Teardown · Koala · 6 November 2026
One of the best product pages in Australian retail, slowed down by its own scripts and interrupted by a pop-up at the moment of purchase
Koala's product page is close to a model of how to sell a $2,000+ item online: the star rating sits under the name, the price and Add to Cart follow you down the page, payment plans are spelled out, and the 120-day trial answers the biggest fear before it's asked. What holds it back is around the page rather than on it: the home page is slow on a phone with a lot of third-party scripts, an email pop-up opened over the product page just as we tapped Add to Cart, and the delivery message at the top of a sofa page talks about mattresses. We reviewed the Australian store (au.koala.com) as a first-time visitor on an iPhone-sized screen and a laptop on 6 November 2026, during its Black Friday sale, using the Wanda Sofa Bed as the test product.
Automatic checks by area
From the same checks as our free quick score. The fixes below include problems these checks can't see.
- Speed
- 38
- Product page
- 80
- Trust and checkout
- 100
- Search basics
- 92
What's already working
- The star rating and review count (4.8 from 383 reviews) sit directly under the product name, where a first-time buyer looks for reassurance.
- A bar with the chosen colour, the sale price and Add to Cart stays on screen as you scroll the product page on a phone.
- The price is broken down for people who budget weekly or by instalment: "4 payments of $575.75 · From $10/week".
- 120-day trial, delivery and a 5-year warranty are shown right under the Add to Cart button, and there's a postcode lookup for "When will my delivery arrive?"
- Photos and videos show the sofa bed in each of its modes, and 'How it sits' shows it with people of three different heights.
Fix these, in this order
01Trust and checkout · 30 minutes
Hold the email pop-up until the shopper has finished on the product page
During our visit, a full-screen "Sign up for exclusive sale updates" pop-up opened over the product page right as we tapped Add to Cart, and the cart was still empty afterwards. We can't tell from outside whether the pop-up interrupted the add or the timing was a coincidence, so treat that part as something to test. Either way, a modal at the moment a shopper commits to a $2,303 purchase asks them to stop and decide something else.
In the pop-up tool, don't show it on product, cart or checkout pages, or show it only on exit intent. Never show it within a few seconds of a tap on Add to Cart. Then test on your own phone, in a private tab: open the Wanda page, wait 10 seconds, and tap Add to Cart.02Speed · 1–2 days
Cut the scripts slowing the home page on phones
Google's mobile test measured 6.2 seconds before the home page's main image appeared, and scripts blocked the page for 891 milliseconds while it loaded (the target is under 200). Scripts load from 11 outside services, including Shop app, ArchiPro, ProductReview, Intelligems and Gorgias chat. In a sale, a slow first screen costs the most, because that's when ad traffic is highest.
List every app and tag on the home page and what it's for. Remove anything that isn't earning its place, and load chat, reviews widgets and testing tools after the page is interactive rather than before. Re-run Google's PageSpeed test on mobile and watch 'Total Blocking Time' and 'Largest Contentful Paint'.03Trust and checkout · 1 hour
Make the top bar match what the shopper is looking at
On the Wanda Sofa Bed page, the first line on screen is "Free delivery on mattresses". To someone buying a sofa bed, that reads as "…but not on this", and we didn't see what delivery costs for the sofa bed before reaching checkout. Delivery cost on a bulky item is one of the most common reasons to abandon.
Show a category-specific message in the announcement bar (most themes allow one per template), and put the delivery cost or 'free delivery to most metro areas' next to the postcode lookup on sofa pages. If sofa delivery is free in most places, say so on the sofa page.04Trust and checkout · 15 minutes
Make the sale headline match the discounts below it
The home page hero says "up to 35% off everything*" with "T&Cs and exclusions apply". The tiles directly below say mattresses are up to 30% off and, further down, outdoor up to 15%. "Everything" with an asterisk and exclusions makes shoppers look for the catch, at the moment you want them clicking.
Name what's on sale at the top rate: "Up to 35% off sofas, sofa beds and bedroom bundles". It's still a strong headline, and it's true without an asterisk.05Search basics · Half a day
Describe the remaining product images
223 of the 294 images on the product page have alt text. That's better than most stores, but the gaps are lost chances in Google Images, where people search for sofa beds by look, and invisible to shoppers using screen readers.
Fill in alt text for every gallery image and colour swatch, describing what's shown: "Wanda Sofa Bed in Australia 01, chaise on the right, pulled out as a queen bed".
Copy to paste in
Announcement bar on sofa and sofa bed pages
NowFree delivery on mattresses
Fast delivery Australia-wide. Check your date with your postcode below.
Home page hero during the sale
Nowup to 35% off everything*
Up to 35% off sofas, sofa beds and bedroom bundles
Email pop-up, shown on exit from the product page instead
NowSign up for exclusive sale updates
Still deciding? Get sale updates by email so you don't miss the best price on the Wanda.
Start with the pop-up: it's a settings change, and it sits right at the moment of purchase. The script audit is the biggest piece of work, and the one most worth doing before the busiest days of the sale. This is an independent review of Koala's public Australian store. We have no connection to Koala and haven't seen its analytics, so the likely impact of each fix is our judgement from common patterns, not a measured result.