Live Shopping HELLO App

Overview

HSE’s biggest bet to future-proof the business beyond teleshopping.

Live Shopping HELLO App was a board-backed initiative to future-proof Home Shopping Europe beyond its TV-first model. Teleshopping was still profitable, but leadership and investors aligned that the next decade would be shaped by mobile-first behavior and creator-led content.

The goal was not to optimize HSE’s existing channels. It was to build a new, digital-first growth pillar under a separate consumer brand and reach a younger customer base through creator content and live streams.

We used HSE’s core DNA (entertainment-led selling at a distance), adapted to a digital-native format where creators drive discovery, trust, and demand through content, especially live streams.

Externally, the product was marketed primarily as Live Shopping HELLO App, with “by HSE” in smaller print. It ran with dedicated business leadership, while delivery was shared with HSE’s central digital product organization (UX, Product, Engineering).

The Problem

HSE’s core business relied heavily on teleshopping, serving a loyal but aging audience (primarily 60+). While the channel still generated revenue, the long-term trajectory was clear: media consumption was shifting to mobile, creators, and on-demand formats.

• TV viewership was structurally declining, shrinking future reach and scale
• Product discovery for younger audiences was moving to creators and social platforms
• HSE’s web/app experience was built around TV-driven conversion, not mobile-first engagement and retention

The question was not whether live selling worked. HSE had decades of proof. The question was how to translate that DNA into a digital-native model that could attract new audiences and drive sustained content consumption without undermining the existing business.

The Hypothesis

If Live Shopping HELLO App combined creator-led entertainment with clear commerce intent, users would build a habit around creator content and, most importantly, come back for live streams, creating a durable loop for discovery and shopping.

How I Led

I led UX on a high-stakes initiative where we had to move fast without burning user trust or marketing budget. I set direction across three product teams (three designers), aligned Product, Engineering, and senior stakeholders, and stayed hands-on in the highest-risk flows.

The job was clear: align leadership on a credible V1, ship it, and prove whether creator content, especially live streams, could drive adoption and sustained engagement.

Vision, operating model, and alignment

• Co-created the Product Vision with Product Management and Engineering team leads, plus the E-Commerce and Live Commerce Senior Directors, aligning on target audience, value proposition, and V1 non-negotiables, and securing leadership alignment to move forward.
• Designed the first Live Shopping HELLO App version end-to-end, including discovery model, information architecture, core UI, and the critical paths needed for V1.
• Produced pre-launch concepts and scope trade-offs to align C-level leadership and the investor board, securing a clear go/no-go for V1.
• Led UX input on build vs. buy decisions for the live stream player with Product and Engineering leads, prioritizing learning speed while setting clear quality thresholds

Research and validation

• Ran user interviews and short surveys to understand what drives trial, drop-off, and sustained engagement in live shopping contexts
• Analyzed creator-led platforms (TikTok, Instagram Live) to extract patterns that support commerce, and avoided social-only mechanics that erode trust.
• Tested clickable prototypes to validate navigation, creator discovery, and moments where users need explicit shopping signals (price, stock, delivery, vouchers)

Experience design and iteration

• Post-launch, led UX across three product teams, raising design quality and throughput through weekly critiques, clear quality gates, and hands-on ownership of the riskiest flows.
• Made commerce intent explicit inside an entertainment-driven UI through product context, availability cues, and non-intrusive overlays
• Iterated weekly using usage data and usability tests, shipping changes only when a concrete problem was identified (drop-offs, confusion, missed “Follow” opportunities)
• After launch, elevated “Follow” to the core adoption signal and partnered with Product leads to instrument it end-to-end (events, dashboards, cohort return analysis).
• Drove key UX decisions and trade-offs (replays, follow surfaces, player evolution) using prototypes and quick testing to reduce risk and keep delivery moving, staying hands-on when needed.

Key decisions and trade-offs

1) Recorded replays to reduce “dead hours”

Early on, live supply was limited. That created a go-to-market trade-off: spend marketing budget too early and risk sending new users into an app with no live shows (frustration, no “aha” moment, uninstalls), or wait for more streams and accept slow growth.

To protect first-time experience while supply ramped up, I drove recorded replays as a go-to-market safety net. I validated the concept in rapid user testing, then shaped the information architecture and navigation so users could reliably find live, upcoming, and replay content.

Result: fewer “empty sessions” while supply ramped up and fewer first-time drop-offs caused by users landing in the app at the wrong time.

2) “Follow” as the primary retention driver

Analytics showed that users who followed ≥1 creator were 2.3× more likely to return. We elevated “Follow” across the experience by improving creator profiles and adding multiple follow entry points.

Result: “Follow” moved from a nice-to-have to the primary adoption signal, and we designed the UI to keep it consistently within reach.

3) Custom player after validating the need

We shipped with a third-party player to learn fast. Once we proved demand, we built a custom player to unblock four product essentials: performance, display of multiple products at the same time, display voucher campaigns, and display the “Follow” button.

How I Measure Success

• Adoption: Follow ≥ 1 creator (leading indicator)
• Engagement: time spent, streams watched, live interactions
• Retention: return rate
• Supply: active creators and live hours per month

Outcome and strategic pivot

The product validated the core hypothesis. Scaling exposed the constraints.

The explicit association with the HSE brand, an executive decision, limited how far the product could reset expectations to a truly digital-native experience. Two scale enablers also didn’t happen: the promised marketing push never materialized (including planned TV spots), and the assortment was not adapted to the 25–35 target. Relevance suffered even when engagement signals looked strong.

Leadership ultimately pivoted. The Live Shopping HELLO App brand was discontinued, and the strongest concepts and learnings were integrated into HSE’s core web and app platforms. The target was realigned toward women aged 40+, while HSE continued serving its existing 60+ audience through its TV-supported commerce model.

Biggest learning

In multi-sided platforms, adoption signals such as “Follow” often predict long-term value more reliably than early conversion metrics, especially when introducing new behavior at scale.