Context
Fynd Commerce helps Reliance brands and D2C sellers manage online stores easily.
With 2300+ brands live including Puma, Hamleys, Sephora, Diesel and more,
Fynd Commerce powers customisable storefronts for a wide range of businesses.
Theme editor is the module in Fynd Commerce which allows website customisation. Since the design was made in 2012, redesign was long overdue due to the software being more than a decade old when industry was not mature and UX principles were not widely spread.
Project Info
Duration: 2 Months
Category: Redesign, SaaS & E-commerce
My Role
I conducted in-depth analysis of the existing theme editor to understand the gaps between the design and the user pain points
Conducted user interviews to gather insights into the current editor’s shortcomings.
Led the redesign of the entire theme editor, worked along with the design system team to incorporate new components integrated into our design system
Created the project plan along with tracking of the features to ensure design delivery on time
Problem Statement
Enterprise users struggle to create and manage customised, responsive storefronts independently due to outdated UX, limited design flexibility
and unclear visual feedback
Limited customisation options
Complex colour palette and unclear instructions
High dependency on developer for creating customisation
Lack of personalisation options tailored to user segments
Poor hierarchy and misuse of components
Business Goals
What we set out to solve
Defining the business goals helps me stay focused on crafting design solutions that helps the business achieve these goals
01
Reduce churn rate
Limited layout control and missing features like image flexibility and personalisation led to churn. We’re introducing a more flexible editor to fix this.
02
Reduce
support overhead
Image and colour issues led to high support load. A simpler, more customisable editor will ease this.
03
Increase
product adoption
We aim to expand usage beyond designers by making the editor easier for content, graphic, and business teams to manage their storefronts.
Old Design
New Redesign
High Level Audit
Critical review of the existing
screens, to understand why current design isn’t working
A detailed review of the current screen reveals several usability issues that need addressing.
High Level Audit
Tabs are not scalable they limit the design and makes it difficult to add new features in the future
Section list doesn’t provide any visual cue for the type of section
Buttons are conflicting on top of each other making the interface look cluttered and poorly designed
Preview of the website has no indication of which section is currently being edited making users doubt if the changes are getting applied
Page dropdown is horrible it doesn’t prioritise the important pages of the website and without a search functionality it becomes hard to find pages
More menu hides the SEO and Custom tagging features which is crucial for any website
Design Challenges
UX challenges and current status
These are the design, technical and other challenges I faced during the redesign
Balancing complexity and usability: Catering to power users meant introducing advanced features, but we had to ensure the interface remained intuitive for new users. Finding this balance was a recurring design challenge.
Limited availability of design system components: The existing design system didn’t fully support the unique use cases of the editor. As a result, we had to design new components or extend existing ones, while still maintaining consistency across the platform.
Our Users
Understanding our users
I divided the users into two categories
Enterprise user
Small business / Solopreneur
Fynd provides an entire suite of products made for retailers. Our primary users are enterprise users. Talking directly to users helped me empathise with their challenges and better understand their workflows. I conducted 8 user interviews split into half enterprise users and half small business / solopreneur.
Our marketing team wants to push live campaign banners quickly, but even small layout changes end up going through tech. That slows us down
During sales season it’s important for us to schedule pages and sections to call out the live sales and update these banners based on time
I don’t understand how can I change the colours of my website it’s confusing. I have to do a lot of trial and error before understanding how it works
Sections often have restrictions which limits me from creating something I want. When uploading image it has some dimension related limit which is frustrating
We have a large team with different people responsible for different parts of the website. It is crucial that all the pages need to be approved by the manager
Multiple people editing in the same page often creates conflicts and sometimes the changes are not saved
User Persona
Based on insights gathered from user interviews, I developed user personas that reflect the characteristics and needs of our target audience
User persona helps us better understand who we are targeting for the redesign and how best to meet their needs.
