WICS Candle Company: Designing a Sales Dashboard for Confident Recommendations
UX Design • Data Visualization • Internal Tool Redesign
The Challenge
WICS Candle Company’s internal sales dashboard was intended to help team members understand what candles were performing well — but the tool was outdated, difficult to interpret, and not providing actionable insights. Sales associates, often asked by customers for trending or top-selling product recommendations, couldn’t confidently answer those questions using the existing interface.
The Original Design
The Discovery
While stakeholders were initially the focus, deeper research revealed that customer-facing roles — like sales associates and support staff — were the most frequent users. They needed quick, clear insights into what candles were trending and how product performance shifted over time, especially around marketing pushes or seasonal launches.
“I usually guess which ones are selling well based on what I see going out the door — but it’d be great to actually know,” – Internal user
This insight shifted the design’s direction toward building a tool for frontline confidence and speed, rather than only managerial review.
The Solution
I led the full UX process, from information architecture to prototype, testing, and developer handoff. The redesigned dashboard prioritized:
Top-performing candles by name, category, and sales velocity
Sales trends over time, segmented by key marketing or launch milestones
Clear visualizations that allowed users to quickly validate product recommendations with data
These updates ensured the right users could instantly see what was popular — and why.
I have a hard time understanding which candles are preforming well. I want a way to understand trends and identify potential issues.
~Mark Carson
The Impact
Improved usability and clarity during testing with real internal users
Users reported they could now make data-backed recommendations with confidence
Early feedback noted a measurable increase in sales from guided upsells based on dashboard insights
What I Learned
If I were to do this again, I would push to speak to end users much earlier in the process. Relying solely on stakeholder input led to some initial misalignment — and the real breakthrough came when I spoke with the people actually using the dashboard day to day.