Designing a multi-role commerce and delivery platform for Sabi

For African SME merchants, delays, inventory problems and limited supply-chain visibility make restocking and delivery difficult. The challenge was to support commerce and distribution through a connected digital platform, with tools that fit the people doing the work.

Merchants need access to goods. Suppliers need to process orders and manage stock. Logistics partners need to coordinate fulfilment, and drivers need the details to carry out each delivery. The platform brings these different responsibilities into the same ecosystem.

The wider platform brief also included financial services tailored to African SMEs alongside supply-chain management.

The research focused on the African SME market and the existing processes of warehouse staff, supplier personnel and logistics partners. Competitive and literature reviews complemented interviews and testing of early prototypes.

Competitive analysis

Reviewing TradeDepot, Omnibiz, Tajir and MarketForce helped map the competitive landscape and consider familiar patterns that users might bring from other products.

Literature review

Industry articles provided context on supply-chain and logistics challenges in Africa, helping challenge assumptions about the market.

User interviews

Warehouse staff, supplier personnel and logistics partners described their existing processes. The research considered their language and the relationship between the interface and their real work.

Usability testing

Early prototypes were tested with supplier personnel and logistics partners to identify navigation and functionality issues, with attention to user control and recovery.

The logistics platform supports fulfilment oversight and day-to-day operations. Its dashboard brings pending requests and trip information into view, alongside the tools for managing vehicles, payments and drivers.

From a request to an active trip

Sabi Feed separates assigned requests from the general feed. The desktop design shows pickup and drop-off information beside accept and reject actions; the mobile view carries the request feed and trip summary into a smaller screen.

Tools for the wider operation

• DashboardImportant logistics metrics in one view.
• Sabi FeedPending logistics requests awaiting action.
• TripsTrip monitoring and schedules.
• VehiclesVehicle tracking and monitoring.
• ReportsAn overview of activities.
• FinancePayment tracking.
• TeamViewing and managing drivers.

Logistics partners can give their drivers access to the driver app. The app provides delivery and cost information, pickup status, drop-off details and navigation, alongside a profile and trip history.

The screens below show three parts of that workflow: returning money or products, carrying out a trip and reviewing the driver’s profile.

Collections and returns

Expected and collected amounts are shown against each drop-off, with money and product returns available from Home.

Pickup and drop-off

Trip details bring the location, customer, delivery items and route action together at the point of delivery.

Profile and trip history

The profile provides driver details, past-trip status and the assigned vehicle.

The supplier platform supports inventory, product-catalogue management and orders from Sabi’s demand channels. Suppliers can see incoming demand, follow the status of assigned orders and manage product prices, details and stock.

• DashboardA snapshot of business metrics.
• Sabi FeedProducts ordered by customers and awaiting processing.
• OrdersAssigned orders and their status.
• InventoryProduct prices, details and available stock.

The original case study included the following figures to describe Sabi’s company and platform scale. They provide historical business context, rather than outcomes measured for this design engagement.

The evidence for this project is the connected set of product designs and prototypes shown above. The original case does not record project-specific changes in delivery time, inventory accuracy or order completion.

My main takeaway was the importance of simplicity. A supply-chain platform can contain many capabilities, but each interface needs to focus on the core tasks of the person using it.

For suppliers, that means orders and inventory. For logistics partners, it means requests, trips and operational oversight. For drivers, it means pickup, drop-off and delivery details. The value of the connected system depends on making those individual responsibilities understandable.

A second takeaway was to stay open to changing requirements and user expectations as the product evolves.