A B2B ordering platform that helps healthcare organizations and pharmacies browse, compare, and purchase medications and medical supplies.
This case study walks through the process behind YFCC Health, a B2B ordering platform for pharmacy and medical supply procurement. Add a summary of your role, scope, and the team you worked with here.
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I collaborated with YFCC Pharmacy owners and an engineer to streamline navigation for their pharmaceutical wholesale platform, ensuring alignment with NABP compliance standards. The site, currently in development, has generated 85% user interest from healthcare partners and 100% satisfaction from internal stakeholders.
To maximize growth and ensure long-term market presence, we needed to find ways to differentiate our services, improve operations, and build strong customer relationships.
To uncover pain points and opportunities, I conducted a field study, user interview, and SWOT analysis to ground the design in real pharmacist workflows and competitive insights.
I analyzed the lead pharmacist at YFCC Pharmacy to pinpoint common pros and cons of ordering from wholesale sites.
I asked the pharmacist questions to garner insights into her experience and frustrations with wholesale ordering.
To compete with the competitive landscape, we understood what makes others successful, while understanding the setbacks that prevent them from future growth.
Here's a summary of what the research revealed.
Users struggle to track re-orders, and information overload hides key features. Despite filters, the search bar is most used, and manual order tracking leads to errors, creating a frustrating experience.
Users are drawn to large product portfolios but expect clear visual messaging to build trust and fast shipping with organized navigation to ensure a smooth experience.
The strategy should focus on a clean, credible interface, an organized backend for order management, and a seamless checkout experience. Additionally, offering easy returns and cancellations will help build early trust and customer satisfaction.
I reviewed NABP guidelines to understand compliance needs for pharmaceutical wholesale platforms. I also analyzed a leading competitor to identify usability strengths and gaps, and created a user persona to represent the typical pharmacist user.
Reviewed NABP standards to ensure compliance with pharmaceutical wholesale regulations and secure, verified user access.
Analyzed primary competitor Cardinal Health (wholesaler to CVS) to uncover industry standards, usability gaps, and opportunities for differentiation.
Developed a lead pharmacist persona to better understand daily tasks, challenges, and needs when ordering pharmaceuticals.
Next, I generated the information architecture and user flows to understand the navigation and layout of the site.
Next, I created a list of the necessary information categories, product information, and features for each lo-fi wireframe, as shown below for the Market page. This was the biggest challenge, since we had to balance being concise and useful.
Designed the overall layout, establishing a clear structure for the pharmaceutical marketplace.
Outlined key market categories and essential information needed for users to navigate and make informed purchasing decisions.
Throughout the hi-fi wireframe efforts, the design improved visually through each iteration until stakeholders were satisfied.
Included necessary features, but resembled general, unappealing medical sites.
Slightly better, but black did not fit into the brand identity.
Clean and modern. The stakeholder's personal favorite iteration.
The final designs translate research and user feedback into a cohesive experience that feels approachable and relevant. Every detail was considered to support user comfort and long-term engagement.
Many medical websites lack visual appeal, which can hurt their first impression.
A clean look and feel emphasizes professionalism and a smooth ordering process. The simplicity places focus on the key content and features so users can easily find what they need without feeling overwhelmed. Login for consumers and admin directs each to their respective page.
Manually adding in checkout info is often a tedious process.
Maintaining saved info creates an easy checkout process without taking out a credit card each time. Fewer steps and distractions during checkout improve the chances that users will complete their purchases, boosting sales. Consumers can browse and order products with all necessary information clearly displayed.
Strict cancellation policies frustrate users and reduce customer retention.
An easy cancellation process builds trust, enhances customer satisfaction, and fosters long-term loyalty by respecting users' time and decisions. Consumers can cancel orders easily while they're still processing, right from the order summary.
Stockouts hurt operations and satisfaction; overstock wastes capital and space.
Efficient reordering helps ensure that stock levels are neither too low nor too high. Streamlining the reordering process minimizes administrative overhead, reduces errors in order fulfillment, and optimizes logistics. Admins can manage inventory to keep track of stock and re-orders.
Tracking employees and their roles is challenging.
I developed a dashboard for admin stakeholders with essential operational information to monitor business functions effectively — for example, keeping top products constantly monitored for stock availability. Employees can also manage orders and stock inventory through the order management page.
I presented these designs to five YFCC Pharmacy pharmacists and technicians, as well as four YFCC Pharmacy partners.
Here are the first impressions of the designs:
"The order tracking and return process is incredibly straightforward. This would save us a lot of time and emails."
Jeffrey K., 28 Pharmacist"This looks and feels really neat. I'd love to see it incorporate more detailed functions."
Talia L., 27 Pharmacy Technician"Wow, it looks less overwhelming than Cardinal Health."
Anupa P., 24 Pharmacy Technician"I love that the search function actually works well. It's fast and shows the right filters immediately."
Jihoon K., 23 Pharmacy TechnicianCollaborating in a small team taught me the value of clear communication, flexibility, and cross-functional input. It was a great opportunity to strengthen my UX skills in a real-world setting.
I'm proud of this first prototype, but I plan to enhance it by adding more detailed features to better organize complex pharmaceutical data. This experience deepened my understanding of the design-to-development process, and I'm excited to apply what I've learned to future projects.
