Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, I was working on a Shopify store redesign for a client with over 1,000 products. Their mobile conversion rate was bleeding at 0.8% while their desktop sat at a respectable 2.3%. Every "mobile-first" guide they'd followed had failed them.
The breakthrough came when I realized we were solving the wrong problem. Everyone talks about making desktop layouts work on mobile - but what if the real issue was treating mobile users like they had different brains?
After testing a radically different approach that went against every mobile UX best practice, we doubled their mobile conversion rate to 1.6% in just 6 weeks. More importantly, we discovered something that most ecommerce stores get completely wrong about mobile layout design.
Here's what you'll learn from this case study:
Why "mobile-first" design actually hurts mobile conversions
The homepage-as-catalog strategy that worked against all UX advice
How product discovery friction kills mobile sales (and how to fix it)
The counter-intuitive navigation approach that increased mobile engagement
Specific layout patterns that convert mobile browsers into buyers
If you're running an ecommerce store and your mobile conversions are lagging, this playbook will show you exactly how to structure your layout for mobile success - using real metrics from a store that went from mobile disaster to mobile-first revenue.
Industry Reality
What every ecommerce store owner has been told
Walk into any ecommerce design discussion and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel: "mobile-first design is everything." The industry has convinced everyone that mobile users need simplified, stripped-down experiences.
Here's what conventional mobile ecommerce wisdom tells you:
Minimize content above the fold - Keep it clean and simple
Hide navigation behind hamburger menus - Reduce visual clutter
Show fewer products per page - Prevent overwhelming users
Use large, thumb-friendly buttons - Optimize for touch
Prioritize vertical scrolling - Match mobile behavior patterns
This advice exists because mobile screens are smaller, attention spans are shorter, and thumb navigation is different from mouse clicks. The logic makes perfect sense on paper.
The problem? This approach treats mobile users like they're fundamentally different people with different needs. In reality, someone browsing your store on mobile wants the same thing as someone on desktop: to find the right product quickly and buy it confidently.
Most stores following mobile-first principles end up with beautiful, clean layouts that convert terribly. They've optimized for aesthetics instead of commerce. When mobile users can't find what they want or discover products they didn't know they needed, all that clean design becomes pointless.
The biggest flaw in conventional mobile design? It assumes less is always more. But for ecommerce, especially stores with large catalogs, less often means fewer sales.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The client came to me with a classic problem: their mobile traffic was high but conversions were abysmal. They were a fashion accessories store with over 1,000 products, getting 65% of their traffic from mobile but only 30% of their revenue.
Their existing mobile site followed every best practice in the book. Clean homepage with hero banner, "featured products" section, minimal navigation, and a search-focused approach. It looked professional and scored well on mobile usability tests.
But the data told a different story. Users were bouncing after viewing just 1.2 pages on average. Most visitors were immediately hitting the "All Products" link and then getting lost in endless scrolling through poorly organized category pages.
Here's what I discovered through user session recordings: Mobile users weren't behaving like the "simplified experience" crowd assumed. They were actively hunting for products, comparing options, and getting frustrated when they couldn't see enough choices at once.
The turning point came when I analyzed their desktop vs mobile user behavior. Desktop users who converted typically viewed 4-6 product pages before purchasing. Mobile users who converted (the few that did) showed the exact same pattern - but the mobile layout made it nearly impossible to browse efficiently.
I realized we had a fundamental problem: we were optimizing for how we thought mobile users should behave instead of how they actually behave. The "clean and simple" approach was creating friction in the discovery process, which is critical for a large catalog store.
The conventional approach wasn't just failing - it was actively working against the shopping behavior that leads to conversions.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of following mobile-first dogma, I decided to test something radical: what if we made the homepage into the catalog itself? This went against every UX best practice, but the data suggested mobile users wanted discovery, not simplification.
