The portal nobody used
Two requests, two nos, and the numbers that made them easy.
READ IN 8 SECONDS
- PROBLEM
- The client wanted to rebuild the supplier portal.
- DECISION
- Check who used it first. 20% of suppliers did. Product management was at 65%+, with more reported issues.
- RESULT
- The effort went to product management, which improved three portals at once. Live stock waited for the warehouse system.
THAT'S IT. OR KEEP SCROLLING ↓
9 slides · ← → to move · swipe on phones
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READ IN 8 SECONDS
- PROBLEM
- The client wanted to rebuild the supplier portal.
- DECISION
- Check who used it first. 20% of suppliers did. Product management was at 65%+, with more reported issues.
- RESULT
- The effort went to product management, which improved three portals at once. Live stock waited for the warehouse system.
THAT'S IT. OR KEEP SCROLLING ↓
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The ask: revamp the supplier portal. A reasonable ask, on paper.
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Before writing one story, I pulled the usage numbers from production.
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Guess the number
GUESS THE NUMBER
- YOU GUESSED
- 50%
- ACTUAL
- 20%
- OFF BY
- 30%
Guess before you look.
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20%, and it made sense. Most suppliers are small makers in tier-3 towns who run on phone, email and WhatsApp. That's where their trust lives.
Supplier portal20%Product management65% -
Your turn
You have one quarter. What do you build?
Pick one before you scroll.
- A. Rebuild the supplier portalB. Fix product management my pickC. A bit of both
We fixed product management instead. It feeds the reseller portal, the customer portal and BrandHub (opens in a new tab)'s own admin, so one fix landed in three places.
Principle 01
Build where people already are
Adoption is the cheapest research you'll ever get.
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Second ask, same quarter: show live stock on every order line.
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Showing stock early would have put customers off ordering those lines. So we shipped the warehouse system first, and stock after.
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RECEIPT · SAYING NO
- SUPPLIER PORTAL USE
- 20%
- PRODUCT MANAGEMENT USE
- 65%+
- ROADMAP
- WMS FIRST
- PORTALS IMPROVED
- 3
- NOS SAID
- 2
NO IS A FULL SENTENCE, WITH DATA
Two nos. Both came with numbers.
The receipt
Everything this file changed, on one slip.
What I'd do next
Put adoption numbers on the roadmap itself, so this argument happens before the request, not after.
RECEIPT · SAYING NO
- SUPPLIER PORTAL USE
- 20%
- PRODUCT MANAGEMENT USE
- 65%+
- ROADMAP
- WMS FIRST
- PORTALS IMPROVED
- 3
- NOS SAID
- 2
NO IS A FULL SENTENCE, WITH DATA
