DFS Group, the world’s leading luxury travel retailer, undertook a comprehensive website revamp and rebranding initiative to modernize its digital presence and enhance the overall user experience. The project reflected DFS’s strategic shift beyond its traditional duty-free origins toward a more digitally driven, customer-centric retail model.
Role & Team
I worked closely with the Business Analyst team on the website revamp and UX research initiatives. My role focused on shaping the user experience and visual design, translating research insights and business requirements into clear, user-centered solutions.
Project Goal
The goal of the project was to support DFS’s digital transformation by creating a modern, high-performing ecommerce experience. Key objectives included improving product discovery through advanced search and filtering, streamlining checkout and payment flows, and introducing AI-powered chatbots to enhance customer support. By leveraging performance optimization and data-driven insights, DFS aimed to deliver a seamless and engaging online shopping experience.
Target Users
DFS serves a diverse global audience within the luxury travel retail space, including international travelers, with a strong focus on Chinese consumers and younger demographics such as Millennials and Gen Z. The platform needed to support solo travelers, small groups, and cruise passengers, while adapting to changing travel behaviors and a move away from traditional tour-based shopping models. Personalization and digital convenience were critical to engaging these tech-savvy users.
User Journey & Visual Design
In collaboration with the Business Analyst team, I contributed to benchmark documents that evaluated key website features against global best practices. Research spanned luxury ecommerce as well as adjacent industries, helping inform UX recommendations tailored to both the Chinese market and international audiences. These insights guided decisions around information architecture, navigation, and personalization, ensuring cultural relevance while maintaining global consistency.
The visual design emphasized a clean, modern aesthetic with dynamic product presentation and a responsive layout across devices. Enhanced sorting and filtering, personalized product recommendations, and strong brand visuals worked together to create an intuitive shopping journey that supported different customer segments and shopping behaviors. The design balanced luxury brand expression with usability and performance.
Project Learnings
This project reinforced the importance of grounding design decisions in user needs and data insights, particularly for large-scale, global platforms. Continuous testing and cross-functional collaboration helped refine features and maintain alignment with business goals. Ensuring consistency across devices, preserving brand integrity, and remaining adaptable to evolving market trends were key to delivering a more engaging and effective digital experience.