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1. Creative curated shop

While the homepage for Hunter is attractive, the ‘Core Concept’ hub is most impressive in terms of design.

Cleverly integrating the brand’s latest campaign hashtag, #rainstartsplay, it uses integrated video and GIF features to promote its new range of weatherproof clothing and footwear.

Its block colour scheme and large visuals allow for a more enjoyable browsing experience than the regular product pages.

What’s more, it gives the user an overview of the entire range, instead of leaving them to search through various categories.

2. Editorial-style content

Alongside the Core Concept hub, Hunter nicely promotes its blog-style content in the ‘Discover’ section.

In fact, its prominent positioning on the site makes it feel less like a brand blog, and more like an integrated magazine.

While the content subtly shows off the Hunter products, it also includes a nice variety of features including topics like photography and sport.

I particularly like its ‘Everyday Pioneers’ series.

Using an inspirational approach based around the boot’s technical engineering, it promotes the durability of the product instead of its visual style.

3. High quality product imagery

Moving onto the product pages – the high quality imagery definitely stand out as one of the site’s best features.

With an average of six large images as well as a 360-degree video, it gives the user an excellent indication of how the product looks in real life.

Since including more photography, specifically showing how far up the boots reach on calves, the site has seen a 10% increase in add-to-bags as well as a drop in returns.

4. Up-front estimated delivery info

A small but significant feature I like on the product pages is this indication of estimated delivery.

While many retailers leave this information to the checkout or choose to highlight the price, including the estimated date gives the customer a sense of reassurance and urgency.

Telling the customer that they could have the boots they’re currently looking at within two days acts as a great call-to-action.

5. Cross-selling

Another newly improved feature on the product pages is the inclusion of related items.

It might be unusual for consumers to buy more than one item at a time – Hunter is a premium-priced product after all.

However, I think the inclusion of care products is worth highlighting here.

Again, when spending on a luxury item, customers are likely to be willing to buy extra to keep them in good condition.

Consequently, these products could do with being promoted even more prominently. 

6. Detailed sizing info

I recently wrote about how retailers are attempting to reduce the amount of wrong-size returns.

Hunter also appears to be focused on this, nicely including a comprehensive size guide on each product page.

The FAQ section is pleasingly comprehensive, too – it highlights the fact that sizes differ and urges the customer to check.

7. Guest checkout

Hunter’s previous checkout option was a little misleading, making customers think they needed to create an account in order to checkout.

Now, it has been tweaked to be clearer, removing the previous step asking if the customer has a password.

It’s still not entirely clear-cut that a guest checkout is possible – however the site has since seen basket abandonment reduce from 15% to 9%.

The friendly copy is also a nice touch, with the ‘if you wish’ sign-off reflecting a sense of flexibility.

8. Email reminders

Lastly, while it is not a feature on the ecommerce site itself, Hunter’s dedication to reducing basket abandoment also extends to its email strategy.

After my visit to Hunter boots, I received an email the same evening reminding me that there was something in my basket.

With an increasing number of shoppers browsing around before they commit to buy, this is a nice little nudge to return and make the final purchase.

Final points

Hunter’s newly improved site offers an enjoyable user experience overall. But there could still be improvements. 

Though the press release said the updated site had customer reviews, I failed to find any. Similarly, the checkout process could be made even simpler.

However, with its bold design and great attention to detail, it is generally quite impressive.