About
Simran Kaur
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Occupation: E-commerce Manager
Location: Mumbai, India
Income: ₹22 LPA
Challenges / Pain Points
Existing themes feel generic: it’s hard to differentiate the brand using out-of-the-box
Coordinating changes is slow: relying on developers for simple tweaks delays marketing campaigns.
Maintaining consistency: ensuring fonts, colours and messages are uniform across all pages
Balancing multiple devices: making sure the store looks good on web and mobile for a seamless customer experience
Goals
Short-term: Quickly create and publish a compelling homepage for the upcoming sale; implement A/B tests to improve conversion
Long-term: Build a strong online brand presence and customer loyalty (increase CLV and retention). Enable the site to scale (support more products, traffic).
Needs and Expectations
Customizable styling: easy access to change colours, fonts, images, and layout to match brand aesthetic
Collaboration & workflow: version control or save-feature so she can approve or rollback changes; user permissions to involve content editors.
Support & training: reliable documentation or expert support in case she or her team needs help with the editor.
An intuitive drag-and-drop interface: so marketing can move sections, change banners or text without coding.
Real-time preview / WYSIWYG: see edits instantly as they will appear live
Responsive design: built-in responsive themes and device preview (desktop, tablet, mobile) to ensure consistency.
About
Karan Malhotra
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Occupation: Founder & Creative Director
Location: Delhi, India
Income: ₹12–15 LPA (growing D2C brand)
Challenges / Pain Points
Frustrated with themes that looks like template, wants layout flexibility to reflect his brand identity.
Limited technical skills can't code, but wants design freedom beyond just colour changes.
Managing homepage updates, product features, and promotional drops solo is time-consuming.
Struggles with mobile performance and how banners or text overlap on smaller screens.
Reluctant to use too many third-party apps that slow down the site or break styling.
Goals
Short-Term: Redesign his homepage to reflect a new limited-edition collection drop.
Long-Term: Establish UrbanLayer as a lifestyle brand with a strong brand recall and excellent digital experience, especially on mobile.
Needs and Expectations
Responsive design: preview how a section looks on mobile, desktop, and tablet instantly.
Custom landing pages: for new drops, influencer edits, or seasonal look-books.
Style presets: define brand colours, button styles, and typography once, apply across all pages.
Media-rich support: embed videos, gifs, and high-res look-book galleries without slowing the site.
Creative flexibility: ability to create full-bleed banners, editorial-style layouts, and homepage sections that feel less “boxy.”
No-code editing: easy visual customisation without needing a dev to fix padding, spacing, or layouts.
Visual hierarchy controls: adjust font sizes, overlay effects, and transitions for banners or hero sections.
Competitor Analysis
Next, I conducted a competitor analysis.
I identified direct, secondary and indirect competitors, analysing their functionality
Analysed 12 tools including Shopify, Webflow, Wix, and Squarespace. Gaps identified:
Most editors lack features tailored for enterprise workflows such as role-based editing, approvals, and team collaboration.
Advanced scheduling and preview options are missing or limited in many tools.
Very few platforms support cohort-based or region-specific personalisation.
12 competitors
Shopify
Squarespace
Bubble
Amazon brand store
Behance
Zyro
Wix
Editor X
Cargo
Dukaan
Ajio
Webflow
Contextual Help Module
Intuitive Image Uploader
Live Page Preview
Save Colour Palette
Font Preview
Focal Point for Image
Animations
Drag and Drop Editor
Custom Code Editor
Maker Checker
Page Sharing
Role Based Editing
Page Management
Blog Manager
Automatic Content Translator
Appointment Booking
Logo Generator
Keyboard Shortcuts
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Insights
Summarising Insights/problems
Summarising the Insights/problems to identify areas of improvement in the editor
01
Churn rate reason
Based on the data from the growth team I found out the main reason for the churn is lack of themes / features.
02
Theme editor usability
Users want to update banners themselves but they are sure about the image size. It ends up looking stretched on mobile.
03
Time & independence
Users don’t want to call a developer for every small layout change.
Thank You
LinkedIn: ashutoshnavkar