How to Redesign a B2B Marketplace for Better Customer Efficiency

Exploring B2B Marketplace Perception

The 58 Membership Mall is a B‑side information‑service platform offering various membership packages, promotional products, and value‑added services. Historically, sales relied on telemarketing and offline teams, but the strategy now aims to shift to an online, customer‑centric selling platform.

B2B Customer Differences

C‑end e‑commerce customers User: primarily individual consumers Process: traffic → list → detail → order → payment → logistics → receipt Product: image‑driven, low‑cognition cost consumer goods Goal: flexible, scattered, driven by interest or daily needs 58 Membership Mall customers User: companies, merchants, and some individual agents Process: channel conversion → identity registration → package selection → paid order → contract confirmation → qualification verification → activation Product: information‑service items with high cognition cost Goal: business‑oriented procurement, clear promotion budget, maximize commercial benefit

These B‑side customers fall into three groups: framework‑based enterprise partners (KA customers) who regularly purchase large‑volume promotion packages, telemarketing‑driven local service merchants, and individual agents who order directly.

KA Customer Procurement vs Shopping Flow Conflict

KA customers must complete complex offline tasks—collecting store agent lists, organizing activation times and package types, and having sales staff verify information—before they can enter the mall to select products, upload lists, and place orders. This linear C‑end flow does not fit their batch‑procurement scenario.

The new design moves offline tasks online, reducing participant types and steps. KA customers use a dedicated entry, manage lists, match packages with discounts, and place bulk orders, streamlining the procurement experience.

Customer Mindset vs Product Selection Difficulty Conflict

Yellow‑page merchants resemble ordinary consumers. Guided by sales staff, they face two main challenges: complex business categories and highly similar service packages, leading to mis‑selection and repeated orders.

The original flat C‑end filtering presented dense information, causing merchants to overlook city and industry influences on packages.

The revised solution introduces an overlay that first forces users to select their industry, then uses keyword search to narrow results, reducing category noise.

Subsequently, users choose membership packages. Since information‑service products lack physical cues, the design uses comparative lists, PK tools, and buffet‑style options to highlight textual differences.

Integrating and Extending the Link

To serve more users, the system reorganizes classification from product‑type to business‑type, creating a business‑centric homepage and converting the product list page into a business‑category page, ensuring each merchant finds relevant offerings.

Common Service Touchpoints

We mapped potential customer interactions: pre‑purchase (consultation, business intro), during purchase (product comparison), post‑purchase (qualification activation). These insights shaped a unified help center, information cards, product flow rules, and after‑sale guidance, delivering clearer, self‑service experiences.

Conclusion

Reflecting on the project, the core design principle remains "user‑centered". C‑end focuses on validating pain points, while B‑end supports entire business workflows. Designers must continuously explore the intersection of user needs and business logic, much like a spider navigating a complex web.