Most of us associate eCommerce with convenience. But in healthcare, it was the opposite.
Buying mission-critical medical and dental supplies online was a frustrating, confusing slog. Each time they wrestled with dated systems, healthcare professionals paid a “time tax”— in a field where U.S. physicians lose a staggering 1.1 billion hours to administrative tasks each year. For Henry Schein, simplifying an online ordering experience that spans 300,000 products — and covers 1 million customers, from family dentists to hospital administrators—was an immensely complex challenge.
But we knew it could be done better.
We began a total product redesign, with the goal of introducing a truly modern online ordering experience for healthcare supplies for the first time. We aimed to make buying vital products and equipment easier than it had ever been, give time back to overstretched clinicians and administrators, and lay the foundations for further innovation.
Sure, we all think we know medical professionals after watching The Pitt, but we knew this project would fail unless we really took the time to understand our audience.
We listened, and learned that user needs were extremely diverse. Dental and medical professionals needed speed and accuracy to reorder trusted products. Procurement managers and office staff required tools for budget control, order tracking, and approvals. Hospitals needed consistency at scale. There was no one way to meet such an array of requirements globally, so we quickly identified the need for a design system that was maximally scalable and flexible.
We built that system from the ground up—delivering consistency and efficiency through modular, reusable components. In this way, we kept the experience consistent, but adapted to the needs of everyone from the smallest family practice to the biggest hospital network. From a technical perspective, the system will enable even richer capabilities in future.
All our audiences have one thing in common: They don’t have a minute to spare.
Healthcare professionals are working at full speed, carrying the weight of patient care on their shoulders. Every moment of friction in the ordering process costs time our users don’t have.
Friction became our enemy: we systematically analyzed and streamlined every process, from discovery to reordering, so care teams could spend less time navigating screens and more time making patients’ lives better. For us, this was far more than just a visual or UX exercise. It required deep empathy for healthcare professionals, and an unrelenting focus on the business outcomes that would deliver on what they needed.
Our vision was for a platform that actively supports the people who rely on it.
To achieve this, we created a modular design system that combines global consistency and regional flexibility. We applied that design system with empathy for the specific needs of healthcare professionals, procurement managers, and institutional buyers. Clinicians saw faster, simpler reordering flows that freed up time to care for patients. Institutions benefited from tools that make oversight, budgeting, and bulk ordering easier and more reliable. All our customers could quickly find what they wanted, while being introduced to new products and services they didn’t yet know they needed.
We built a foundation that is not only scalable and future-ready, but actively supportive of the daily challenges of providing healthcare.
We were confident the site would perform — but what we saw blew away our expectations.
The number of touchpoints to purchase on the US site decreased by 46% — that’s 46% fewer ad interactions required to convert. Bounce rates have fallen 1,833 basis points (or 18%) in the US and 1,970 (or 19%) in UK Dental, with a corresponding increase in engagement rate.
As customers find the experience easier to use, they convert more often and purchase more. Conversion rates are up 418 basis points in the US, and 324 in UK Dental.
Revenue has increased 23% in the US, and 105% on our UK Dental site, on a per-visit basis. Individual users are spending 79% more in the US, and 168% more in UK Dental. These spend increases are not just good for business, but an undeniable sign of how much easier it’s become to buy from us.
The new Henry Schein experience strengthens the company’s position as the most trusted partner in global healthcare commerce—at a moment when clinicians and health systems urgently need simplicity, speed and reliability. By modernizing an ecosystem that supports more than one million customers across dental, medical and institutional care, Henry Schein has transformed its platform into a true growth engine.
The redesign doesn’t just streamline online ordering; it reduces administrative burden for practices already stretched thin, giving time back to the people who deliver patient care every day.
