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Project 01UX + Data + Technology

Intelligent Stock Distribution

Nextail
2022 — 2024

No screenshots: the product and its data are confidential. Everything shown here is a conceptual schematic of the design work.

Context

Product design for an intelligent stock distribution platform used by retail companies to plan the rollout of new collections across their physical stores.

The challenge

The project addressed the migration and complete redesign of the first-collection distribution flow. The platform generated distribution proposals based on market analysis, trends and multiple variables processed by complex algorithms. However, a key barrier existed: users didn't trust the generated proposal enough. In practice, many clients reviewed and modified recommendations piece by piece, reducing the value of automation and turning a time-saving process into a manual supervision task. The challenge was not just improving the interface — it was making a complex algorithmic decision understandable, configurable and trustworthy enough to be accepted.

The bet coefficient

The distance between what the system proposed and what the user accepted without touching it. Closing that distance was the brief.

Accepted as proposedEdited by hand
Before
After

Conceptual schematic. It shows the direction of the change in behaviour, not measured figures.

Approach

We worked on two complementary fronts: giving the user a control lever over the algorithm and making the reasoning behind its decisions visible. On one hand, we introduced a betting coefficient that allowed clients to increase the weight of specific products within the proposal — turning them into priority products with greater presence and distribution across physical stores. On the other, we redesigned the proposal screens to show much more clearly how the algorithm was making its distribution decisions. The goal was to transform an apparently opaque recommendation into a proposal the user could interpret, understand and validate.

The shift in model

Same algorithm, different relationship with it.

Before
  1. The algorithm weighs the variables
  2. A closed proposal
  3. The user reviews and corrects
  4. Systematic manual editing
After
  1. The algorithm weighs the variables
  2. A proposal with its factors visible
  3. The user evaluates it
  4. Targeted adjustment
Research & diagnosis

The diagnosis came before any proposal. The question was not how to improve the algorithm, but why the people using it corrected it every single time.

Interviews with key users

Interviews with the people working in the flow, to understand why they did not trust the system's proposals.

Recorded session analysis

Reviewing real sessions to see how the proposals were actually being worked with.

Friction mapping

Mapping the friction across the existing flow, where the pattern of systematic editing surfaced.

Concept & planning

The vision exercise set the ceiling. MoSCoW, the alignment with stakeholders and the roadmap are what turned that ideal into a delivery plan instead of a wish list.

Vision exercise

An ideal version of the product, developed with no technical limits.

MoSCoW

Every improvement classified as must, should, could or won't have.

Stakeholder alignment

Goals and real constraints agreed with the people who own them.

Roadmap

A strategic plan for rolling the improvements out progressively.

Must have

The release does not work without it.

Should have

Important, but the release survives without it.

Could have

Worth doing if the margin allows.

Won't have

Deliberately out of this release — and on the roadmap.

From maximum to viable

The whole flow was designed at once, with no technical limits. Cutting back to what could actually be built was a second, separate decision — and the screens were laid out so the steps left out land in a place that already exists.

In this releaseLater iterations
  1. 01Collection selection
  2. 02Proposal parameters
  3. 03Distribution proposal
  4. 04Algorithm factors in view
  5. 05Adjustment and simulation
  6. 06Rollout and follow-up

The dashed steps were designed alongside the rest, not added afterwards. Each one has its place reserved in screens that already shipped.

Design & prototyping

With the scope agreed, the work moved to defining the flow in detail and putting it in front of people before it was built.

Information architecture

Restructuring the information architecture and the navigation model to cut the cognitive load of the flow.

Designing the new flow

An iterative process: every round of design was reviewed and fed back into the next.

Working with product

Close work with the product manager to define requirements and functionality.

Component validation

With the design team, validating the user experience and the visual components.

Interactive prototypes

Prototypes that simulated the final experience so it could be tested for real.

Data Science & Engineering

Close work with the technical teams so the design decisions were viable and the data behind each proposal was actually available.

Validation & adjustments

Design did not stop at handover: it was validated before the build, supported during it, and checked again once the screens existed.

Pre-development validation

Testing and validation with several internal teams, plus sessions with real clients.

Support during development

Working alongside the technical team while the screens were being built.

Post-development validation

Checking the quality of the design and the functional implementation of what shipped.

Scope of work
User ResearchSession AnalysisInformation ArchitectureUser FlowsWireframesPrototypingUI DesignUsability TestingProduct Analytics
Outcome
  • Less manual editing of distribution proposals
  • Greater acceptance of system recommendations
  • From correcting the algorithm to trusting it

Full case study available on request.

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