Rebuilding checkout for a credit-first retailer

Very.co.uk sells retail alongside its own flexible credit product, Very Pay. Most customers check out on credit, not card — but the checkout had been designed card-first, then patched to accommodate credit terms, eligibility checks and repayment plans. The result was a flow that explained credit terms at the wrong moment, buried eligibility outcomes, and made card checkout feel like an afterthought for the minority who used it.

1. Mapped the existing flow against four customer segments — new-to-credit, existing account holders, card-only shoppers, and declined-then-approved journeys — to find where the single flow was serving no one well.
2. Ran a design sprint with Credit Risk, Legal and Engineering to agree which regulatory disclosures were fixed requirements versus flexible placement, so design had real room to move.
3. Prototyped a segmented checkout that revealed credit terms progressively, rather than front-loading every disclosure, and tested it with existing and prospective credit customers.
4. Rebuilt the shared checkout components as a single design-system pattern so Retail, Credit and Customer Service squads stopped maintaining three divergent versions.

The redesigned checkout shipped in a phased rollout across three quarters. Completion rate rose across both credit and card journeys, and support contacts about "confusing payment terms" dropped meaningfully within the first two months of full rollout.