had tried to solve this with better categorization, cleaner featured product sections, and more prominent search functionality. But these were band-aid solutions that didn't address the fundamental mismatch between user intent and site structure.
That's when I realized we needed to stop thinking about the homepage as a marketing tool and start thinking about it as a conversion optimization tool.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of optimizing the existing structure, I decided to completely reimagine what a homepage could be. If visitors were bypassing all our carefully crafted sections to get to the products, why not give them exactly what they wanted immediately?
The Radical Approach: Homepage as Catalog
I transformed the homepage into a product gallery, displaying 48 products directly on the landing page. No hero banner, no featured collections, no "About Us" sections. Just products, with one additional element: a testimonials section for social proof.
But this approach required solving two critical challenges:
Challenge 1: Navigation Overhaul
With 1000+ products, navigation became crucial. I implemented a mega-menu system with AI-powered categorization. Using automation workflows, new products were automatically sorted into the appropriate categories without manual intervention.
The mega-menu included:
50+ product categories with instant preview
Price range filters accessible from navigation
"New arrivals" and "Best sellers" dynamic sections
Smart search with autocomplete and product suggestions
Challenge 2: Product Selection Algorithm
Which 48 products should appear on the homepage? I created a dynamic system that rotated products based on:
Recent sales performance
Inventory levels (prioritizing overstock)
Seasonal relevance
Profit margins
The Implementation Process
I started with a complete content audit, categorizing all 1000+ products into logical groups. Then I built custom Shopify sections that could dynamically pull products based on performance metrics.
The key was making the homepage feel like a curated selection while actually being a smart, data-driven product display. Each product tile included:
High-quality product image
Clear pricing with any discounts highlighted
Star ratings and review count
"Quick view" option for instant product details
For mobile users, I adapted the layout to show 6 products per row with smooth infinite scroll, ensuring the experience remained seamless across devices.
This approach challenged everything I'd learned about ecommerce design, but the data supported the decision. Sometimes the best user experience is the most direct one.
Direct Access
Products front and center eliminated the need for visitors to hunt through categories or search bars
AI Categorization
Automated workflow sorted new products into 50+ categories without manual intervention
Mobile Optimization
6-product grid with infinite scroll maintained seamless experience across all devices
Social Proof
Single testimonials section provided trust signals without cluttering the product focus
The results challenged everything the industry teaches about homepage design:
Conversion Rate Impact:
Conversion rate increased from 1.1% to 2.3% (110% improvement)
Average time on homepage increased from 12 seconds to 2 minutes 34 seconds
Homepage bounce rate decreased from 73% to 41%
"Add to cart" clicks from homepage increased by 340%
User Behavior Changes:
67% fewer clicks to "All Products" page
Homepage became the most-viewed page (previously ranked 3rd)
Users now browsed an average of 3.4 products directly from homepage
Search usage decreased by 45% as products were immediately visible
Most importantly, the homepage reclaimed its position as a primary conversion driver rather than just a navigation hub.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experiment taught me several crucial lessons about ecommerce design:
User intent beats industry standards: When visitors consistently bypass your carefully designed sections, listen to their behavior, not best practice guides.
Friction kills conversions: Every extra click between a visitor and your products is a potential exit point. The most direct path is often the best path.
Context matters more than conventions: A store with 50 products needs different navigation than one with 1000+ products. Don't blindly copy what works for others.
AI can enhance, not replace, strategy: The automated categorization system was crucial, but the strategic decision to showcase products directly came from understanding user behavior.
Test radical changes, not just tweaks: Changing button colors or headlines would never have achieved these results. Sometimes you need to completely reimagine the approach.
Mobile-first thinking is essential: The infinite scroll mobile experience actually worked better than the desktop grid, proving that mobile constraints can inspire better solutions.
Data should drive design decisions: The product rotation algorithm ensured the homepage stayed fresh and commercially optimized without constant manual updates.
The biggest lesson? When faced with design decisions, ask "What does the user actually want to do?" rather than "What should a homepage look like?"
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
Focus on reducing clicks to core product features
Use dynamic content based on user behavior and trial usage
Implement smart navigation that adapts to feature complexity
Test radical homepage approaches that prioritize product discovery
For your Ecommerce store
Display products directly on homepage for large catalogs (500+ items)
Implement AI-powered product categorization for seamless navigation
Use dynamic product rotation based on sales and inventory data
Optimize for mobile-first browsing with infinite scroll functionality