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How a Business-Driven UX Strategy Accelerated the Growth of an Australian Auction Platform
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Redesigning a Market Leader: How Data and UX Unlocked Growth at Slattery
Slattery Auctions is Australia’s leading digital auction platform for high-value commercial assets, facilitating over $2B in transactions annually across 19 asset categories – including transport, mining, aviation, construction, and government fleet. Trusted by major institutions such as Department of Defence, Westpac, NAB, and Commonwealth Bank, the company operates through 12 national offices and maintains ISO 27001 certification. The platform supports multiple transaction models – online auctions, simulcast auctions, Buy Now, and Expressions of Interest – enabling buyers and sellers to trade flexibly at national scale.
Despite its market leadership, the existing digital platform had become a major operational constraint. Legacy architecture caused critically slow performance, poor scalability, and a fragmented user experience that struggled to support increasing traffic and transaction volumes. As Slattery set a strategic goal to double the business within five years, the platform required a complete transformation.
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- Strengthened retention and loyalty (+16.7% returning users)
The new experience encourages repeat visits, creating a stronger foundation for long-term marketplace growth. - Accelerated task completion (+14.4% faster task completion)
Users now find relevant lots and place bids through significantly shorter, more direct journeys. - Higher-quality engagement (+14.6% active sessions)
Sessions became more productive, with users completing meaningful actions faster and with less friction. - Validated the mobile-first strategy (74% of active users are mobile, generating 73% more bids)
Mobile became the platform’s primary transaction channel, proving the success of rebuilding the experience around mobile behavior.
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The most valuable insights came from a deep analysis of user behavior on the old homepage. It showed that the design was functionally inefficient and created barriers for users.
Analytics that exposed the problem:
- Location Focus: Heatmap analysis showed that the "Find by location" section received 77% of all clicks. This became undeniable proof that for Australian buyers, geography is the primary and most important filter.
- "Digital Dead Zones": At the same time, seemingly crucial elements were practically ignored. The "Advanced Search" function gathered only 0.05% of clicks, and the Hero Image received a mere 0.07%. This meant that huge areas of the screen provided no value and only created visual noise.
“The data clearly showed that we were forcing users to search for a needle in a haystack. They came with a specific task – to find an auction in their region – and we offered them banners and complex filters they didn't need. This had to be fixed immediately.” – Sophiya Korynets, Lead Product Designer at Linkup ST.
Ignoring these issues had a list of negative consequences: from drop in engagement to a direct loss of revenue because users simply couldn't find the lots they needed.
Instead of making minor tweaks, the decision was made to completely rebuild the page architecture, ensuring every element answered a specific, data-validated user request.
1. New Navigation Architecture: Quick Access to Essentials
The top menu was completely reimagined. Instead of hidden lists, a "Big Nav" (mega-menu) was introduced – which allowed users to instantly scan the entire inventory and navigate to the desired section in a single click.
2. Prioritizing Key Filters: Logic That Follows the User
Following the heatmap data, the category and location selection sections were placed in the most prominent spot – right below the search bar. Categories were logically regrouped, aligning with the actual search scenarios of business buyers and auto-retailers.
3. Dynamic Auction Listing: The Heart of the New Page
This was the main innovation. Instead of static blocks, the homepage now features a live feed of upcoming auctions, sorted by closing time.
- Informative Auction Card: Each auction is represented by a card containing only useful information:
- Visuals: Three main photos
- Status and Time: A countdown timer to opening or closing
- Key Data: Title, location, type
- Direct Action: "Bid Now" or "Buy Now" buttons
- "Infinite Scrolling" (Lazy Loading): New auctions load automatically as the user scrolls.
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The rebuild of the Slattery Auctions homepage is a prime example of how decisions based on the analysis of real user behavior lead to measurable improvements.
Instead of following subjective notions of "good design," the team focused on solving specific, data-backed problems. This made it possible to transform the homepage from a passive storefront into a powerful engagement tool that directly supports achieving the company's global business goal – doubling in size in the coming years.
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