Helping merchants handle exception orders without leaving their primary order-processing workflow
This project was completed during my internship at ByteDance, within the Douyin E-commerce team (TikTok Shop China), focusing on the merchant-facing platform: Doudian.
I integrated Order Tools into Order Management, enabling merchants to handle exception orders without leaving their primary workflow. To accommodate the integration, I also restructured the filtering area to improve screen efficiency and optimize the use of vertical space.
One place to manage orders, another to handle exceptions
Douyin E-commerce has two separate modules for handling orders. Order Management supports high-volume, standardized order processing, while Order Tools handles less frequent, more complex exceptions, such as address changes and shipping negotiations.
Order Management
- Track orders shipping status
- Take individual and bulk order actions
Order Tools
- Handle exceptions outside the standard flow
- Configure review and automation rules
Exception requests were invisible in merchants' primary workflow
Exception requests were less frequent, but missing one could be costly. Because they surfaced only in Order Tools, merchants could easily miss that required action, leading to customer complaints and costly reshipments.
How should we make exception work visible?
01: Banner
It increased the visibility of the entry point, but did not clearly surface merchants' current exception requests.
02: Inline Action
It worked for individual orders, but scattered exception tasks across the list and added more complexity to an already dense workspace.
03: Integration
It made exceptions visible, organized, and actionable in merchants' primary workflow.
How did I integrate order tools into the workflow?
I surfaced exception tasks in Order Management and linked each one to the tool built to handle it, with a clear way back.
Earlier versions we didn't move forward with
V1: Button-Triggered Side Panel
It shortened the path to Order Tools, but did not improve merchants' awareness of exception requests. The entry point became more visible, but the pending tasks did not.
V2: An overview showing all pending actions
It combined routine orders and exception tasks in one overview, but as more tools were added, the growing information became difficult to scan and scale.
How did I make room for integration?
Integrating Common Tools pushed the order list below the initial viewport. I restructured the status navigation and filters to reduce vertical density while preserving the existing order-management workflow.
What I've learned
