Overview

This project involved redesigning a B2B furniture eCommerce website to improve usability, product clarity, and pricing visibility. The existing site caused confusion for business partners, leading many to place orders via phone, email, or fax instead of online.

My goal was to create a clearer, more intuitive experience that supported B2B purchasing behavior while aligning with the brand’s vision.

Problem

Business partners avoided ordering online due to several usability issues:

• Confusing navigation and product organization

• Insufficient product information to support purchasing decisions

• Unclear pricing visibility across different customer tiers

• Uncertainty whether the site was B2B or B2C

• Discomfort with end customers seeing partner-specific deals

As a result, the website increased manual workload for internal teams and slowed down ordering.

***** pick one image***

Outcome

• ↓ support calls

• ↑ online orders

• ↑ time on product pages

This redesign transformed the website from a passive catalog into a more functional B2B ordering tool, reducing confusion and supporting more confident, independent purchasing by business partners.

• Optimized site navigation, simplified the checkout process, and personalized user journeys by prototyping and conducting 15 usability testing sessions.

• Integrated dynamic inventory updates, reducing customer queries by 50% and improving satisfaction.

• Facilitated communication with developers, the sales team, and the VP to establish and ensure key criteria are met in a timely manner.

Discovery Research

To understand how users interacted with the website, I conducted usability research with 10 participants, including:

• 4 internal staff

• 3 designers

• 3 retail business partners

• Ages ranged from 27 to 65

Participants were given a set of tasks to complete on the website, followed by interviews focused on pain points and frustrations.

Key Insights

• Users struggled to navigate and find relevant products

• Product pages lacked essential details needed to confidently place orders

• Users needed clearer visibility rules for pricing and content

• The website did not clearly communicate whether it served B2B or B2C users

These findings confirmed that both information architecture and content structure needed improvement.

Competitive Analysis Insights

I analyzed how established furniture eCommerce platforms organize their products and present information.

• Furniture is commonly categorized by room context (Dining, Living, Bedroom)

• Standard naming conventions outperform creative labels

• Product pages include structured, toggleable information tables

Key Takeaway

Using familiar product groupings and structured information reduces cognitive load and supports faster decision-making for B2B buyers.

Site Map Redesign

Based on research findings, I redesigned the navigation to create a more intuitive user flow.

Improvements Made

• Reorganized product categories by room type

• Simplified navigation hierarchy

• Clear separation between B2B functionality and browsing

Before vs After sitemap (even simplified)

Theme Redesign

Layout & Visual Design

I selected and customized a Shopify theme that aligned with the brand’s visual identity while supporting clearer content hierarchy.

Considerations when selecting the theme:

• B2B-Specific Buying Experience

• Pricing & Catalog Complexity

• Information Density & Clarity

• Customization & Developer-Friendliness

Product Information Table

I designed and coded a structured product information table.

Implementation:

• Built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

• Created custom Shopify metafields

• Collaborated with the integration team to connect metafields to internal user-defined fields

• Enabled daily automatic updates to ensure data accuracy

This ensured business partners always had access to up-to-date product specifications.

Post-Launch Feedback

After three months, we gathered feedback from customers to evaluate the effectiveness of the redesign.

What Worked

• Improved clarity of product information

• Reduced confusion around pricing and product details

• Easier navigation and product discovery

Areas for Improvement

• Users disliked toggling between dimensions, details, and features

• Users wanted advanced filters (colour, shape, product type)

• Users wanted to see stock availability and ETA directly from product listing pages

These insights informed the next phase of iteration and feature planning.

Learnings & Next Steps

Key Learnings

• B2B users prioritize clarity and efficiency over visual novelty

• Role-based visibility is essential for pricing and content trust

• Product filtering and inventory transparency are critical for scaling self-service ordering

Next Steps

Future iterations would focus on:

• Advanced filtering options at the category level

• Stock and ETA visibility without requiring page navigation

• Reducing interaction friction on product pages