Overview
Indus is a comprehensive B2B wholesale marketplace and inventory management platform - focusing on helping grocery stores and restaurants with access to the best wholesale suppliers at the best prices. As the team and the company grew, it became increasingly important to maintain a consistent style and visual language across all company services. With multiple services to keep track, it was transparent that the company needed more systematic ways to leverage collective efforts.
I am currently working as a UX/UI Designer where I develop user flows, annotated wireframes, and interactive prototypes for stakeholders to improve the experience for both customers and wholesalers. I also work as part of the product team where I define product specifications, write documentation, and test prototype functionality.
ROLE
UI/UX Designer
TASK
Design and develop end-to-end designs for company services, apps, and tools
TOOLS
Figma, Sketch, Principle, Adobe Creative Suite, Notion, Asana
PLATFORMS
Desktop, Mobile
AREAS
Design, Research, Strategy, Branding
Problem
Vendors have no easy place to directly find and source products themselves due to the lack of wholesale-to-vendor experience present in the current market. Problems such as terrible user experience, broken and non-visible data, and complex logistics are common root causes that can hinder the workflow between customers and wholesalers and can at times create misalignment in information.
Goal
Vendors have no easy place to directly find and source products themselves due to the lack of wholesale-to-vendor experience present in the current market. The overarching goal during my time in Indus is to simplify the supply chain for grocery stores and restaurants.
In terms of design goals, the inital outcome is to build a collection of reusable components, guided by clear principles and consistent design that can be combined together to create seamless experiences across the board.
Research
Before working at Indus, I wasn’t very familiar with the wholesale market industry. In light of this, I began with some primary and secondary research to gain a better understanding of the market trends and demographics.
During my time at Indus, it is important for me to continue to:
- Understand Indus' target market
- Identify Indus' competitors
- Discover the goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations of Indus' users
Competitive Analysis
Our team conducted a competitive analysis to scrutinize how other competitors are trying to solve the problem. We researched direct, indirect, and niche competitors of Indus, looking primarily at the functionality and the wholesale-to-vendor experience.
After some testing of the services of other competitors, we compared and contrasted some assessment criteria that are important for good user flow in a wholesale-to-vendor service. A few of our assessment criteria included handling orders from multiple wholesalers, offering product discoverability via the marketplace, and handling product deliveries. We, then, used the data to fill in the gaps to make the wholesale-to-vendor process easier. Below is the list of companies we compared.
With extensive research, we found out that there are no competitors that offer the same services as Indus and do not check all three categories as Indus does.
Projects
During my time at Indus, I have worked on various projects. Below are three bigger projects that I have worked on. All three projects are updated from time to time, but I am currently working on Port.
Landing Page
Landing pages are vital since they give users first impressions of what Indus is about. In light of this, the experience needs to be simple yet seamless.
Market.
Market. is where customers interact and manage orders. The goal for Market. is to build modularity and to be customer-first. A key factor to avoid is information overload since users are generally in the older age group, so the accessibility of the app is important. The app is currently in its prototyping phase.
Port.
Port. is a wholesaler CRM inventory management solution. The goal for Port. is to function as a digital order management platform for our wholesalers. This gives them the perks of a digital landscape and a more productive process when it comes to managing data and inventory for the products with our customers. The dashboard is currently in its prototyping phase.
Future
Indus is currently at its pre-seed stage and is looking to expand rapidly. In the meantime, I will continue to polish prototypes, and leverage user testing and usability evaluation for product improvements. Below are the main goals that Indus is running towards.
