Screenme- An interactive approach to shopping.

Team Branson presents:

2013

EIRINI KOLOMVREZOU

KONSTANTINOS VASSILIOU

RAJATHA GANGADHARAPRASAD

RAKESH VARUDU

SUJITH KUMAR ANAND

[ScreenMe] In concise, we are developing an idea where the market need is unmet and offering “ScreenMe”, assistance in shopping which combines state-of-art-technologies to provide an ample and innovative solution for advertisements, differentiating in “chaotic/too-much informational/busy” malls. This idea promised a very good business opportunity because it comes first in the market. Market analysis points towards enormous user acceptance with increasing forecast in growth. The business model is proposed to secure the earnings with a subscription-based revenue stream, while providing superior value to end users and customers. Finally, the necessary partners along with potential risks are discussed.

Team Branson 30-Nov-13

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 2

2. Concept

2.1 Idea Generation ................................................................................. 3

2.2 Technology ........................................................................................ 3

3. Opportunity Recognition

3.1 Trends ............................................................................................... 4

3.2 Customer Space ................................................................................ 4

3.3 Market Space ..................................................................................... 7

4. Implementation

4.1 Partners and Allies ........................................................................... 10

4.2 Risks ................................................................................................ 10

4.3 Business Model ................................................................................ 11

References .................................................................................................... 14

Appendix A .................................................................................................... 15

Appendix B .................................................................................................... 16


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SCREENME

AN INTERACTIVE APPROACH TO SHOPPING

1 INTRODUCTION Augmented Reality (AR) is the vision of a physical (indirect, live or direct), real-world environment whose component is augmented by computer-generated sensory inputs such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data [1]. Early attempts in using augmented reality in the advertising business have been released by Domino’s AR billboards in the UK that allow users to order straight from the billboard with their smartphone, while waiting for the bus or walking down the street []. During previous years, the augmented reality market for embedded devices in United States alone was predicted to be $350 million by the end of 2014, from $6 million in 2008 [2]. The idea of having augmented reality in clothing shops have been growing in the last years, with working prototypes [3]. The retailing industry has remained unchanged for the past few decades, except for a few modifications that resulted in technical developments, like online shopping and the involvement of barcode scanners [4]. So we provide our solution “ScreenMe”, an augmented reality screen which could increase shop sales, promote advertisement though innovation and provide a fascinating shopping experience for end users. The “ScreenMe” screens are placed in the store with a body length screen that projects the person standing in front of it, simulating a mirror, and overlaps different outfits to the person’s body to get an idea on how these clothes would look like if the person was wearing them. These screens offer motion driven interaction options like swiping a hand in the air for navigating the items of clothing showed in the screen, or “grabbing” the air to select a menu item.


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2 CONCEPT 2.1 IDEA GENERATION The idea emerged after a long brainstorming session, which ended in generating many innovative solutions but only one could be pursued. However, ScreenMe has a market where little research has been done and no solution has been presented (i.e., first to the market) []. In our solution, we propose an elite mix of state-of-art-technologies which can be affordable and flexible. Our solutions will enable end users to personalize their 3D model, allowing them to try a variety of combination of clothes in less time than they would have spent with traditional ways (i.e., trial room). Additionally, our solution can be used in public places, acting as an interactive billboard to attract more users for our customers.

2.2 TECHNOLOGY Interactive Screen: A high resolution body-length screen will be used to display the 3D model of the customer, trying different proposed outfits. The customer will have the ability to interact with the screen by direct manipulation (no touch), and touch.

Primeview 3D sensor: By using infrared technology, sensor captures a 3D model of the subjects . With the integrated camera, the texture is captured, resulting in a realistic representation.

Computer System: We will use a powerful computer system to render the images and serve the users’ requests.


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3 OPPORTUNITY RECOGNITION

3.1 TRENDS The global apparel retail industry in 2011 reached a value of $1.1 trillion, and is expected to grow to $1.3 trillion by 2016 [Neverblue Fashion Performance Network].The average percentage of gross sales spent on advertising in 2011 in the clothing category was 8.4 percent for women and 3.5 percent for men, according to business research experts [Predicting the Advertising Budget for..].

Even though the market of augmented and virtual reality is new, we can see a big potential in it. As the market will grow, many categories of application will incorporate augmented reality features; particularly in retail, travel, and gaming application.The growth of the augmented reality applications market is expected to be exponential with the revenue growth from $181.25 million in 2011 to $5,155.92 million by 2016, at a compounded annual growth rate of 95.35% from 2011 to 2016 [2011-2016]. By the end of 2013 3.6% of retail customers will use this technology, generating $45.09 million (£27.6 million) in revenues (Fig. 2). This figure is expected to reach £344.9 million by the end of the following year [Analysis: Predicting the future of retail technology].

3.2 CUSTOMER SPACE

3.2.1 TARGET CUSTOMERS We categorize our customers into two entities. The clothing retailers (we call them customers), who have a need for alternative and interactive advertisement of their products and end users, the consumers, who want to experience the joy of shopping, without having to try all the clothes they want to buy.

End User Analysis In order to discover if there is a need for such a product we conducted market research among customers. The surveys were held online and included 131 answers. According to our research, the average customer visits a clothing retail store once a month (39%) or less (53%), spending between 30 minutes to 2 hours (76%) of trying out clothes and shopping.


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How frequently do you visit clothing stores?

How much time do you usually spent?

