Developing a new online store for a national trade union organisation
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) required a design-led redevelopment of its online store as part of a wider refresh of its main website.
The TUC is a major national organisation representing millions of working people through its member unions. Its website and online store play a central role in communicating and promoting campaigns and resources to its wide audience of members, partners and the public.
As part of a broader website refresh, the TUC identified the need to modernise its online store — ensuring it reflected the updated brand and delivered a significantly improved user experience (UX) for members purchasing publications, merchandise and campaign materials.
The TUC online store plays an important role in supporting campaigns and member engagement, offering a range of publications, themed merchandise and promotional materials. It must balance clear product presentation with straightforward ordering, while accommodating bulk purchases, discounting and stock management.
Having worked with the TUC since the early 2000s across a range of web applications, mobile apps, hosting and support services, OWA was well positioned to deliver a seamless enhancement aligned with the organisation’s wider digital strategy.
Working closely with the TUC’s web team, we were able to approach the redevelopment with a clear understanding of the existing platform and its role within the wider digital ecosystem. This allowed improvements to be implemented efficiently while ensuring the store remained consistent with the organisation’s wider website architecture and content management workflows.
As part of a broader website refresh, the TUC needed its online store to match the updated design and deliver a more intuitive purchasing experience for members browsing and ordering products online.
The existing storefront had grown organically over time, which made it increasingly difficult for users to navigate products or complete purchases efficiently. The redevelopment therefore needed to simplify the user journey while maintaining the flexibility required for different product types and campaigns.
Key challenges included:
- Outdated and limited user interface
- Difficult product discovery and navigation
- Complex, multi-step purchasing workflow
- Inconsistent product categorisation and filtering
- Need to complement refreshed main website design
The redevelopment needed to improve usability without disrupting existing content or inventory, while allowing the store to be fully populated and tested before launch. The goal was to create a more engaging, content-led storefront that made it easier for users to browse, select and order items efficiently.
We began by scoping the design and functional requirements for the new online store, ensuring alignment with the wider website refresh. Visual wireframes were developed to test page layouts, filtering structures and purchasing workflows, allowing both teams to validate improvements before implementation.
The redesigned store introduced clearer product information, improved filtering and simplified carting steps, alongside a more content-led storefront that highlighted themed collections and campaigns. A flexible implementation approach allowed the full product inventory to be updated and populated in advance, ensuring the new store could launch seamlessly without impacting the live environment.
Working in this structured way meant the project team could review the new store throughout development and ensure the final implementation matched expectations. The result was a modern ecommerce experience that complemented the wider website redesign while improving usability for members and visitors purchasing materials online.
The redesigned online store now delivers measurable improvements for both users and administrators:
- Modern, brand-aligned ecommerce experience
- Simplified product discovery and navigation
- Streamlined purchasing and checkout process
- Clearer product categorisation and filtering
- Seamless transition to new store at launch
If your online store or ecommerce platform no longer reflects your brand or creates friction for users, a structured redesign can significantly improve engagement and conversion. By validating user journeys early and implementing changes in a controlled way, improvements can be delivered without disrupting live services:
- Redesign legacy ecommerce interfaces
- Improve product discovery and filtering
- Simplify multi-step purchasing workflows
- Align online stores with wider brand refreshes
- Deliver controlled, low-risk platform launches
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