All work

May Tsui · Product Designer

SERAI by HSBC

B2B Apparel Marketplace Platform MVP

A supplier-facing marketplace experience helping low-digital factories reach small-MOQ buyers through credible capability showcases.

SERAI supplier profile for Sustainable Stitch Group showing capabilities, certifications and network

Role

Product Design Lead

Senior UX Researcher

Responsibilities

Defined the product and UX vision for the supplier marketplace, created its design system and led research with novice buyers and independent factories.

About the project

Helping independent factories build trust online while giving first-time buyers confidence to source without traditional networks.

The problem space

01 / 04

Bridging a marketplace trust gap

Independent factories lacked digital profiles to reach global small-MOQ buyers, facing low technical skills, language barriers and trust gaps.

At the same time, novice buyers struggled to find flexible suppliers without traditional networks such as trade fairs and vendor agencies.

The research

02 / 04

Build the MVP around real decisions

Contextual interviews with buyers and factory merchandisers uncovered their workflows, pain points and decision-making habits. Affinity mapping highlighted trust signals, visual proof and scannable capabilities as top priorities.

I led design-sprint workshops to align the product team, explore concepts and prioritize a photo-first onboarding flow and Capabilities Showcase.

  • Contextual interviews
  • Affinity mapping
  • Design-sprint workshops
  • Core-feature prioritization

Core feature 01

03 / 04

A trust-building supplier profile

Supplier profiles prioritized factory capabilities, minimum order quantity, lead times and visual evidence in scannable cards and galleries.

This gave novice buyers the decision factors they needed without relying on a previous relationship.

Core feature 02

04 / 04

Value before heavy setup

Streamlined onboarding helped buyers send an RFQ and factories showcase their capabilities before completing profile building or KYC.

Both sides could reach a meaningful first action quickly, despite digital maturity and language barriers.

The work

05 / 05

From seller research to enquiry flow

Seller research board with sticky notes on what is known about sellers, their pain points and seller types, above a four-stage journey map of potential solutions
01Seller research board and journey map: what we know about sellers, their needs and seller types, mapped across the stages from joining to returning
Card-sorting boards grouping decision factors into most important, nice to have and not important at all
02Card-sorting results showing the factors buyers weigh when deciding whether to connect with a company
Supplier profile screens for Haizam Sourcing Limited showing company overview, capabilities, product listings and search filters
03Core feature 01

Supplier profile screens with company details, capabilities and product listings

Flow diagram of the RFQ page, interest page and inquiry submitted states above onboarding screens for selecting product preferences and entering specifications
04Core feature 02

Enquiry flow from interest to submission, with onboarding for product preferences and specifications

The result

What changed after the work shipped

5.8% → 9.73%

Supplier profile creation and updates

20% → 28%

Post-launch sign-up conversion

2-sided

Buyer and supplier journeys aligned