Here's exactly what I implemented:
Homepage Transformation:
Instead of the traditional homepage structure, I displayed 48 products directly on the homepage with infinite scroll. No hero banners, no "featured collections" - just products organized in a responsive grid that worked perfectly on mobile.
Smart Grid System:
I designed a 2-column mobile grid that could display product images, titles, and prices clearly without feeling cramped. Each product card was optimized for thumb tapping with enough spacing to prevent misclicks.
Mega-Menu Navigation:
Instead of hiding navigation, I created an AI-powered mega-menu that automatically categorized products into 50+ categories. On mobile, this became a full-screen overlay that let users dive directly into specific product types.
Progressive Loading:
I implemented progressive loading that showed 48 products initially, then loaded more as users scrolled. This kept the initial page load fast while giving browse-happy mobile users unlimited discovery.
Quick Actions Bar:
Added a sticky bottom bar with quick access to cart, search, categories, and wishlist - keeping essential functions always accessible without cluttering the main product display.
The key insight was treating mobile like a different viewport of the same experience rather than a completely different experience. Mobile users still wanted choice, discovery, and efficiency - they just needed it presented differently.
This approach doubled their mobile conversion rate within 6 weeks and transformed their mobile experience from a frustrating necessity into their primary revenue driver.
Grid Optimization
Used 2-column mobile grid with optimized spacing for thumb navigation while maximizing product visibility per screen.
Discovery Focus
Transformed homepage into product catalog with 48 items visible immediately instead of traditional hero sections and featured collections.
AI Categories
Implemented 50+ smart categories with mega-menu navigation that works as full-screen overlay on mobile devices.
Progressive Loading
Added infinite scroll with 48-product batches to maintain fast load times while enabling unlimited product discovery.
The results spoke for themselves and challenged everything we thought we knew about mobile ecommerce design:
Conversion Rate: Mobile conversions jumped from 0.8% to 1.6% - a 100% increase that brought mobile performance much closer to desktop levels.
Page Engagement: Average pages per session on mobile increased from 1.2 to 3.8, indicating users were finally able to browse effectively on their phones.
Homepage Performance: The homepage went from being a gateway that users quickly abandoned to becoming the most-used page on the site, with 40% of mobile purchases starting there.
Category Usage: The mega-menu navigation saw a 340% increase in usage compared to the previous hamburger menu system.
Most surprisingly, the mobile experience started driving more revenue per visitor than desktop. Mobile users who could finally browse efficiently were making larger orders and returning more frequently.
The transformation happened within 6 weeks of implementation, proving that mobile ecommerce problems often aren't about device limitations - they're about design assumptions that don't match user behavior.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experience taught me several crucial lessons about mobile ecommerce that go against conventional wisdom:
Mobile users aren't simpler users - they have the same complex needs as desktop users, just different constraints
"Less is more" often means "less sales" - especially for stores with large catalogs where discovery drives conversions
Navigation should be enhanced, not hidden - mobile users need better organization tools, not fewer options
Speed matters more than simplicity - users will engage with complex layouts if they load fast and work smoothly
Test assumptions with data, not best practices - what works for one store type may be completely wrong for another
Homepage optimization can trump all other efforts - if users can't discover products efficiently from the start, no amount of checkout optimization will help
AI-powered organization scales better than manual curation - especially for mobile where screen real estate is precious
The biggest lesson: stop designing for how you think mobile users should behave and start designing for how they actually behave. The best mobile experience isn't always the simplest one - it's the one that removes friction from the customer's actual journey to purchase.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS products, apply these mobile layout principles:
Display key features prominently instead of hiding behind simplified interfaces
Use progressive disclosure for complex functionality rather than removing it entirely
Optimize for mobile trial experiences that mirror desktop capabilities
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores, implement this mobile-friendly approach:
Test homepage-as-catalog layouts for large product catalogs
Implement smart mega-menus instead of hidden hamburger navigation
Use progressive loading to maximize product discovery without sacrificing speed
Focus on 2-column mobile grids optimized for thumb navigation