Case 08 — E-commerce · Merch & giveaways

A merch store where every order is also a ticket.

Client: Merch Karma
Scope: Store · AI prints · contest · account
Sector: E-commerce
Status: Shipped

The Merch Karma home page: a row of themes — animals, airplanes, boats, cats, dogs and more — above “Where feline charm meets fashion!” with two people in printed hoodies. — HomeThemes first — animals, planes, flowers — with the golden draw one scroll away.

Context

Merch Karma sells prints on hoodies and tees — cats, dogs, flowers, lobsters and more — and turns every purchase into entries for a monthly draw for gold. Shoppers can also design their own print with AI, and there are ways to enter the draw without buying anything.

The work covers the whole store: home, categories, the product page with its size guide, the AI print studio, cart and checkout, the account with orders, favourites and points, the contest pages and the free-entry flow.

Problem

A shop, a draw and a studio in one.

“Merch Karma, like Credit Karma but for Merch.”
Merch Karma

The draw is what makes the store different, and also what makes people wary: it has to be fair, open to those who don’t buy, and clearly about real gold. And the AI studio has to feel like part of the shop, not a toy next to it.

Constraints

Working within constraints

Catalogue: Many themes, each with its own row of products
Draw: Entries, points and a monthly prize
Fairness: Free ways to enter, no purchase necessary
Trust: Third-party verification and real gold
Studio: Prints generated from the shopper’s prompts
Checkout: Cards, PayPal or cash on delivery

In the file

Thirty screens, from the first hoodie to the draw

Home
Categories
Product page
Size guide
AI print studio
Cart & checkout
Account
Orders
Favourites
Points
Contest
Enter for free
Collab
Contact

Decisions

Decisions that shaped the store

Every purchase shows what it earns.

Why: Entries are the reason to buy here rather than anywhere else.
Result: The golden draw sits between the product rows on the home page, and the points account says how many more entries are needed for the next prize.

Free entry is a real path, not a footnote.

Why: A draw that needs a purchase puts people off — and they look for the catch.
Result: Entering without a purchase is its own flow — answer to win, view to win, share to win — ending in a clear congratulations.

Answer question: “Answer the question and get 10 entry points”, one answer to choose, and Submit the answer.

View to win: “Visit those pages and get 10 entry points each new visit” — Instagram, the website, an Instagram post and TikTok, each with its Visit button.

Congratulations: “You earned 10 entry points. They will be added to your account”, with Start shopping and Go back.

The AI studio lives inside the shop.

Why: A generator that feels like a separate toy doesn’t sell hoodies.
Result: ‘Create your own print with AI’ uses the store’s own layout: prompts one by one, suggested images back, ready to go on a product.

Create your own print with AI: the store’s header and layout, a prompt field with suggested prompts — fun, Christmas, sweet, lovely — and an illustration.

Checkout answers the worries first.

Why: Shoppers leave at payment when anything is unclear.
Result: Billing address in one question, cards, PayPal and cash on delivery side by side, and the SSL note right where the card goes in.

Checkout: the billing address with “Is your billing address same as shipping address?”, the order summary and Submit order, and the payment options — PayPal, credit or debit card with “Your transaction is secured with SSL encryption” under the card fields, and cash on delivery.

The rules of the draw on one page.

Why: A prize in gold invites doubt about how winners are picked.
Result: The contest page explains entry, how the raffle is verified by a third party, and how the gold is authenticated.

The contest page — “The process explained: entry, raffle validity, gold authenticity & more” — with Entry, “How do I enter?”, and Raffle validity, “3rd party secure verification”, each illustrated.

System

Playful prints, a serious checkout

A display face with character for the store and the draw, a quiet sans for prices, sizes and payment — the fun stops where the money starts.

Typefaces

The display face on the draw banner — “Win a huge golden prize!” — above a line of the interface sans.

Clash Display — headings and offers
Helvetica · Public Sans · Poppins — interface, prices, forms

Palette · sampled from the screens

#373737
#FFFFFF
#0F0F0F
#979797
#F3F3F3
#91E191

Solid fills, sampled by frequency from the home page and the cart.

Screens

From a theme to the draw

Home
Themes first.
Categories
Every theme at a glance.
Product
Gallery, sizes, reviews.
AI studio
Your own print, from prompts.
Checkout
Address, payment, reassurance.
Points
Entries earned and still needed.
Contest
How the draw works.
Enter for free
Answer to win.

Craft

The details that carry it

Two places where the design does quiet work.

The product page: thumbnails and the gallery on the left; +800 entries and the topic beside the $120 price, the reviews, type, size, colour, quantity, Continue checkout and Add to cart, and the payment marks under them. — Product pageGallery on the left, size, colour and the draw’s entries beside the price — the reason to buy here, right where the decision happens.

The unisex size chart open over the product page: chest, waist, seat, inseam and sleeve for S to 2XL, how to measure each, and two silhouettes marked A to E. — Size guideThe size guide opens over the product instead of sending the shopper away from it.

Outcome

What shipped

Status: Shipped
Surface: Store, AI studio, contest, account
Entries: Paid and free, one draw
Checkout: Cards, PayPal, cash on delivery

No product metrics were shared for this page, so there are none on it.

Reflection

If I had another two weeks

What I’d test: Whether people who enter for free come back to buy.
What I’d measure: How many AI prints end up in a cart.
What I’d change: Replace the placeholder copy on the contest and collab pages — the rules are the one place a store can’t afford filler.

End of case 08

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