Taras Vovchuk | Product Designer

United Tires B2B Wholesale Portal

Designed the first self-serve ordering portal for a B2B wholesale distributor whose growing partner network was entirely dependent on phone calls to one sales manager. The core challenge: buyers in this industry trusted personal relationships, not digital interfaces. I ran 12 on-site field visits to understand how partners actually made purchasing decisions, and used those findings to design a platform that moved the business from sales-assisted ordering to self-serve. 100+ businesses onboarded within 6 months of launch.

Role

Product Designer

Team

4 people

Duration

4 month

Company

United Tires

Focus

Field Research · Information Architecture · UI Design & Prototyping · Usability Validation

The problem

A growing B2B channel with no way to scale

United Tires was building out a wholesale channel, partnering with local tire shops and used car dealerships across the region. The business had a strong value proposition: local inventory, fast delivery, better pricing than national distributors. The partner network was already growing.

But every wholesale interaction still ran through one person. The sales manager was handling 15–20 calls a day from partners asking about stock, condition, pricing, and availability. That number doesn't sound dramatic on its own, but he was also the person driving between locations, processing existing orders, and trying to sign new accounts. Every call he spent answering a routine inventory question was time he wasn't spending on business development. The operational work was crowding out the growth work.

The cost wasn't just internal. When a partner had their own customer in front of them asking about a product, they needed to check our inventory and pricing right then. If the sales manager was driving or on another call, the partner was stuck waiting for a callback while their customer was deciding whether to stay or walk. Our bottleneck wasn't just slowing down our operations, it was costing our partners their own sales.

And the wholesale side of the business was about to scale significantly. There was no system in place to absorb any of that volume. The company needed to move from a fully sales-assisted model to one where partners could self-serve for routine transactions.

Field Research

What 12 on-site visits to dealerships and tire shops revealed

I traveled with our sales manager to 12 locations across the region, a mix of small tire shops and used car dealerships. Instead of remote interviews, I went on-site and watched how they actually worked. I sat in back offices while they placed orders with other suppliers, looked at their handwritten supplier lists, and asked owners what mattered to them when choosing who to buy from.

What I found

1. We weren't replacing a broken system. Most shops already had 2–3 wholesale contacts they'd worked with for years. They weren't looking for a new supplier. We had to give them a reason to add one more.

2. Phone calls were about trust, not just information. Dealers didn't call suppliers only to check stock. They called to talk, get recommendations, feel out whether this was someone they could rely on. The phone call itself was how trust got built. Moving to self-serve meant losing the interaction that made them comfortable ordering in the first place.

3. Previous bad online experiences had made them skeptical. Multiple owners told me they'd tried ordering tires online from smaller companies before. Listings were inaccurate, tires showed up in worse condition than described, and there was nobody to call when it went wrong. So they stopped. They went back to phone calls with people they knew.

Two buyer profiles

Small local tire shops

Ordered almost the same quantity and same popular sizes every couple of months. Price-sensitive, always looking for the best discount on predictable, repeating inventory.

Used car dealerships

Ordered irregularly, only when they were getting new cars for sale. Needed specific sizes for specific vehicles, not bulk quantities. Valued speed and availability over volume pricing.

The insight

We couldn't just move the phone call to a screen. The interface had to earn the same trust that personal relationships provided. In B2B, that trust comes from transparency: showing buyers exactly what they're getting, with nothing hidden behind clicks or vague descriptions.

Core Design Principle

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

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

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

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

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.

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:

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.

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

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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Have a project in mind or just want to talk design? My inbox is always open.

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Let’s build together

Have a project in mind or just want to talk design? My inbox is always open.

Resume