Catch: a native Android app for peak Christmas trade

Catch had discovered a significant gap between how customers were actually shopping and what the product offered: 60% of Android traffic was going through mobile web, against 40% on native iOS. That split meant a large share of Android customers were getting a worse experience than they could be, and Catch was missing the retention and conversion benefits a native app brings. The brief was direct: get an Android native MVP into market before the peak Christmas 2021 trading period, when the cost of a weak checkout experience is highest.

I joined as senior UI/experience designer to close out the app ahead of launch. My core focus was the parts of the funnel that matter most commercially, cart and checkout, along with cleaning up and elevating the first version of the design system so the MVP shipped feeling considered rather than assembled under deadline pressure.

Getting cart and checkout right for a Christmas-period launch was the immediate job, but the more lasting contribution was on the system underneath it. The first design system needed cleaning up to support a more polished MVP experience, and my work on that fed directly into the next iteration: a new, scalable atomic design system that carried into subsequent deployments after launch. Shipping fast and building for scale aren't usually the same motion, this project needed both at once.

Catch's UI outcomes were grounded in active research and UX function within the team, rather than design operating on instinct or stakeholder preference. That meant checkout and cart decisions were tested against real user behaviour, not just best-practice pattern libraries, which mattered given how unforgiving a checkout flow is during peak trading, any friction there costs sales directly.

The Catch native Android app launched in November 2021, ahead of the peak Christmas trading window it was built for. The design system work initiated during this project carried forward into later deployments.

Catch operated as part of the Wesfarmers OneDigital portfolio during this project, and ceased trading in 2023. That business outcome reflects a group-level retail decision made after this app shipped, not a reflection of the product work delivered here.