Role
Product Designer
Tools
Figma, Figjam
Responsibilities
UX Research
Product Design
Prototyping
Team
Tiffany Zhou (Product Owner)
Natalie Borboa (Product Manager)
Abacus (Development Team)
Business Requirements
The warehouse management system must support a tiered cost structure for sellers, managed at the company or customer ID level. Sellers will receive free storage and handling in their first year, half storage cost with full handling charges in their second year, and full charges for both storage and handling from the third year onward. The system must allow IO administrators to waive costs for specific accounts and provide visibility for both Sellers and Admins to track which discounts or waivers are applied to sales orders, purchase orders, or seller releases by month (Layer 2).
Impact
The module is being developed. However, the introduction of a tiered warehouse cost structure is expected to create greater financial transparency, operational scalability, and fairness across seller accounts. By aligning storage and handling fees with seller tenure and activity levels, IO can recover fulfillment costs while incentivizing early growth and loyalty. Additionally, providing admin controls and visibility into cost waivers and discounts ensure better management oversight, accountability, and trust among sellers and internal teams.
Problem
Currently, sellers operate under a single warehouse management tier that does not account for varying storage or fulfillment costs. As a result, IO absorbs all expenses paid to East West for storage and order fulfillment. This creates an unsustainable cost structure and lacks transparency in how warehouse usage impacts seller operations and profitability.
Research
During discovery, we determined that sellers will be charged for inbound Purchase Orders, outbound Sales Orders, and recurring Seller Releases. Inbound Purchase Orders are when the warehouses received the sellers’ items and are prepared to be stored. Outbound Sales Orders are when the warehouse fulfills the sellers’ orders and prepare for shipment. The Seller Releases invoice are for monthly storage cost such as the amount of space the sellers’ items occupy as well as overhead to store the items properly. Each of these invoices have different charges and periods when sellers are charged.
Wireframes
Solution
The new system will introduce a tiered warehouse management model that charges suppliers monthly fulfillment and other related fees based on their usage. Each seller will be assigned a cost tier managed at the company or customer ID level to ensure accuracy and scalability. This solution creates a more transparent, sustainable, and data-driven approach to warehouse cost allocation.
Mockups
