Kat Worley on Optimising the Online Experience
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In the fast-moving world of digital retail, few roles demand as much balance between creativity, data, and customer instinct as ecommerce management. For Kat Worley, Ecommerce Manager at ASSA ABLOY Group, that balance is where the real impact happens. With a career spanning iconic brands such as Hamleys, Crew, RIXO, and Nobody’s Child, Kat has seen firsthand how brand identity, user experience, and smart optimisation come together to shape online success. In this interview, she reflects on the lessons learned across B2C and B2B environments, the metrics that matter most, and the innovations she believes will define the next era of ecommerce. From designing seamless customer journeys to championing simplicity and purposeful creativity, Kat offers a grounded, practical view of what it takes to build digital experiences that genuinely work. Let’s dive in.
Career
What first drew you to digital retail, and what inspires you today?
I loved the mix of creativity, data, and customer behaviour — you can build something and see results instantly. What inspires me now is the pace. Ecommerce evolves daily, and there’s always a new challenge to solve or the chance to create something better.
What’s one lesson you’ve learnt from working with brands like Hamleys, Crew, RIXO, and Nobody’s Child?
Brand identity and customer experience must work as one. Brands that succeed online are the ones whose personality carries through every touchpoint — design, UX, content, everything.
What surprised you most about moving from B2C to B2B?
I work mostly on DTC but I was surprised at how similar the fundamentals are. Although B2B is slower in pace, it is intuitive and involves human experiences. The biggest difference is complexity — more stakeholders, bigger decisions with more financial impact.
What advice would you give your younger self starting out?
Stay curious, try and test everything. Have the customer at the heart of everything you do and allow yourself to fail in order to learn.
Your proudest career moment so far?
Launching ecommerce experiences that made an immediate impact — multiple brand site redesigns and re-launches that boosted conversion and brand awareness.
Optimising the Online Experience
At ASSA ABLOY, you focus on online growth, customer journeys, and digital strategy. How do you balance creativity and data when shaping the ecommerce experience?
I use data to understand the problem and creativity to find a simple, effective solution. Both have to work together for it to be successful.
Performance optimisation is such a key part of your role — what metrics or signals do you find most valuable when assessing what’s working (and what’s not) online?
Conversion rate, site search, and drop-off points. We use customer funnels which tell me quickly what’s working and what’s not and where we are losing potential customers.
Ecommerce is evolving fast with AI, automation, and personalisation. Which innovations are you most excited about right now?
Improved personalisation and smarter on-site search. They make a genuine difference to how quickly people find what they need on your site.
Having worked across multiple platforms like Adobe Experience Manager, Magento, and Shopify — what are some of the most common mistakes or missed opportunities you see brands make with their ecommerce platforms?
Trying to do too much too quickly. Master the basics — navigation, mobile experience, solid product content or PIM solution.
In your view, what makes a great ecommerce campaign — one that truly connects with customers and drives measurable impact?
A focused campaign message, a straightforward/easy action, and an easy journey. It should be helpful, not cluttered to ensure good performance and higher conversion and engagement.
Quick-fire questions
- Favourite ecommerce platform? Shopify
- Most-used analytics or reporting tool? Matomo analytics
- One ecommerce brand (outside your own) that you think is setting the standard right now? Nobody’s Child
- A product launch or campaign you wish you’d worked on? The re-branding of Rico
- Best piece of marketing or e-commerce advice you’ve ever received? Remove technical friction (Mobile-first design, Reliable checkout (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal).
- A digital marketing trend you think is overhyped? “AI generated everything”
- If you could instantly add one new skill or tool to your team, what would it be? To rapidly create and test high-quality creative assets.
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