Live Shopping HELLO App · Rafael Carvalho

Overview

HELLO was built to help a TV-first retailer become creator-led and mobile-first. I led Product Design from concept to scale across three teams and three product surfaces.

Live Shopping HELLO App — A creator-led live commerce loop, built across consumer, creator, and partner surfaces.

Role & Scope

Role: Team Lead Product Design (head-of-discipline scope)
Pre-launch: Sole designer, co-created vision with Product and Engineering, designed V1 end-to-end, tested with users, secured board approval
Post-launch: Led design strategy across 3 product teams, owned cross-team trade-offs and high-risk decisions
Surfaces: Consumer app, creator streaming and academy app, service partner management app
Duration: 2020–2024

Impact

2.3× higher return likelihood for users who followed at least one creator
+35% higher engagement vs HSE core web and app baseline
4,500+ live streams shipped on the platform
200+ creators activated and scaled
250+ hours of live content per month at peak
100M+ cumulative viewers reached

The Problem

HSE relied heavily on teleshopping, serving a loyal but aging audience. TV viewing was declining, younger audiences discovered products via creators, and HSE’s web and app were conversion-focused, not engagement-focused.

The question was simple: could we translate live selling into a digital-native product that drives repeat usage without damaging the core business?

TV viewership is declining — TV viewing time has been declining for years, making a digital-first growth model critical. Source: Statista

The Hypothesis

If we combined creator-led entertainment with clear commerce intent, users would build habits around creators and return for live streams.

How I Led

Set direction across three product teams
Aligned Product, Engineering, and senior stakeholders
Stayed hands-on in high-risk flows and trade-offs

What I Delivered Pre-launch

End-to-end concept, IA, and core UI for V1
User testing to validate navigation and creator discovery
Scenario-based concepts and trade-offs for board approval
Build vs buy recommendation for the livestream player

What I Drove Post-launch

Weekly critique cadence and quality gates
Cross-surface consistency across consumer, creator, and partners
Instrumentation around adoption, engagement, and retention
Fast iteration tied to clear problems and measurable signals

Key Decisions

1. Recorded replays to prevent empty sessions

Early livestream supply was limited. Empty sessions kill first-time experience. We introduced recorded replays to stabilize the loop while supply ramped up.

2. Follow as the retention driver

We discovered that following a creator was the strongest predictor of return behavior. We redesigned creator profiles, added follow entry points, and surfaced follow consistently across the journey.

Follow feature — Follow became the main adoption signal and retention loop.

3. Livestream player evolution, build vs buy

We launched with a third-party player to learn fast. After validating demand, we built a custom player to enable better performance, multiple products, vouchers, and integrated follow.

Build vs buy trade-offs and player evolution — Build vs buy sequencing reduced risk and unlocked long-term capabilities.

How I Measured Success

Adoption: Follow at least one creator
Engagement: time spent, streams watched, interactions
Retention: return rate
Supply: active creators, livestream hours

Outcome

The product validated the behavioral loop. Scaling exposed constraints: marketing investment and assortment adaptation did not fully materialize, and brand perception limited how far expectations could reset.

Leadership discontinued the HELLO brand and integrated the strongest concepts into HSE’s core web and app platforms, while live commerce capabilities continued.

Takeaway

Leading a board-visible 0→1 product taught me how to align teams around one behavioral metric and scale a capability through strategic pivots.