Designing an Effective B2B Procurement Website: Insights from NetEase Yanxuan
This article examines how enterprise procurement sites differ from consumer e‑commerce platforms, outlines user research, defines clear design goals, and presents navigation, information architecture, and conversion tactics that make NetEase Yanxuan’s B2B portal efficient and brand‑consistent.
Enterprise procurement is a major purchasing model in market economies, characterized by bulk buying, but traditional methods suffer from rebates, low efficiency, and lack of transparency.
Major e‑commerce platforms (Tmall, JD, Xiaomi) have created dedicated B2B procurement sites, differing in design and logic.
Designing a B2B procurement site must convey accurate information and provide a friendly experience for both C‑end and B‑end users. Specific needs include large order quantities, high order values, tiered discounts, installment payments, and order‑placement services.
Understanding the Users
Primary users are corporate procurement staff working on office computers, so a website (not an app) is prioritized.
Their goal is to purchase high‑value, cost‑effective goods for employee rewards, client gifts, or office supplies, aiming to reduce cost while satisfying employees and clients.
Design Goals
Clarity: Users should instantly understand what products are available and how to buy them.
Brand Message: Communicate “Good life, not that expensive” through clear information architecture, high‑quality images, and refined UI.
Conversion: Encourage enterprise certification and order placement.
Conversion Strategies
Two key conversion metrics are enterprise certification and order submission.
Before login, product slots show “Log in to view enterprise discounts”. After login but before certification, the prompt changes to “View discounts after certification”. Once certified, it displays “Enterprise exclusive X% off”.
The header’s auxiliary button “Submit enterprise information” also updates with certification status, reinforcing the call‑to‑action.
Interaction Value
The homepage serves as the entry point, with a concise information architecture: top navigation (logo, categories, search, procurement list, tools), banner, product recommendations (featured, scenario‑based, category), and footer with partner logos and site introduction.
Navigation is placed at the top for quick location, with vertical menus showing primary categories and typical products, and horizontal menus offering scenario‑based quick links.
Search helps users find items quickly, and the “procurement list” replaces a traditional shopping cart to match B2B terminology.
Differences from Consumer Site
The B2B site emphasizes efficiency, showing only first‑level categories and using hover‑triggered second‑level menus, whereas the consumer site offers deeper browsing.
NetEase Yanxuan’s product range includes nine major categories with over 1,000 items, but only a subset is relevant for enterprise procurement.
The enterprise site launched in April 2017, gaining nearly a thousand certified corporate users within five months.
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NetEase UEDC aims to become a knowledge sharing platform for design professionals, aggregating experience summaries and methodology research on user experience from numerous NetEase products, such as NetEase Cloud Music, Media, Youdao, Yanxuan, Data帆, Smart Enterprise, Lingxi, Yixin, Email, and Wenman. We adhere to the philosophy of "Passion, Innovation, Being with Users" to drive shared progress in the industry ecosystem.
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