AJIO BUSINESS - Designing for India’s Retailers at Scale

Streamlining Bulk Buying for B2B Retailers

ROLE

UX Designer (from strategy to execution)

Timeline

2023

6 months

2023

6 months

Team

UXR, PM, UX Writer, UI Designer

PLatform

AJIO Business

Mobile App

AJIO Business

Mobile App

Context

AJIO = Reliance connecting fashion brands to local retailers

Ajio Business is a B2B fashion platform by Reliance designed for small & medium-sized retailers to grow their business. It connects thousands of manufacturers and brands to millions of small retailers, enabling them to buy bulk packs of clothing, footwear, or accessories - often in mixed sizes and colours - at wholesale prices, delivered directly to their shops.

Project Goal

Redesign the buying journey to boost metrics

To enhance the current buying journey using insights from user research in order to improve conversions and make buying easier for retailers
To relook at the below-the-fold section of the PDP, measure it against the best competitive standards and refine it to keep up with the growing needs of the market

To enhance the current buying journey using insights from user research in order to improve conversions and make buying easier for retailers
To relook at the below-the-fold section of the PDP, measure it against the best competitive standards and refine it to keep up with the growing needs of the market

AJIO Business provides India's local retail shop owners online access to bundled wholesale products (size and colour variants clubbed together) across multiple categories like footwear, apparel and accessories

Project Highlight

Reshaping inventory purchase at scale

12%

Add to Cart Rate

1.2 Orders/User/Week

₹12K

Weekly AOV

Current metrics reflected opportunity for growth

HMW help retailers shift more of their stock purchases to AJIO by making buying seamless and reliable?

THE problem

Retailers struggled to build their cart in a way that matched their real restocking needs

Pack names were confusing, representations were unclear, and customization was limited or misunderstood.
With inconsistent terminology like “Ratio Pack” or “Catalogue Pack” used differently across categories, retailers couldn’t easily understand what they were buying.
They found it hard to scan long lists, test new products, or control sizes and colors - often leading to frustration and a preference for offline wholesale markets

Pack names were confusing, representations were unclear, and customization was limited or misunderstood.
With inconsistent terminology like “Ratio Pack” or “Catalogue Pack” used differently across categories, retailers couldn’t easily understand what they were buying.
They found it hard to scan long lists, test new products, or control sizes and colors - often leading to frustration and a preference for offline wholesale markets

Competitors vs AJIO

Competing with offline wholesalers and crowded online B2B e-commerce market, where retailers face countless ways to add pre-made packs.

Left: Bulk buying on Udaan, Bijnis and Ali Baba ; Right: Typical user flow on AJIO

INSIGHTS

NEW PACK CONFIGURATION & TAXONOMY

Iterations and evolution of the pack nomenclature

Initial 'Packs' understanding from user research

Many terms for same thing - No name callout - Category jargon

V.0

Initial

Initial 'Packs' understanding from user research

Many terms for same thing - No name callout - Category jargon

V.0

Initial

Initial 'Packs' understanding from user research

Many terms for same thing - No name callout - Category jargon

V.0

Initial

Initial 'Packs' understanding from user research

Many terms for same thing - No name callout - Category jargon

V.0

Initial

Synthesised visual representation after removing redundancy

Hard to scan and no clear hierarchy

V.1

Evolved

Synthesised visual representation after removing redundancy

Hard to scan and no clear hierarchy

V.1

Evolved

Synthesised visual representation after removing redundancy

Hard to scan and no clear hierarchy

V.1

Evolved

Synthesised visual representation after removing redundancy

Hard to scan and no clear hierarchy

V.1

Evolved

Categorically segregated, then strategically combined

No visual recall - Hard to scan and perceive

V.1.2

Evolved

Categorically segregated, then strategically combined

No visual recall - Hard to scan and perceive

V.1.2

Evolved

Categorically segregated, then strategically combined

No visual recall - Hard to scan and perceive

V.1.2

Evolved

Categorically segregated, then strategically combined

No visual recall - Hard to scan and perceive

V.1.2

Evolved

Clear hierarchy, intuitive taxonomy and visual recall with icons

Final framework to inform the design and to be tested

V.2

Final

Clear hierarchy, intuitive taxonomy and visual recall with icons

Final framework to inform the design and to be tested

V.2

Final

Clear hierarchy, intuitive taxonomy and visual recall with icons

Final framework to inform the design and to be tested

V.2

Final

Clear hierarchy, intuitive taxonomy and visual recall with icons

Final framework to inform the design and to be tested

V.2

Final

THE Impact

Laying the groundwork for seamless buying

There was no clear system to classify pack types - leading to jargon, confusion, and inconsistency
The new taxonomy simplified how packs were grouped and named, aligning with how retailers actually think and shop.
It created a shared language across teams - making collaboration and future iterations smoother.
Most importantly, it laid the foundation for a scalable design framework to display buying options consistently across the purchase journey.

