Farmacia Carol
2024
Rebuilding the purchase experience and design system for a pharmacy chain, from WordPress to Adobe Commerce.
CONTEXT
Farmacia Carol is a pharmacy chain in the Dominican Republic with physical stores and an online shop. The e-commerce ran on a fragile WordPress setup with disconnected plugins, no design consistency and performance problems, and the operations team was spending hours on manual catalog updates. Studio project; I worked on research, UX and the design system.
SCOPE
Heuristic audit · 8 user interviews · 90 days of analytics · Card sorting with 12 participants · Design system of 38 documented components · Checkout redesign · Migration to Adobe Commerce · Moderated usability sessions before launch
THE PROBLEM
People weren't unsure about the products. They were unsure about the pharmacy. Before buying medication online, users looked for proof that this was a real, licensed pharmacy, and the site kept that proof in the footer. An account wall stood between the cart and the purchase, and product cards didn't show dosage, format or quantity, so users opened four or five pages to find the right one.
DECISIONS
1. Trust where the anxiety is. License, credentials and guarantees moved from the footer to the product page and the checkout, the two moments where people hesitate.
2. The card carries the decision. Dosage, format and quantity on the product card, so a basic choice doesn't require opening the detail page.
3. Remove the gate. Guest checkout, six steps down to three, and account creation as a one-click offer on the confirmation screen instead of a wall before it.
4. Five categories instead of fourteen. Card sorting rebuilt the taxonomy around how people organize pharmacy products, with consistent second and third levels.
5. The design system before the screens. 38 components with usage rules and responsive behaviour, built first, so the operations team could update the catalog without a designer in the loop.
WHAT STAYS WITH ME
Operational efficiency is a design problem. The people maintaining a product are users too. In SaaS that isn't a side note, it's most of the product.