Taras Vovchuk | Product Designer

United Tires B2B Wholesale Portal

Designed a self-serve wholesale platform to replace phone-based ordering for tire dealerships.

Results at a Glance

100+

Dealerships Onboarded

~40% ↑

40% ↑

Faster Ordering Cycle

Field Visits

Employer

United Tires

My Roles

Product Designer

Focus Areas

Field Research

Information Architecture

UI Design & Prototyping

Usability Validation

Duration

4 month

Team

4 people

Project Overview

United Tires wanted to expand into wholesale by building a network of local dealerships and tire shops. The value proposition: local inventory, fast delivery, better prices than national distributors.

But there was no way for partners to browse inventory or check pricing on their own. Every interaction required a call to our sales manager — to check stock, confirm condition, get a quote.

This created two problems:

For dealers: They couldn't browse or compare. They had to know exactly what they wanted before calling.

For us: The sales manager was stuck processing routine inventory questions instead of signing new accounts and building relationships.

The Challenge

Give local businesses a reason to order from us digitally — when they are used to phone relationships with other suppliers.

Project Goals

Enable Network Expansion

Give the sales team a tool to onboard new partners: "Sign up here, browse our inventory anytime."

Build Trust Through Transparency

Show dealers everything they'd ask on a phone call: exact condition, tread depth, pricing, availability.

Free Up Sales Capacity

Shift routine inventory questions to self-serve so the sales manager can focus on new relationships.

Support Local Delivery Model

Design for our competitive advantage: local inventory, fast delivery, personal service.

My Roles and Contribution

Field Research Traveled with sales manager to dealerships and tire shops. Conducted 12 on-site interviews observing real purchasing workflows.

Information Architecture Designed inventory display, filtering system, and cart flow based on field observations.

UI Design Created high-fidelity mockups for inventory search, product cards, and checkout.

Usability Validation Tested prototypes with dealers before development to validate design decisions.

Field Research: Understanding the Dealer Relationship

I traveled with our sales manager to visit dealerships and tire shops across the region. Instead of remote interviews, I observed how they actually worked — their back offices, their ordering systems, their relationships with existing suppliers.

What I Did:

12 on-site visits to dealerships and local tire shops

Shadowed purchasing workflows — watched them place orders with other suppliers
Interviewed owners about what they valued in supplier relationships

Key Observations:

1. They already had supplier relationships

Most shops had 2-3 wholesale contacts they'd built trust with over years. We weren't replacing a broken system — we were asking them to add a new supplier.

2. Phone calls weren't just for information — they were for relationships

Dealers called their suppliers to chat, get recommendations, confirm details. The call was part of the trust-building.

3. Digital ordering from smaller suppliers felt risky without a relationship

Several owners told me they'd tried online tire ordering from smaller suppliers before and been burned by inaccurate listings. They reverted to phone calls with trusted contacts.

"I've been burned before. Bought a set online, showed up and they were basically bald. Now I call every time. If I can't talk to someone, I don't order." — Tire shop owner

Small Local Tire Businesses

Always look for the best discount and need almost the same quantity and same (most popular in the area) tire sizes every couple of months.

Used Cars Dealerships

Look for best value deals and need tires only when they’re getting some new cars for sale.

The Insight

We couldn't just digitize the phone call. We had to earn the same trust that phone relationships provided — through transparency and accuracy in the interface itself.

Designing for "offline confidence"

The research revealed a core design principle:

If a dealer would normally call to ask it, the interface should answer it without clicking.

Through field visits, I identified four data points dealers needed to see immediately — the same things they'd verify on a phone call:

Data Point

Why It Matters

Level of Repair

New vs. patched affects resale value

Exact Tread Depth

Measured in 32nds, not vague "good/fair"

Wholesale Price

Needs to be visible for quick margin math

The Solution

Instead of clean, minimal product cards (standard e-commerce pattern), I designed data-dense cards that showed all four metrics like a spreadsheet, not a value shopping cart.

Standard retail filters weren't detailed enough. I designed a granular sidebar that allows multi-select filtering for Condition and Repair Levels. This mimics the technical questions a sales rep asks on the phone.

