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A B2B platform for Made in Italy

Redesigning the marketplace that connects Italian makers with international buyers and giving it a way to buy

  • Company

    VIAMADEINITALY

  • Role

    Strategic consultant and UX designer

  • Team

    Client founders and product manager

    Full stack developer

    Visual designer

    UX designer

    Copywriter

  • Tools

    Figma

    Miro

    Maze

    Hotjar

    Notion

  • Client overview

    VIAMADEINITALY is the B2B platform that takes small and medium Italian footwear, leather goods, clothing and accessories makers to the world, connecting them with international brands and stores. It was founded in Padua and selected by the Bocconi B4i accelerator.

Context

From a generic theme to a platform built for buyers and suppliers

I met the founders in 2020, after a seminar I gave for the Bocconi B4i accelerator. They had just decided to change platform: the site ran on a generic theme, had no B2B features and on mobile it could not attract quality buyers.

Their starting point was clear: improve communication between suppliers and buyers, which until then happened almost only at trade fairs.

I worked with VIAMADEINITALY from 2020 to the end of 2023 as strategic consultant and UX designer: first the new platform, then Group Buying, and finally product strategy and redesign alongside the team.

Experience

First the platform, then a way to buy together

With the founders we split the work into two phases, to go live sooner and with less risk:

  1. A new mobile first platform, with supplier profiles, order requests, custom projects and chat between buyers and suppliers
  2. The features to grow revenue, starting with Group Buying

The new platform went live in early 2021. A year of analytics and client interviews brought out the next opportunity: letting small stores team up to buy in volume, with better prices for them and bigger orders for suppliers.

Listening to buyers and founders, four conditions emerged for Group Buying:

  1. A transparent price, to remove the fear of a hidden catch
  2. Payment methods suited to business purchases, not just cards
  3. A radius of action, because no store wants the shop next door selling the same products
  4. More variants per product and a discount that grows with the participants

“It lets us buy with small orders and different items”

Process and activities

Phase 01

Strategy

  • Discovery
    Discovery

    Workshops with the founders

    Competitor benchmark (with Faire as reference)

    Google Analytics and Hotjar analysis

  • Analysis
    Analysis

    Interviews and feedback calls with buyers

    Buyer personas: brands and stores

    Scope split into two releases

Phase 02

Design

  • Definition
    Definition

    Sitemap of the new platform

    Order request and custom project flows

    Co-design workshop on Group Buying

  • Drawing
    Drawing

    Wireframes and style tiles

    Desktop and mobile UI in Figma (with the visual designer)

    Specs shared with the developer

Phase 03

Feedback

  • Prototyping
    Prototyping

    Mobile prototype of Group Buying

    Payment analysis with Stripe (with the developer)

    Screen copywriting (with the copywriter)

  • Testing
    Testing

    Unmoderated tests on Maze

    Test sessions with real buyers

    Flow redesign after the tests

Phase 04

Loop

  • Measurement
    Measurement

    User surveys and onboarding analysis

  • Iteration
    Iteration

    2023 redesign of home, sign up and onboarding

A closer look at some activities

  • Co-design workshop

  • User testing on Maze

Data collected

  • 3+

    Years

  • 2

    Releases

  • 120+

    Companies

  • 4

    Scenarios

Some of the assets produced

We designed the platform on a design system in Figma, shared with development, from desktop to mobile

  • The new VIAMADEINITALY homepage

    The new VIAMADEINITALY homepage

  • Product page and order request

    Product page and order request

  • Group Buying on mobile

    Group Buying on mobile

What I learned on the project

Working for years on the same marketplace taught me that in B2B words weigh as much as screens.

In the tests buyers stopped at terms like “pre-authorised payment” and “refund”: they sounded like a risk. We removed them and Group Buying became joining a lot, not a payment to manage.

I also learned to split the scope: going live with a smaller first phase let us choose the next feature with real data and interviews, not assumptions.

Research numbers

  • 3h

    Workshop

  • 2

    Personas

Value delivered to buyers and suppliers

For suppliers an international showcase with direct order requests, for buyers a way to buy together even small orders.

The new platform turned VIAMADEINITALY from a showcase site into a working tool: order requests, custom projects and direct chat between buyers and suppliers.

In 2023, after the new request flow and the work on the supplier side, the team recorded 15 accepted requests in 15 days.

Project numbers

  • 15

    Requests

  • 2021

    Launch

Want to work together?

Read about my experience in the CV below.

Before downloading it, I will ask you a few questions in a short form.

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