How We Revamped a B2B Car Auction Platform to Boost Efficiency and Trust

Preface

As residents' incomes rise, demand for car replacement and purchase grows, making the second‑hand car market more active. Historically, the market suffered from opacity and a lack of trust between buyers and sellers, limiting growth.

Background

On March 24, 2020, 58.com announced the acquisition of Youxin Auction, aiming to combine platform traffic and resources with Youxin's auction business. In July, the goal was to build a full‑process mobile auction management platform to streamline the used‑car ecosystem and help dealers increase transaction efficiency.

Why Do It?

Youxin Auction’s service capabilities were lagging; processes still relied on manual labor, and dealers could only complete auctions via PC sales staff. Issues included:

Customers needing sales staff to place orders

Complicated, time‑consuming auction workflow

High labor costs

Delayed order information

Lack of real‑time order tracking

Problem Discovery

Three main product pain points emerged:

Insufficient service capability : Mobile efficiency was far behind competitors.

High labor cost : Dealers depended on salespeople for the entire auction process.

Low transaction efficiency : Over‑reliance on sales staff caused delays and “fly‑order” issues when staff left.

Our Approach

We upgraded Youxin’s existing service by rebuilding vehicle management, auction flow, order flow, and posting flow, aiming to strengthen dealer service, build platform trust, and improve transaction efficiency and volume.

Challenges Encountered

Early development faced low requirement completeness, limited interaction design, business‑only prototypes, and information‑centric layouts that left little room for user experience improvements.

Prototype Analysis

Analyzing all prototype diagrams revealed that the client only described the process, not the ultimate goal. We extracted common and divergent categories to guide redesign.

Solution Strategy

Design strategy was divided into three parts: information re‑organization at the functional layer, consistent experience at the interaction layer, and visual innovation.

Visual Innovation

We broke away from the traditional B‑to‑B “information dump” mindset, using large corner radii and generous white space to create a friendly, memorable interface that blends B‑to‑B functionality with C‑to‑C user experience.

Experience Consistency

Unified design for large lists and status indicators, establishing hierarchical information zones and standardized interaction patterns to ensure consistent user operations.

Information Re‑organization

Restructured functional information based on field importance, fixed global actions at the bottom for easy access, and streamlined order and auction listings, reducing browsing and operation time.

Systematic Thinking

The project highlighted the need for systematic thinking: mature products can address isolated issues, while emerging products require holistic, parallel design of interrelated needs.

Conclusion

Initial goals focused on expanding service capability and efficiency to free sales staff. Over time, target users shift from salespeople to dealers and individuals, ultimately enabling dealers to conduct autonomous auctions.