Streamlining the supply chain
for small businesses
MaxAB is a B2B e-commerce platform designed to streamline the supply chain for small businesses, particularly grocery retailers in emerging markets. The app allows retailers to order inventory online from a wide range of products, including FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods). MaxAB focuses on improving efficiency by offering competitive prices, better inventory management, and next-day delivery.
I owned the end-to-end marketplace experience across the retailer mobile app, the admin/seller web portal, and the core ordering and checkout flows — designing for three distinct user groups: retailers, sellers, and admins.
The Egyptian market is experiencing high volatility with unpredictable price jumps, limited stock availability, and ongoing inflation. On average, Egypt loses around EGP 110M in revenue each month because of out-of-stock products.
Out-of-stock products
and lost revenue
The Egyptian market is currently experiencing high volatility with unpredictable price jumps, limited stock availability, and ongoing inflation.
Lost revenue from out-of-stock products across Egypt, with EGP 53M lost in Cairo alone.
EGP 110M monthly revenue loss
Out-of-stock products across Egypt result in massive lost revenue each month, with EGP 53M lost in Cairo alone.
Limited stock availability
Retailers cannot access their desired products consistently, leading to stockouts and frustrated customers.
High operational costs
Disruptions in supply chains for water and chips add EGP 5.7 million to the monthly revenue loss due to high operational cost and low margins.
Price volatility
Unpredictable price jumps and ongoing inflation make it difficult for retailers to plan purchases and maintain competitive pricing.
Why the marketplace
model matters
The introduction of the marketplace model aims to address lost revenue, expand product availability, and create competitive advantages through multi-seller visibility.
Enhance product availability, ensuring retailers can access their desired products with fewer stockouts.
Expand the product portfolio beyond what MaxAB currently offers, allowing MaxAB to capture missed revenue opportunities.
Cater to a broader range of retailer needs, driving overall platform growth.
Increase NMV (Net Merchandise Value) by tackling lost revenue generated by out-of-stock products by EGP 26.2M each month.
Increase NMV by operating in supply chains that are currently stopped due to high operational cost and low margins by EGP 5.7M each month.
Hosting multiple sellers provides MaxAB with greater visibility into market prices, enabling enhanced price competitiveness.
30+ interviews with
retailers and suppliers
After conducting 30+ interviews with current retailers and potential suppliers, we found the following key insights from both sides of the marketplace.
All retailers confirmed that having different suppliers on the MaxAB app would help them find healthy competition and better prices, as everyone competes to offer the best price through the application.
Retailers mentioned that they appreciate the quality of MaxAB's delivery, and they always want to maintain the same quality by having MaxAB handle the delivery of all orders, even if they are orders from other suppliers.
Suppliers mentioned that there should be a minimum quantity of SKUs, or the order should not be below a certain amount of money.
Suppliers mentioned that they deliver within designated areas or zones to ensure they can fulfill all orders on time.
Suppliers also mentioned that they require an easy way to add, edit and manage their portfolio and SKUs.
Three user groups,
one ecosystem
The marketplace serves three distinct user groups, each with their own platform and needs.
Retailers
Retailer AppBrowse products from multiple suppliers, compare prices, and place orders through a mobile-first Arabic interface.
Sellers
Seller Portal + AppManage their catalog, set pricing, define delivery zones, and track orders from retailers in their area.
Admins
Admin PortalAdmins and sellers operate from the same portal with different views based on roles. Available as both website and application.
The marketplace
experience
The solution connects retailers with multiple suppliers through a unified marketplace — from browsing and ordering on mobile to catalog and order management on the portal.
Marketplace Homepage
The marketplace homepage is customizable, enabling the introduction or removal of components (i.e. banners) per user tag. Users can search across the marketplace catalog. Retailers can navigate the marketplace catalog in the same structure as the current e-commerce portfolio (Sections → Categories → Brands → SKUs).
Ordering Flow
When adding to cart from an SKU card, the list of available sellers appears for users to select from, also selecting from available packing units. Retailers can choose to continue shopping from a specific seller by visiting their seller-specific page. Each supplier has specific conditions to complete an order (Min SKUs, Minimum order value).
Seller Page and Catalog
Retailers can choose to continue shopping from a specific seller by visiting their seller-specific page. Retailers can also access specific seller pages through the sellers tab from the bottom nav. Retailers can add to cart and view if they have satisfied the order conditions.
Multiple Carts + Checkout Flow
Every time a retailer adds to cart from a different seller, a new cart is opened. To checkout, the user opens the carts summary page, where all open carts can be viewed. The user can view the achievement status for each cart. By selecting a specific cart, the user is redirected to the checkout page.
Admins/Sellers Portal
Admins and sellers operate from the same portal with different views based on roles. The portal is available as both a website and an application. Users can manage and edit their catalog, apply filters on the catalog list, change product quantity, price, and availability. Users can view and filter orders by status, order ID, delivery status, pending action, and warehouse.
The screens behind
the experience
The marketplace product spans a retailer mobile app, an admin/seller web portal, and core ordering flows — each designed to serve its audience with clarity and speed.
Catalog, orders, and management
Admins and sellers operate from the same portal with different views based on roles.
Design judgment
in practice
Every decision involved balancing competing needs. These are the trade-offs that shaped the product.
A feature-rich catalog improves breadth but overwhelms low-literacy users. We chose curated, location-based product surfacing over a full searchable inventory for the default experience.
Arabic-first design requires ground-up RTL thinking, not mirrored LTR layouts. We invested in native RTL patterns even when it meant redesigning components that already existed in English.
A single admin/seller portal simplifies maintenance but adds role-management complexity. We chose one system with permission layers over separate apps, trading development simplicity for operational clarity.
Guided ordering (smart suggestions, reorder) reduces exploration but increases repeat purchase efficiency. For a B2B audience that buys habitually, efficiency over exploration was the right call.
What the work
aimed to achieve
The work aimed to make B2B ordering feel as natural as the in-person relationships retailers already depend on.
Measurement targets
Increase in order completion rate from browse to checkout
Improvement in reorder frequency among active retailers
Reduction in support tickets related to order status confusion
Increase in seller task completion efficiency on the unified portal
Where to go from here
Smarter reorder suggestions
Use purchase history and seasonal patterns to predict what a retailer needs before they search for it. Proactive ordering over reactive browsing.
Offline-first capabilities
Many retailers operate in areas with unreliable connectivity. The app should queue orders locally and sync when connection returns.
Better first-time onboarding
A guided walkthrough that teaches by doing — place a small sample order during onboarding to build confidence before the first real purchase.
Personalized catalog by shop type
A kiosk, a grocery store, and a restaurant have different needs. Surface the right products based on shop type, not a generic catalog for everyone.
Integrated payment and credit tracking
Many retailers work on credit terms. Surfacing outstanding balances, payment due dates, and credit limits within the ordering flow would reduce payment friction.