Key Features

Granular Filtering

Dealers needed to filter by condition, brand, size, AND repair level simultaneously. I designed a multi-select filter system that mimicked how they'd ask questions on a phone call:

"Do you have any 225/65R17s, new or patched, at least 8/32 tread?"

The filter system could answer that question in seconds.

Data-Dense Inventory Cards

Every card showed: Grade, DOT Date, Tread Depth (in 32nds), Repair Notes, and Price — all visible without expanding or clicking.

This was the opposite of progressive disclosure. Dealers wanted everything upfront because hidden information meant potential risk.

Granular Filtering

Dealers needed to filter by condition, brand, size, AND repair level simultaneously. I designed a multi-select filter system that mimicked how they'd ask questions on a phone call:

"Do you have any 225/65R17s, new or patched, at least 8/32 tread?"

The filter system could answer that question in seconds.

Data-Dense Inventory Cards

Every card showed: Grade, DOT Date, Tread Depth (in 32nds), Repair Notes, and Price — all visible without expanding or clicking.

This was the opposite of progressive disclosure. Dealers wanted everything upfront because hidden information meant potential risk.

Invoice-Style Cart

The cart needed to feel like a wholesale invoice, not a retail checkout. I designed:

Line-item condition notes visible in cart
Shipping tier progress indicator (spend $X more for free delivery)
Order summary formatted like their existing supplier paperwork

Invoice-Style Cart

The cart needed to feel like a wholesale invoice, not a retail checkout. I designed:

Line-item condition notes visible in cart
Shipping tier progress indicator (spend $X more for free delivery)
Order summary formatted like their existing supplier paperwork

Testing & Validation

I tested prototypes with 4 dealerships before development.

Key Findings That Changed the Design

Finding

What Changed

Users expected to see their specific pricing

Added "Your Price" label showing their negotiated rate vs. standard wholesale

Users worried about ordering wrong tires

Added free returns policy prominently in checkout flow

Results

100+

Dealerships

Joined the network through the self-serve portal

~40% ↑

40% ↑

Faster ordering

Dealers could browse and order without waiting for callbacks (internal estimate)

Sales capacity freed

Manager shifted from order processing to relationship building and new account acquisition

Network scaled

Wholesale accounts grew without adding support staff

Reflections

B2B isn't just B2C with bigger orders. Dealers had existing relationships with competitors — relationships built on years of phone calls and personal trust. A portal couldn't just be functional; it had to earn the same confidence that those relationships provided.

Field research changed everything. Seeing how dealers actually worked — their messy back offices, their handwritten supplier lists, their skepticism of "online ordering" — gave me empathy that remote interviews wouldn't have. Traveling with the sales manager let me understand both sides of the relationship.

"Offline confidence" became my design heuristic. Every decision filtered through: Would this prevent a phone call? If yes, ship it. If not, reconsider.

What I'd Do Differently

Add more relationship touchpoints. The portal solved the transactional problem but lost some of the human connection dealers valued. Future iteration: in-app chat with their sales rep, or "your account manager" personalization.
Push harder on reordering. Dealers buy the same sizes monthly. A "Reorder Last Purchase" shortcut should have been V1, not backlog.
Test with real inventory earlier. I prototyped with sample data. Edge cases (damaged tires, partial sets, discontinued sizes) surfaced issues post-launch that earlier testing would have caught.

"Offline confidence" became my design heuristic. Every decision filtered through: Would this prevent a phone call? If yes, ship it. If not, reconsider.

What I'd Do Differently

Add more relationship touchpoints. The portal solved the transactional problem but lost some of the human connection dealers valued. Future iteration: in-app chat with their sales rep, or "your account manager" personalization.
Push harder on reordering. Dealers buy the same sizes monthly. A "Reorder Last Purchase" shortcut should have been V1, not backlog.
Test with real inventory earlier. I prototyped with sample data. Edge cases (damaged tires, partial sets, discontinued sizes) surfaced issues post-launch that earlier testing would have caught.

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