There was no clear system to classify pack types - leading to jargon, confusion, and inconsistency
The new taxonomy simplified how packs were grouped and named, aligning with how retailers actually think and shop.
It created a shared language across teams - making collaboration and future iterations smoother.
Most importantly, it laid the foundation for a scalable design framework to display buying options consistently across the purchase journey.

I started with auditing the current state of the pack component

Tried out different explorations for the way the pack section might be displayed

Also tried different interactions for finding and adding the right pack

Coach explaining something to an athlete

As well as different ways to visualise the pack component itself to enable better perception and scanning

The final UX was an expandable, condensed pack visualisation with pack name call outs and size filtering capability

The final UI with pack types represented by icons, and actions combined within the card

DESIGN DECISIONS

A closer look at key redesigned flows:

Moderated Usability Testing

Research Questions:

Whether they were able to understand the input stepper interaction and accomplish the tasks assigned with it

If they were comfortable with the new representation of packs and were able to perceive all the information they needed with ease
Whether they understood MOQ criteria and how to qualify it
How many packs and pieces they generally add
Their understanding of and need for different pack types
Whether they prefer pre-made or customisable packs

Whether they were able to understand the input stepper interaction and accomplish the tasks assigned with it

If they were comfortable with the new representation of packs and were able to perceive all the information they needed with ease
Whether they understood MOQ criteria and how to qualify it
How many packs and pieces they generally add
Their understanding of and need for different pack types
Whether they prefer pre-made or customisable packs

Whether they were able to understand the input stepper interaction and accomplish the tasks assigned with it

If they were comfortable with the new representation of packs and were able to perceive all the information they needed with ease
Whether they understood MOQ criteria and how to qualify it
How many packs and pieces they generally add
Their understanding of and need for different pack types
Whether they prefer pre-made or customisable packs

Participant Profiles

The iterations

Based on the user feedback, the following design changes were implemented before hand off

Feature Improvements

These improvements were added to support the design and further fine-tune the user journey

Coachmarks

To guide users, coach marks were designed to educate them about the new changes and additional features in the buying journey

Colour variants visibility

Different colour variations of the same product was difficult to find earlier, but linking them in the PDP itself helped increase visibility at the start of the purchase journey itself

Buy a sample

Users unsure to buy an entire pack can test the quality and material of a specific product by ordering a sample first at a minimal cost. This would help them buy confidently and also increases seller's sales.

Learnings and takeaways

Some crucial things I learned working on this project

Designing for the whole ecosystem
In a complex setup like AJIO Business, I learned that success meant balancing the needs of retailers, manufacturers, sales teams, category heads, and brands - not just designing for end users.

Think in systems, not screens
Building scalable taxonomies and UI components helped the solution go beyond a one-off fix and shaped a foundation for long-term UX and business growth.

Cross-functional collaboration is key
Partnering with teams beyond design - sales, category, PMs, devs - helped navigate constraints and made the solution more grounded, feasible, and adopted.

Feedback beats perfection
Sharing early prototypes and rough ideas with my manager and peers helped align direction fast, improve clarity, and avoid over-designing in a silo.

Think in systems, not screens
Building scalable taxonomies and UI components helped the solution go beyond a one-off fix and shaped a foundation for long-term UX and business growth.

Cross-functional collaboration is key
Partnering with teams beyond design - sales, category, PMs, devs - helped navigate constraints and made the solution more grounded, feasible, and adopted.

Feedback beats perfection
Sharing early prototypes and rough ideas with my manager and peers helped align direction fast, improve clarity, and avoid over-designing in a silo.

Think in systems, not screens
Building scalable taxonomies and UI components helped the solution go beyond a one-off fix and shaped a foundation for long-term UX and business growth.

Cross-functional collaboration is key
Partnering with teams beyond design - sales, category, PMs, devs - helped navigate constraints and made the solution more grounded, feasible, and adopted.

Feedback beats perfection
Sharing early prototypes and rough ideas with my manager and peers helped align direction fast, improve clarity, and avoid over-designing in a silo.

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Call

+1 2065369593

Write

kashvigoel38@gmail.com