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BuildCO
Designed an e-commerce platform specializing in sales of furniture, home fittings, power tools, machine equipment rental and artisan hire.
Project overview
BUILDCO is a comprehensive e-commerce platform available on both web and mobile that enables customers to purchase furniture, home fittings, power tools, rent machinery, and hire artisans. To stand out out amidst its competitors, the company decided to include BUILDCO Bonus which allows users to earn 5% of their purchase. Beyond its consumer-facing marketplace, It also includes a Direct Ordering B2B platform designed to support partner companies with rolling credit facilities and site-based management systems.
Problem Statement
Before BUILDCO, most customers faced challenges purchasing or renting building-related tools and equipment from a single, reliable source. The available online platforms often lacked:
- A smooth customization and checkout experience
- Seamless product filtering and sorting capabilities
- A way to hire artisans alongside equipment purchase
- Support for corporate bulk orders and credit-based purchasing
Businesses also struggled with tracking multiple project sites, managing users, and approving orders efficiently. BUILDCO set out to solve this by creating a dual-purpose system an intuitive retail marketplace and a powerful B2B ordering solution.
Goal
- Deliver a seamless shopping experience across devices.
- Enable custom product configurations for furniture and fittings.
- Integrate a direct ordering system for B2B clients with role-based access.
- Improve conversion rates through better navigation, sorting, and checkout.
- Boost user retention through newsletters, saved items, and personalized recommendations.
Product Metrics
To measure success, during the user testing, we tracked:
- Customer Retention Rate: To gauge long-term engagement.
- Customer Abandon Rate: To monitor friction points in checkout.
- Conversion Rate: Percentage of users completing purchases.
- B2B Partner Adoption Rate: For the direct ordering system.
Research & Analysis (How we generated the product metrics)
I conducted:
- Competitor Analysis on major e-commerce and tool-rental platforms.
- User Interviews with individual customers, contractors, and procurement officers to understand their pain points.
- Task Flow Observations of how users browse, customize, and check out products.
- Feedback Sessions with company admins to shape the B2B approval workflow.
Key Findings
- Users valued quick access to categories and clear product specs.
- B2B clients required multi-site management and credit-based approvals.
- Both groups desired simplified order tracking and clear analytics on past orders.
My Process
I followed a user-centered and iterative approach, integrating research findings into the workflow:
- Information Architecture: Structured the platform around key user needs: shopping, renting, hiring, and managing.
- Wireframing & Prototyping: Created low-fidelity wireframes to visualize the product flows, followed by high-fidelity mockups.
- Design: Implemented a clean, modern interface emphasizing clarity, accessibility, and intuitive navigation.
- Design System Creation: Built reusable components for consistency across web and mobile.
- Responsive Design: Ensured fluid usability across devices.
Design Solution
For the design solution, I designed the website, mobile app and the direct ordering platform:
Website
Home Page
I implemented the product carousels, category highlights, and newsletter CTA.
Shop Page
I implemented the grid layout with filters, sorting, and discounts.
Product Page
I included detailed specifications, customization options, reviews, and related products.
Cart and Checkout
I streamlined the flow with coupon support and delivery inputs and also created a different checkout process for existing and new customers.
Wishlist & Order History
I implemented the Wishlist and Order history based on personalization and transparency for users.
Mobile App
Home Page
I implemented the product carousels, category highlights, and newsletter CTA.
Shop Page
I implemented the grid layout with filters, sorting, and discounts.
Product Page
I included detailed specifications, customization options, reviews, and related products.
Cart and Checkout
I streamlined the flow with coupon support and delivery inputs and also created a different checkout process for existing and new customers.
Confirmation page
This page is the order confirmation page where users get to see the status of their order and how much bonus they earned.
Direct Ordering platform (Site manager view)
Landing Page
I designed a landing page where site managers can order for products and hire artisans directly from the platform
Dashboard
The dashboard is designed for site managers to manage their ordering performance, they get to see their credit history, credit usage and recently delivered orders.
Site management page
The site management page is the page where managers can see their site overview, project timeline and manage orders on site
Product Page
The product page consist of different category of power tools.
Services page
The service page consist of all types of installation services where site managers can see artisans and machine equipment for rental.
Profile management
The profile page contains all the site workers information. Site managers can also add new workers on this page.
Orders
The order page contains the history of orders for each site.
Credit History
This page contains the history of credit allocated to all sites. The site manager can also generate invoice, filter the credit history by months or status.
Report
The site report page contains the general overview, credit history, and top sites of the month.
Direct Ordering platform (Site worker view)
For the site worker view, I designed it in tablet form because they will be using the tablet on site to purchase products directly from the platform.
Dashboard
For the site workers, the dashboard consists of their site details, Recently delivered orders, promotional banner and top sites of the month.
Product page
The site workers can also purchase products from the site directly.
Credit History
On this page, the site workers can see credit allocated, credit used and available balance for their site. They can also request more credit while the site manager approves it.
Services page
On this page, site workers can directly hire artisans to help them work on their site. They can also rent equipment they need on the site.
Prototype
Website
Mobile
Direct Ordering platform (Admin)
Direct Ordering platform (Site worker)
User Testing
Testing was conducted with: The marketing manager of Jumia, SEO specialist, 5 artisans and B2B partners.
Testing Goals
- Navigation ease
- Checkout and payment experience
- Credit approval flow for company admins
- Product customization and sorting filters
Findings from Testing
- Users preferred persistent carts and auto-saved preferences.
- B2B admins requested visual summaries of credit usage.
- Minor confusion existed around switching between sites and users, which was later clarified with guided tooltips and dashboard segmentation.
Results
After iterative refinement:
- 30% improvement in checkout completion rate post-redesign.
- Increased user retention through the Wishlist and Order History features.
- Positive feedback from corporate partners for the intuitive credit limit and approval system.
- Higher engagement rates with email templates, leading to a 45% newsletter subscription rate.
Challenges Faced
- Balancing B2C and B2B workflows: Integrating both on one platform required a careful UX balance.
- Complexity in site-based order approval: Designing flexible yet secure approval hierarchies was intricate.
- Ensuring consistency across devices: The mobile-first design had to retain all the B2B functionalities without overwhelming the user.
Conclusion
BUILDCO successfully redefined how customers and businesses engage with construction-related commerce. Through a blend of thoughtful UX design, intuitive navigation, and advanced B2B tools, the platform established itself as a one-stop hub for both individuals and organizations seeking efficiency, control, and reliability in purchasing or renting equipment and services.
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