iTrade OMS
SaaS platform in the perishable food logistics space
Case Study
From outdated to award-winning SaaS application
iTradeNetwork
Product
Order Management System (OMS)
- Product design
- User research & testing
- Creation and ownership of the design system
- Stakeholder presentations
- Interactive prototyping
- Design mentorship
- Utilization of AI tools
Timing
September 2022 – Present
Collaborators
Andrew Villegas, Oliver Lewis, Anitha Parimi, Venkat Pininty, Amir Rashidifar
My role
UX/UI Design Lead
About
iTradeNetwork is the digital backbone of the food supply chain in the US and Canada
iTradeNetwork connects the world’s largest retailers, distributors, and suppliers through a unified platform that brings order management, procurement, logistics, and traceability into one seamless system. In an industry where speed, freshness, and accuracy are non-negotiable, we help our partners reduce waste, cut costs, and make smarter decisions—faster.
Think of it this way: if you ate fresh produce today, chances are iTradeNetwork helped put it on your plate.
The problem
Obsolete, fragmented, and misaligned
Until recently, iTradeNetwork faced a strategic risk hiding in plain sight: a fragmented product experience that was silently eroding customer trust and lifetime value. The platform had grown through years of modular development—but without a unified design or user experience strategy. Each module operated independently, with its own interface, logic, and workflows. To our customers, this wasn’t a platform—it was a disconnected collection of tools. The result was operational inefficiency, increased training costs, and rising user frustration.
More critically, the organization lacked access to its users. Beyond the sales cycle, there were no structured feedback loops, no direct user research, and no visibility into the day-to-day realities of those running complex, time-sensitive supply chains. We were shipping features without understanding the jobs our users were hiring us to do.
This disconnect had real financial consequences. Churn climbed to 8%—a clear signal of product-market misalignment in a space where retention should be a strength. We weren’t losing customers to better products—we were losing them to better experiences.
Without a course correction, the cost was compounding: lower NPS, slower adoption, longer onboarding, and a weakening competitive position in a category that rewards clarity, speed, and trust.
The problem solution
User-validated research led to feature innovation
When I began designing for OMS in 2022. I immediately began to analyze user feedback and performed a heuristic evaluation of the application. I shared my analysis with the broader product team and began to modernize the UI, with a focus on information architecture and UX best practices. I continued to conduct user interviews for all major workflows so that I would deeply understand and tackle the most pressing usability challenges.
I was encouraged to visit several clients for contextual inquiries. This research led to the development of several new features that none of us had envisioned prior, which addressed critical gaps, strengthened client appreciation and renewed their trust in iTradeNetwork.
Contextual inquiry highlights
User-validated insights
User-validated insights
User-validated insights
The design solution
Creating a first-in-class SaaS experience
We started reimagining the iTradeNetwork platform based on our research findings, involving several major clients along the way for validation.
We didn’t stop there. With AI on the horizon, the team moved quickly to provide additional value across our platform, making us the industry’s first supply chain SaaS company to provide automated AI tasks.
A period of innovation began that continues to this day.
Ensuring visual consistency
After performing heuristic evaluations and user feedback sessions, product designers created a unified library of reusable components, styles, and patterns for use across the platform. We partnered with our marketing team to ensure color palettes, typography, and imagery were supporting our newly redesigned branding. This transformation not only to improved accessibility and user experience, but also to expedite design and development exponentially for the organization.
Data analytics and reporting streamlined for busy users
Our users juggle multiple applications, devices, and modes of communication throughout the day, with little to no time to invest in data analysis.
So we packaged several data insights, highlighting the KPIs they’re responsible for right in the portal.
Modernizing the way our supplier users get paid in OMS
The traditional process of invoicing and payment can take up to 30 days – which means suppliers are losing critical income that could be invested in growing their business on the table.
More importantly, adding Payments created an entirely new revenue stream for the company, whose profits are transactionally based.
Agents, automated orders, and customized data analysis
Across the platform, we found areas where we could responsibly use AI to provide value to our users.
Side by side - Legacy and New
Watch the transformation
The outcome
Decreased time on task, increased user satisfaction
User testing allowed us to set benchmarks that clearly showcased the impact of our UX improvements in the redesigned OMS application.
Beyond modernizing the platform with a complete UX overhaul and a fresh design system, our goal was to position iTradeNetwork as a tech leader in the industry. We focused on leveraging cutting-edge technology to harness the valuable data generated from millions of transactions across the platform. Collaborating with a data scientist, we gained a deeper understanding of the value and limitations of our platform data, which led to the creation of several invaluable AI-driven features.
Ultimately, we won two awards for our work.
The design solution
Creating a first-in-class SaaS experience
We began to reimagine the iTradeNetwork platform, based on our research findings, and involved several major clients along the way for validation.
We didn’t stop there. With AI on the horizon, the team moved quickly to provide additional value across our platform, making us the industry’s first supply chain SaaS company to provide automated AI tasks.
A period of innovation began that continues to this day.
New vs Legacy platform improvements
Based on 30+ UserTesting responses from two groups of users who tested either the Legacy or the New OMS
More task completions
Less time on task