Katrina Li®

Overview

SmartHQ Marketplace

Turning everyday appliance moments into effortless replenishment.

  • Product strategy
  • UX design
  • 0 → 1 MVP
Three SmartHQ Marketplace interfaces shown in iPhone mockups beside a connected kitchen

Overview

An embedded commerce layer that meets appliance owners at the moment replenishment intent appears.

Context

SmartHQ is GE Appliances’ connected-home platform, where people primarily monitor and manage their connected appliances. As the UX designer, I partnered with a senior UX designer, two product managers, and four developers to define the MVP and shape its core purchase flow. Marketplace introduced an embedded commerce layer within this ecosystem, reaching over 70% of connected GE Appliance owners in the U.S.

Role
UX designer
Team
Senior UX designer
2 product managers
4 developers
Duration
February — July
Scope
Product strategy
UX design
0 → 1 MVP

Timeline

SmartHQ Marketplace project timeline from March through July, showing product management, UX design, and engineering work through MVP release

Problem

The appliance created the need. The purchase happened somewhere else.

Four-step journey: control an appliance in SmartHQ, notice a supply running low, leave SmartHQ, then search and purchase from an external retailer
Current journey

SmartHQ lost the customer at the moment replenishment intent was highest.

SmartHQ helped owners monitor and manage their appliances, but the experience stopped just before a recurring household need became urgent. When a refrigerator filter, dishwasher tablet, or laundry detergent needed replacing, people had to remember the timing, identify the right product, and leave SmartHQ to buy it.

The need was easy to miss

Replacement cycles lived outside the appliance experience, so owners had to track them on their own.

The purchase lost its context

Leaving SmartHQ meant searching other sites and platforms instead of moving directly from appliance need to a compatible product.

A storefront would interrupt the utility

People opened SmartHQ to manage their home. A permanent Marketplace tab risked making a trusted appliance tool feel like a sales channel.

A full bottle of Bodewell laundry detergent and a full package of dishwasher tablets shown together in a kitchen
Recurring essentials connect directly to appliance use—but the replenishment journey did not.

Impact

Checkout conversion

From product detail to checkout during internal and beta testing

Projected annual revenue

$8,900,000 in projected revenue each year

Subscription adoption

Over half of all purchasers selected subscription

Design Challenge

The disconnect pushed high-intent replenishment moments outside SmartHQ.

MVP Constraint

Commerce couldn’t become a new destination.

Current SmartHQ navigation with Home, Automation, Recipes, and Service
Current
Proposed SmartHQ navigation adding a Market tab between Automation and Support
Proposal

Product manager“Xuning, for Phase 1, we shouldn’t add a storefront or touch core navigation.”

Xuning“Got it. Then the hard part is figuring out how commerce can exist without feeling like one.”

Design Opportunity

If commerce couldn’t live in navigation, it had to appear at the right moments.

Contextual commerce opportunity Three aligned steps show an appliance leading to a contextual trigger and then to a relevant product. Appliance Contextual trigger Relevant product

Solutions

Four entry points across the appliance lifecycle

Four SmartHQ Marketplace solution entry points across the appliance lifecycle: Connect, Notice, Replace, and Manage.
Post-commissioning solution flow showing connected and non-connected appliance paths leading to a product offer and water-filter product detail page.
Status and prompts solution showing timely subscription reminders on the SmartHQ home screen, appliance screen, and subscriptions screen.
Appliance Control solution showing status-based water-filter prompts for planning ahead and replacing immediately.
Animated SmartHQ home screen prototype showing an expired refrigerator filter entry point.
Orders and Subscriptions solution showing settings entry points for order management, related products, and subscription product details.

The Experience, End to End

An overview collage of SmartHQ Marketplace screens across replenishment, product browsing, subscriptions, cart, and checkout.

Reflection

Context over destination

Commerce felt more natural when embedded into existing appliance moments rather than placed in a separate storefront.

Constraints shaped the strategy

Without changing the core navigation, we used contextual entry points to balance user needs and business goals.

Design continues after handoff

Design QA and cross-functional collaboration were essential to carrying the intended experience into release.