C&A - New Software for Direct Selling Operations

Company: C&A

Year: 2022

Role: Product Designer

Context and problem

The Direct Selling team relied on multiple third-party tools to manage sales operations.

Because these systems were not integrated, users had to switch between platforms to complete basic tasks.

Problems

• Fragmented workflows

• Manual monitoring of sales activities

• Limited visibility of sales performance

Discovery

We conducted interviews with:

• Sales representatives

• Admin users

The goal was to understand:

• Daily workflows

• Tools used

• Operational pain points

  
  

Key Insights

From the interviews and workflow mapping, we identified three main issues.

1. Fragmented tools

Users relied on multiple third-party platforms to perform basic tasks, forcing them to constantly switch between systems.

2. Highly manual monitoring processes

Sales monitoring depended heavily on manual updates and reports, which increased operational costs and reduced efficiency.

3. Limited visibility

Admin users struggled to track the performance of sales representatives in real time.

Goal

These insights helped us define the main goal of the product:

Create a centralized platform capable of simplifying workflows and improving operational visibility.

New architecture and user flows

Before starting any design work, we began by mapping the workflows of the third-party platforms currently in use.

This helped us understand the existing ecosystem and pain points.

With that foundation, we collaborated with the engineering teams to design a new system architecture.

Prototype and Validation

After defining the information architecture and main workflows, we began prototyping the MVP.

The initial prototypes focused on the most critical tasks performed by admin users and sales representatives.

These prototypes were used to validate:

• Navigation structure

• Workflow efficiency

• Task completion clarity

The prototypes were refined in collaboration with the Product and Engineering teams to ensure both usability and technical feasibility.

Final Product

The new platform centralized the Direct Selling operations into a single system and introduced features that were not possible in the previous third-party tools.

📊 Operations monitoring

• Real-time dashboard for daily operations

• Visibility of active collaborators and ongoing conversations

• NPS monitoring and operational metrics

  
  

💬 Conversation management

• Structured workflow with conversation status tabs

• Waiting, pending, inactive, and in-progress sessions

• Conversation view in chat or list format

⚙️ Operational control

• Service auditing tools

• Alerts for long waiting conversations

• Internal notifications for administrators

Challenges

The biggest challenge of the project was the limited time available to design a completely new internal platform.

Instead of trying to solve every possible scenario, we focused on designing a solid architecture capable of supporting the most critical workflows.

This approach allowed us to deliver a functional MVP while maintaining a strong foundation for future iterations.

Result

The new platform centralized sales operations into a single system, replacing several fragmented tools previously used by the team.

This change simplified daily workflows and improved operational visibility for administrative users.

As a result:

• Employees no longer needed to switch between multiple platforms

• Monitoring sales activities became easier and more structured

• Users were able to complete their daily tasks more efficiently

  
  

The project was well received by stakeholders and demonstrated the value of investing in a unified internal system for the Direct Selling team.