Designing experiences
that simplify
complexity.

Leroy Merlin is a global DIY retail giant — 456 stores across 15 countries. But behind the scenes, store operators were still relying on old, fragmented desktop tools to manage stock movements, incoming goods, and customer orders. No real-time visibility. No communication between warehouses and stores. High error rates. High manual workload. The customer promise — getting the right product, at the right time — was simply not reliable. I was brought in to fix that.

I joined as the UX lead from Italy, acting as the bridge between three countries: I collected real-world pain points from Italian store workers on the field, collaborated with the French product team to align on requirements, and handed over specs to the Russian development team. My job was to make sure everyone — from the warehouse operator to the product owner in Paris — was working towards the same vision.

Collect as-is process in Italy

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Combine insight from other countries

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Create a unique solution

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Share solutions with other BUs

I designed an integrated ecosystem of tools built around real store needs — shifting from fragmented, paper-based processes to a unified, intuitive digital experience across all operations and countries.

The teams I designed for needed almost no training — the apps were that intuitive. What used to be a fragmented, error-prone process became a single, seamless mobile experience I helped ship across 9 countries. "Few need to train employees to use our products because they are so intuitive." — Virginie, Product Owner, France.

Esselunga needed to improve the self-checkout experience to make it faster, clearer and easier to use for different types of customers. The existing flows included several steps, payment options, vouchers, discounts and service variations, creating possible confusion during checkout.

Goal: create a more intuitive and scalable checkout flow that reduces the need for staff assistance and supports future services.

I worked on the redesign of the self-checkout UX/UI, focusing on simplifying complex flows and creating a clearer interface for customers in-store.

• Analyzed existing checkout flows
• Mapped user pain points and bottlenecks
• Defined the target user journey
• Created a key persona
• Redesigned the checkout flow
• Produced wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes
• Prepared and supported usability testing
• Checked accessibility and visual readability
• Built modular UI components aligned with Esselunga's brand

I analyzed the existing checkout flows to identify bottlenecks, redundant steps and unclear decision points. The analysis focused especially on payment, vouchers, discounts and the transition between Presto Spesa and self-checkout experiences. The research phase helped define where users needed more guidance, clearer labels and stronger visual hierarchy.

I defined a unified future flow that merged Presto Spesa and self-checkout into a hybrid, simplified experience. The flow was structured around the core checkout moments:

This created a more linear and predictable experience for customers.

I created low-fidelity screens and high-fidelity prototypes to test the redesigned checkout experience before final delivery. The usability test involved 10 users across 3 age groups: under 35, 35–55 and over 55. Sessions lasted around 20 minutes and focused on core checkout tasks using interactive prototypes.

Testing helped identify issues around:

• Unclear icons
• Small text
• Confusing bag selection
• Payment circuit selection
• Visual elements that distracted users

The final interface simplified the checkout experience with clearer steps, stronger visual hierarchy and modular UI components.

• Guided checkout flow
• Clearer product scanning screen
• Simplified bag selection
• Dedicated voucher and discount steps
• Grouped payment methods
• Accessible buttons and labels
• Final confirmation screen

I built a modular component system aligned with Esselunga's identity, designed for fast recognition in a retail environment. The interface was also checked against WCAG 2.1 using contrast tests and color blindness simulations. Key components met AA/AAA readability criteria.

Self-checkout design requires extreme clarity. Users are often in a hurry, distracted or under pressure, so every label, icon and step must reduce uncertainty. The strongest improvements came from simplifying decisions, making payment options more explicit and validating readability across different user groups.