Each vertical has its own purchasing logic. Adapting the platform meant understanding those mental models first — then deciding what to change, what to keep, and what to build from scratch.
How I adapted a headless e-commerce design system to work across radically different retail verticals — from fresh produce markets to motorcycle dealerships — without rebuilding from scratch.
$20M
Total GMV
9.5%
Conversion Rate
95%
Fulfillment Rate
482K
Orders Processed
Katapult Commerce was built during the pandemic to help Colombia’s largest supermarket launch its digital channel in record time. The result was a resounding success: 482,000 orders, 14 cities, and $20M USD in GMV within 12 months.
That proof of concept unlocked a bigger opportunity: turn the platform into a white-label SaaS product that any retailer could adopt. That’s where I came in.
My challenge wasn’t to build the platform from scratch, it was to make it feel native in worlds as different as a fresh produce market, a leather goods boutique, and a spirits distributor.
As the platform expanded to new retailers, cracks appeared fast. Support tickets multiplied 5x in a matter of weeks, pointing to three underlying problems:
01 Navigation designed for one type of buyer didn’t translate to others.
02 Workflows that made sense in grocery were redundant in fashion or automotive.
03 Processes were error-prone when applied outside their original context.
Each vertical has its own purchasing logic. Adapting the platform meant understanding those mental models first — then deciding what to change, what to keep, and what to build from scratch.
Habitual, speed-first shopping. Users return weekly with the same list. Discovery is secondary. Speed, substitutions, and variable units (kg, lb, unit) are critical.
Emotional, browse-heavy experience. Size and material selection, product storytelling, and aspiration drive conversion. Utility comes second.
Legal age verification is non-negotiable. Catalog is specialized, premium, and nocturnal in tone. Trust and expertise must come through in every interaction.
Fresh produce buyers think in quantities, not units. A banana isn’t “1 product”, it’s 500g or a bunch. The base system wasn’t built for that. We were.
Fresh products can’t be sold in fixed units. I redesigned the quantity selector to handle variable weights — grams, kilograms, pounds, and approximate unit counts — with real-time price calculation. A secondary substitution flow was added so that when a product is unavailable, the user stays in control of what replaces it, reducing post-order friction significantly.
A grocery shopper doesn’t browse, they execute. The design needed to get out of the way and let experienced buyers move fast.
Grocery buyers are repeat visitors with predictable carts. I prioritized speed over discovery: quick-add from category pages, a persistent recent purchases module, and a streamlined checkout that saves previously used addresses and payment methods. Navigation was restructured around utility, not inspiration.
Designing for spirits meant navigating legal constraints without creating unnecessary friction, and building an experience that feels as premium as the product.
Age verification is a legal requirement, but it shouldn’t block access unnecessarily. I designed a progressive verification system that allows users to create an account in seconds, with minimal upfront friction, while clearly communicating that identity and age validation will be required before purchase.
Instead of a hard gate, the experience uses graduated access: users can explore the catalog immediately after signup, but must complete age and identity verification to unlock transactions. This approach aligns with compliance needs while preserving conversion.
Once inside, the experience shifts to a more premium layer: rich product descriptions, origin details, and pairing suggestions, supported by a dark visual language that reflects the category’s tone. Clear account states: “Cuenta creada”, “Verificación pendiente”, and “Verificado”, ensure users always understand where they stand and what’s required next.
Total GMV across the platform
Validated by the origin case
Fulfillment rate
Across 482,000 orders in 14 cities
Cities in operation
Grocery · Fruver · Spirits · Fashion · Automotive
Conversion rate
3–4× the regional e-commerce average of 2–3%
Retail verticals launched
Without rebuilding the system from scratch
Reduced onboarding friction
From bespoke builds to tokenized adaptation
The real output wasn’t a set of screens, it was a replicable design process that let the platform grow vertically and geographically without losing coherence, speed, or the experience quality that made the first case a success.
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