Integrating a B2B marketplace into the merchant dashboard

Task

Connect two services into one ecosystem. The business wanted to close the loop: “take a loan from a partner bank → buy stock on the B2B platform → list it for sale in the same dashboard”.

On a tight deadline, fit a whole marketplace into another product’s interface while keeping the flow convenient and seamless

Process

The deadlines were tight, so the work relied on quickly reusing proven solutions and working closely with developers and analysts.

What I was responsible for:

• I took solutions already validated in tests on the main B2B marketplace and adapted them to the merchant dashboard
• To make the release, we simplified the flow: I designed it so that product selection happened in the merchant dashboard, while the final checkout stayed on the main service for the time being.
• The main service evolved faster than our integration. My job was to bring new features and patterns into the integrated version quickly, so the visual and logical gap didn’t grow.
• Designed the sign-⁠in logic so that moving between two different systems was as unnoticeable as possible for users.

Solution

Most of the work was finding a balance between stakeholder requirements and what was actually convenient for users.

We didn’t reinvent the wheel and used patterns of the main B2B marketplace that had already been tested.

• For the MVP, we built the listing, product page and cart, fully integrated into the dashboard interface
• Designed single sign-⁠on so merchants barely noticed switching between products
• Ported new features from the constantly changing main service into the integrated version at short notice, to avoid design debt
• In the first iteration, stakeholders insisted on a huge loan ad block at the top. Right after launch we saw, as expected, that users didn’t even reach the listing and left the page. The team and I made our case and redesigned the first screen, shifting the focus from the ad to the products

Result

We launched the MVP and confirmed that sellers wanted the tool: in the first month, over 80 merchants placed over 250 orders and began using the purchasing section regularly.

Planned next steps:

• Move checkout fully into the dashboard (no redirects to the main site).
• Integration with stock levels: when the system sees a merchant’s warehouse running low, it offers to restock in one click
• Entry points to B2B purchasing in other dashboard sections where sellers analyze their sales
• A shared framework, so any update to the main B2B marketplace site is mirrored in the integrated version automatically