Expanding the Catalog with Dropship
Adding Mirakl dropship to a store built on owned inventory
The challenge was to integrate Mirakl, a new third-party fulfillment model, into an experience built around Homemakers-owned inventory, while clearly communicating differences in availability, delivery, and fulfillment without introducing confusion, mistrust, or friction.
Adding marketplace products without making the site feel like two stores
I led the UX/UI design for integrating third-party dropship products into Homemakers’ existing ecommerce experience. I designed the experience to expand product discovery and revenue opportunities while maintaining a cohesive shopping journey across first-party and third-party products.
Timeline
January 2026 – June 2026
Role
UX/UI Designer
Contributions
End-to-End UX/UI
Systems Thinking
Collaborators
Analytics
Customer Service
IT
Operations
Functional Analyst
Developers
Stakeholders
IMPACT
Success means more catalog revenue without more delivery confusion
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Increase revenue opportunities with expanded product catalog since we now offer more products for your home.
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Higher engagement with expanded product catalog. Are customers engaging with new products?
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
Shoppers assume every product ships the same way
I reviewed multiple inputs across product, operational, and customer-facing teams which includes quantitative data, qualitative data, and technical constraints.
- Existing ecommerce conversion data
- Product page engagement
- Delivery method selection behavior
- Internal concerns around fulfillment expectations
- Identification of friction points in mixed-cart experiences
KEY INSIGHT
Fulfillment Model Differentiation
Most users assume products on the site follow the same operational process unless explicitly told otherwise. Expectations should be surfaced contextually throughout the experience.
KEY INSIGHT
Early Transparency
Based on historical data, some users who abandoned reacted negatively when fulfillment limitations or high-priced shipping appeared too late in the journey. So I pushed for setting clear expectations earlier.
KEY INSIGHT
Mixed-Cart Complexity
When owned inventory and dropship products exist in a same cart, users need help understanding why deliveries may differ in timeline or arrival date, and why some items have restrictions.
HOW MIGHT WE
How might we integrate third-party marketplace products into the existing shopping experience while maintaining clarity, trust, and conversion confidence?
IDEATION & ITERATION
Layering marketplace cues into the existing journey
I layered marketplace cues into the current journey instead of redesigning it.
Customer service calls led me to “Available For Delivery Only”
I changed “In Stock” to “Available For Delivery Only” after customer service confirmed shoppers already read in-stock items as delivery-only. “Out of Stock” stayed the same.
Delivery dates moved to the PDP, next to Add to Cart
To help alleviate uncertainty earlier in the shopping journey, expected delivery date messaging was introduced directly on the product pages of all 1P and 3P products which was placed near the Add to Cart button to support decision-making.
I grouped carts by source, timeline, and shipment type
To reduce confusion in mixed carts, I decided products would best be grouped by fulfillment source, delivery timelines, and shipment type which is a strategy seen on competitor sites.
Additionally, we have 3P parcel items that were designed to always ship free and larger 3P items that follow our shipping pricing, so we intentionally aligned to familiar fulfillment methods with these items. Parcel items had free standard shipping and the large item deliveries were incorporated into our Curbside Delivery and Nationwide Shipping to help maintain consistency and reduce confusion.
One small, repeated label across PLP, PDP, and cart
I introduced subtle and repeatable marketplace indicators across product listing pages, product detail pages, and cart experiences to help differentiate the products slightly.
USER TESTING
CS, ops, and merchandising caught issues before development
CS and ops feedback reshaped delivery copy before build
Testing with our customer service, operations, and merchandising allowed me to gain valuable feedback on messaging and interpretation of delivery expectations with dropship to iterate on the designs before development.
Mixed-cart QA caught parcel and large-item edge cases
Our ecommerce team had conducted stakeholder walkthroughs and completed QA validation across mixed-cart scenarios. Without this critical step, we would have missed edge cases involving parcel and large item combinations leading to a frustrating experience.
What's next
Ask CS whether shoppers read the labels correctly
I will be in contact with customer service teams to validate whether customers clearly interpret fulfillment methods and labels. I am also hoping to understand and identify recurring friction patterns for post-launch support.
Test label and message variants after launch
With dropship products being added, we have new opportunities to run tests on labels and messaging, and we can further optimize the user experience and conversion rate.