Ace Hardware: Inspiring Online Tools for Paint Selection
Industry
Retail, Home Improvement, E-commerce
Client
Ace Hardware
Platforms
Web
Date
2014
CASE STUDY BRIEF
Capability
Retail UX, guided discovery, content strategy
Leadership level
Director
What I led
Redesigned Ace Hardware's paint experience around the decisions people make before buying: choosing a look, estimating quantity, learning the job, and finding the right products.
Why it matters
Turned a product category page into a guided planning experience using inspiration, calculators, quizzes, tutorials, and brand content.
DECISION RECORD
Problem and stakes
DIY customers often need confidence about color, quantity, preparation, and technique before they are ready to choose a paint product.
Role and scope
Worked on UX and content strategy for Ace Hardware's online paint-selection experience.
Key decision and trade-off
Organized the experience around customer decisions and project stages instead of relying on a product catalogue as the primary route.
Systems and artifacts
Guided paint journey, room inspiration, quantity calculators, selection quizzes, tutorials, and integrated brand-content paths.
Related content
The customer problem
Paint shopping starts before product comparison. Customers need to choose a direction, estimate how much paint they need, understand preparation, and feel capable of completing the work.
How I organized the experience
I helped structure the paint section around those decisions, bringing room inspiration, calculators, quizzes, tutorials, and brand content into the path to a product.
Scope of the evidence
The case documents the retail UX and content strategy. It does not claim sales or conversion lift because commerce metrics are not available in the preserved source.
