ORIAS 60 Second Shopping Spree
Australia Post
How we took a flagging promotion and drove record engagement.
The brief
Each year, Australia Post partners with Online Retailer to present the ORIAS, celebrating excellence in online retail. One of the most important categories is the People’s Choice Awards, voted on by consumers.
Australia Post approached us with clear targets: increase consumer votes by 20 percent and merchant registrations by 45 percent. This is how we exceeded both.
Boosting engagement through novelty
Engagement had declined over previous years, driven largely by an unchanging prize mechanic. The standard “enter to win a gift voucher” format had lost its appeal.
To re-energise the competition, we explored ideas rooted in the world of retail. Drawing inspiration from “Supermarket Sweep”, we proposed a digital shopping spree where one lucky winner would have 60 seconds to spend up to 10,000 dollars. This concept felt bold, memorable and perfectly aligned with the ecommerce space.
Design approach
The game needed to do more than act as a prize hook; it had to function as a strategic marketing tool that reflected the ORIAS brand and gave users a taste of the awards experience.
I designed a fast-paced ecommerce simulation where players added prizes to a cart under a strict 60-second limit. The challenge lay in balancing realism and pressure. If users could reach the maximum spend too quickly, the experience would fall flat. If it was too difficult, it would feel unfair. The UX work centred on calibrating this balance.
The prototype
To confidently validate the concept, we needed a fully working prototype, not a wireframe walkthrough. Axure RP was the ideal tool due to its richer interaction capabilities, database functions and support for JavaScript.
Within a day I produced a fully functioning shopping-spree prototype complete with:
A browsable prize list
Item detail modals
Cart logic with value limits
A countdown timer
A working 10,000 dollar spend cap
The goal was to replicate the mechanics of the final build closely enough that testing feedback would be meaningful.
Ensuring behaviour reflected real-world decision-making
A standard usability session would not tell us what we needed to know. Participants could easily hit the 10,000 dollar target in 60 seconds if they simply added random items. The actual winner, however, would behave very differently: they would carefully choose what they personally wanted.
To replicate this real-world mindset, I introduced the following:
A “desire” score
An additional metric visible only during testing. Every prize was assigned a score that reflected how appealing it should feel, independent of cost. This ensured participants were motivated to make considered choices, not just fill their cart with high-value items.A small internal prize
Test participants competed for a cash reward based on a combined desire score and cart value. This introduced stakes that encouraged thoughtful decision-making, mirroring the emotional state of a real competition entrant.
These additions to our internal testing ensured the pace, pressure and decision complexity aligned with what a real winner would experience.
Adding a touch of friction
Early tests showed that even with desire-based decision-making, hitting the 10,000 dollar mark was slightly too easy. To fine-tune difficulty, I revised the prototype:
The “add to cart” action was moved into a modal for each prize rather than appearing in the prize list view.
This change introduced a deliberate extra interaction, adding friction while still feeling natural.
To prevent this additional click feeling like needless busy work, we introduced additional prize information as part of the modal.
The updated flow was tested again, and the results were exactly what we were aiming for: everyone could hit the target, but only with focus and quick decision-making.
The result
Before announcing the official winner, we released a public “practice” version of the game across social media. This created immediate momentum, with people sharing their scores, discussing strategies and posting their dream prize lists. The practice experience became a powerful engagement engine in its own right, building anticipation and broadening awareness of the competition long before voting closed.
This surge in organic interest translated directly into the outcomes Australia Post was aiming for:
Consumer votes increased by 60 percent, outperforming the target by 31 percent.
Merchant registrations rose by 42 percent compared with the previous year.
Alongside the game experience, we also introduced a refreshed email strategy and digital promotional tools to help retailers mobilise their customer base, further strengthening the campaign’s impact.
Our winner
The final event delivered wonderfully shareable moments thanks to a full filming setup and a live host. The winner’s energy captured the spirit of the promotion, reinforcing the emotional payoff of our redesigned experience.
