Providing “must have” features for MINE B2B business and external interior designers
THE BACKGROUND
MINE provides Furniture and Home Furnishings Manufacturing. Studio MINE is a holistic website tool made for interior designers to work for clients who need to furnish their homes. After the successful release of v2.0, the team was able to satisfy the basic requirements of MINE internal designers. However, as MINE business grows we’re facing new user problems. The team immediately moved on to the next phase, to add more features for B2B businesses and different types of interior designers.
PROBLEM #1:
It’s all manual process for B2B interior designers to submit orders to the procurement team, or to create invoices for clients.
THE context
When I joined the team, MINE had about the same amount of B2B and B2C projects. In 2 years the number of B2B businesses increased by 8 times, and Studio MINE is not catching up with the speed of the growth.
→ As per request from interior designers, the team urgently needs to provide “must have” features, which are Orders and Invoices.
User Goal
MINE interior designers want to order products within Studio MINE for B2B projects.
Procurement team wants to receive and control orders.
Both of them need to track orders on a project basis.
Business Goal
Because B2B businesses bring huge profits to the company, our focus is to receive more B2B projects.
As we provide more features necessary for B2B business, it becomes easier for us to sell Studio MINE to designers and design agencies.
THE solutions
01
Orders
Orders Tab
Added “Orders & Tracking” tab under project page.
Users can create and view orders, POs, and invoices.
Create Order dialog
Show the total price and the number of selected products.
Based on rooms, users can select products to order.
02
Invoices
Invoice Tab
List of invoices for the project.
Invoice
Invoice Preview
Edit Invoice Page
Allow flexibility to setup markup and customer price for each product,
Users can select products in the room to include in the invoice.
Non-product items can be added such as consultation fees.
Users can edit invoice info and logo.
Tax and Freight can be calculated automatically.
Deal with different payment methods.
Users can set up payment schedules, and the amount is calculated.
THE OUTCOMES
“Congratulations, you all! This cashless order concept is truly a huge step forward.Design Projects are composed of MANY orders that are spread out over time. It would have been completely impossible to manage the procurement of a Design Project from an Orders view -- you have to take a Project-centric approach. This gets us one gigantic step closer to #killingAirtable. Additionally, the cashless order concept allows us to have both internal and external users "push" Orders to procurement in a far less hacked mechanism That's big, especially for external Users. AMAZING WORK!”
VP of Operations at MINE
B2B Business Growth
Since Q4 2022, the number of live stores on MINE has been constantly exceeding 1,000. It hit 1,520 in Q1 2024.
PROBLEM #2:
Studio MINE is not dealing with the changes of product status.
the context
After releasing “Orders”, which is the core feature for MINE B2B business, we had the next priority feature regarding product status.
Studio MINE needs to handle scenarios where the price of products changes, and where one of the same products becomes a different status from others.
User Goal
In the real world interior designers and procurement agents are keeping an eye on hundreds of line items, and the statuses of those products always change. In Studio MINE platform they should be able to view, edit, and track all those different statuses.
Those users want to deal with common updates such as product price change, defectives, out of stock, returns, etc.
THE Solutions
Product Snapshot and Split
BEFORE
Interior designers buy the same products multiple times, and the prices may change while projects continue. Studio MINE is not dealing with those situations.
Procurement team receives an order of more than 1 quantity with the same product. They can’t deal with it if one of those is out of stock or damaged.
After an order is placed, client may request another one. Studio MINE can’t separate the same products of different statuses.
AFTER
Change of product price will not affect previously ordered products.
Users can “split” when dealing with the same products and the statuses become different.
Products in design phase and order phase are listed separately.
Users can track the status of those products separately.
product snapshot
Same products in different phases
Different statuses can be set.
Show both old and new prices.
Show the note on hover.
Product Split
Before Split
Quantity = 4
Same products are in one line, and those are all “Order generated” status.
Split Dialog
Flexible split: Users can choose the number of each group.
After Split
Show the products in separate lines.
Different dates and statuses can be set.
THE OUTCOMES
Happy voice from MINE
“Split Orders allows you to split b2b line items in the B2b order. This is useful when you have a damage on 1 out of 6 chairs for example. A split will now have a different status.This is not just a product launch; it's a reflection of our collective effort and dedication into making the MINE Platform better everyday. I'm proud of what we've done and am looking forward to seeing the impact it will make.”
CTO at MINE
PROBLEM #3:
Now MINE is selling Studio MINE for design agencies and designers at a rapid pace. Those external users need additional features to do business with their clients.
the context
MINE has been experiencing remarkable growth with the number of interior design agencies and designers who use Studio MINE. Studio MINE has to catch up with the growing demands of those external interior designers.
What do external users need? Shoppable Rooms will enable clients to add products to their cart while reviewing the design of each room. Designer Checkout is for interior designers to buy products for clients using their credit cards.
User Goal
Share “shoppable rooms” with clients, so that they can choose and sell products based on projects.
Buy products for clients using their credit card. This can eliminate their redundant process of submitting wired orders to MINE.
Show off company profiles and rooms they designed in Studio MINE, whenever and to whoever they want.
Business Goal
We have more than 400 agencies who use Studio MINE. It has become more crucial than ever to make Studio MINE “sellable” to external interior designers.
Our CEO refers to Studio MINE as “the world’s #1 platform for profitable interior designers”. It has to be equipped with all main features those designers will need.
the Solutions
01
Shoppable Rooms
Company Profile Page
Their hero photo
Their logo
Interior designers can edit and share the profile data with clients.
"About” tab
“Powered by MINE"
“Store” Tab - Store List
"Stores" tab
The list of spaces they designed
“Store” Tab - Shoppable Room View (for clients)
Upper area is the Moodboard of the room
List or products clients can buy
Clients can checkout from here.
“Add to cart” and “Favorite” icons
02
Designer Checkout
Order Information
Create Order Dialog
Design files in progress
THE OUTCOMES
Social impact of Shoppable UI feature
“This shoppable design can be broadcast on the social channels and website of the designer. It turns the moodboard into a shoppable e-commerce experience.Designers using Studio MINE can also build a profile that showcases numerous shoppable ‘designs’. Once live on site, all of the designs can be shared and shopped anywhere on the web. Designers using Studio Mine have the option to turn their projects into physical showrooms and add them to the network that already exists. These physical spaces could be in model homes, short-term rentals, restaurants or hotels. In the near future, thousands of designers will be adding tens of thousands of new shoppable spaces every year.”
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