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The Client
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board controls all wine and liquor sales to bars, restaurants, and grocery stores across the state of Pennsylvania. Licensees replenish stock through the Licensee Online Ordering Portal (LOOP).
PLCB was re-platforming both LOOP onto Oracle Commerce. As part of that migration, they wanted to modernize the experience, which hadn't been meaningfully redesigned in years and wasn't available on mobile at all.
The original LOOP — a desktop-only, form-heavy system that required memorizing item codes to place an order.
The Challenge
For these licensees, LOOP is a business-critical operations platform used to manage complex ordering scenarios: in-store pickup, delivery, and "trailer drop" (where a licensee drives a trailer to a PLCB distribution center and leaves it to be filled with their order). Each scenario had its own workflow, its own rules, and its own edge cases.
The scan prompt — licensees can look up any product instantly without knowing the item code.
Scanner active — the device camera opens directly within LOOP for a seamless, app-like experience.
Successful scan — the matched product surfaces immediately with a single tap to add to the order.
Unrecognized barcode — a clear error state guides the licensee to try again or search manually.
The Process
Before designing a single screen, I led a research phase focused on licensees – the bar owners and restaurant managers who use LOOP every week. We conducted interviews about ordering habits.
A key insight from this research was the need for far greater flexibility when ordering. Licensees needed to be able to order on the go – right from behind the bar while overseeing a shift – not from a desktop computer tucked into the corner of a back office, which was the only option with the old LOOP system. They needed to be able to easily re-order large quantities of stock in bulk. They needed an experience that was quick.
The old LOOP was not available on mobile and purchasing was a slow process, dotted with countless form fields that leaned on memorizing item codes to complete the order.
To solve these problems, we redesigned the LOOP homepage as a dashboard with quick access to bulk ordering and package tracking. Licensees can check the status of recent orders, approve orders submitted by subordinates, track upcoming shipments, and access their purchase lists for repeat ordering – all in a few taps. We added mobile-friendly features like barcode scanning for product lookup, which brought an app-like efficiency to the system.
The redesigned LOOP dashboard on desktop and mobile — built for licensees who need to order on the go.
LOOP on mobile with the native app-like toolbar — unlocking advanced features like barcode scanning directly from the device camera.
The trailer drop checkout — one of three distinct fulfillment workflows designed for LOOP.
An edge case handled with care: if a store change affects cart items, licensees can review the impact and decide before proceeding.
The Outcome
LOOP launched as a modern, mobile-first B2B commerce platform with support for all three fulfillment modes. For the first time, licensees could manage their orders on the go – from their phones, behind the bar. The new design allowed rapid repeat ordering from pre-built purchase lists or from past orders, neither of which were possible in the old LOOP system.
The client relationship remained strong post-launch. PLCB contracted us for follow-up design work, including a major update to their Associate Portal (detailed in the next case study), which is among the strongest validations a client can offer.
What I Learned
B2B users aren't just B2C users with more purchasing authority. They're operators. Their mental models are built around business processes — fulfillment windows, inventory cycles, approval chains — not shopping carts.
Going in, I knew LOOP was a B2B product. What I didn't fully anticipate was how much the design would need to reflect the actual mechanics of running a bar or restaurant. Trailer drops aren't a feature — they're a logistics strategy that licensees depend on. Getting that right meant setting aside ecommerce instincts and spending real time understanding the operations first.