Half of the customers (54%) feel that time is limiting their ability to try and buy clothes, while 55% face difficulties in finding the right sizes.

Is time a constraint for you?

Do you feel it is difficult to find the right sizes?

The vast majority of the end users is open to recommendations, which come mainly from friends (64%) and staff in the store (21%). One tenth of the customers rely on fashion magazines (10%) for recommendations, while 5% take recommendations from other sources, such as family members or online sources.

Do you take recommendations on what clothing suits you?

Who do you take recommendations from?

One concerning finding was that consumers are not influenced by the displays on shop windows. 79 percent answered that they are not influenced by the shop windows. Even though retailers showcase their best selling products on shop windows, users are not influenced by them, mainly because what looks good in a slim mannequin does not necessarily look good on the average person.


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Do suggestions on shop windows influence you on your decision?

Our solution solves these problems by displaying on a screen, the 3D model of the actual consumer, wearing realistic 3D models of the products. The responses to our new innovative technology were very warm. More than 70% of the end users argued that by using our product, their overall shopping experience would improve.

If you could see a 3D model of you trying out new outfits, would that improve your shopping experience?

Niche Analysis We can divide the apparel retail industry into segments, based on price, merchandise and geographical areas [Tomorrow’s clothing retail: sectors, markets and routes – forecasts to 2016]. Based on the price, retailers are segmented into luxury, mass and value segments. Luxury segment provides high price, high quality products (Gucci, Luxottica , Versace , Yves Saint Laurent) and is targeting high income customers. They spend huge amounts of money in advertising diversify from the other segments. Mass market retailers (H&M, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, Zara) have a different business model. They deliver products which reach as much audience as possible aiming for high sales and low prices.They do not rely on marketing and advertising, but in the word of mouth. Value segment delivers budget price, value for money solutions, by cutting down costs [retail @ the speed of fashion].

We are mainly targeting luxury clothing retailers, enterprises that are willing to pay to diversify from others. Due to the cost of implementation and installation, we assume that small and medium size enterprises will not be able to access this technology, at least at the early stages. Mass market retailers could be our secondary targets, if we provide cost effective means of advertisement.

To backup our hypothesis, we approached luxury clothing retailer managers in the area of Stockholm. The results are very promising, as 85% of them are willing to invest in our product.


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Given these results, we strongly feel that more than 80% of the enterprises are willing to spend money on the installations that could increase their profit.

3.3 MARKET SPACE

3.3.1 HOW IS SHOPPING DONE TODAY? So far, customers are familiar only with the traditional way of shopping experience, which includes attractive outfits that look great on the mannequins, long queues outside the dressing rooms, and boring static advertisements on billboards and magazines; attributes that have increased e-commerce and e-marketing through social media platforms. Our proposition aims to bring the customer back to the store and enhancing their shopping experience, by providing personalised mode to each customer’s body type, allows more than one person to try out outfits thanks to multi-figure detection and transforms passive advertising into interactive gaming, where the customer becomes the model.

3.3.2 CHANNELS As in every new business, the primary approach is the first barrier to overcome. We will start by displaying our solution on social media and pitching in front of potential customers but mainly we will focus on direct communication and personal interaction. Our main goal is to be able to expand our partners network through recommendations, which will provide a more sustainable social activity for our company.

3.3.3 PRESENT AND FUTURE COMPETITION We are entering a market that is yet at a large extent untouched []. Attempts have been made to bring the experience of real fitting rooms into people’s homes, via websites such as SmartFit [] or Glamstorm []. But these companies are limited to having the customer input his/her specifications (size, height, bust, waist, hips and/or arm) and providing suggestions on the style of outfits and/or sizes. Others use a static representation of the outfit on a two dimensional model, created by the specifications the user has inserted to the system. An interesting feature is given by Fits.me [], which enables the customer to choose what kind of style he/she wants to view, by separating the dress in three sections; bust, waist and hips.


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With the expanding use of XBOX [] and the Kinect sensor [], certain applications have emerged that create a mirror effect between the customer and the screen. The simplest of all, which presents is mentioned solely for the sake of thorough market research, is the Web Social Shopper (WSS) [], with which the customer can place clothes on his/her “reflection”. What is closer to our value proposition, is offered by two different companies; Swivel [] and the Virtual Dressing Room []. Both products use an application much similar to Fitnect [], which allows the customer have a real time virtual representation of themselves, while trying different outfits. Using air gestures, the user can go through different clothing and try them on instantly. In reality, it is a much better implementation of WSS. What differentiates us from these companies, is that we HAVE the technology to create a 3D representation of the customer, wearing a 3D model of the selected outfit, so that our customer can actually see those details that make the real shopping experience unique as compared to online shopping.

Only two companies so far have succeeded in bringing people closer to that experience and for that reason it would be wise to be considered as our biggest competitors. TryLive [] is using


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Augmented Reality to give a realistic representation of how home furniture would fit into the house, as well as how accessories would look on customers. Efforts have been made to implement apparel as well, but with no better luck than the aforementioned companies. Our idea is more similar to the service provided by triMirror [], which provides a 3D representation of a fully customised body, as well as a 3D representation of the outfit to see how it would actually look like on the specified body. Contrary to the idea proposed by us, triMirror is a solution indicated mostly for home use and it requires that the user inserts the measurements, rather than scanning the customer’s body. Considering these two as our biggest competitors, we provide a competitor analysis in the appendix section. With Kinect being already in the market, we should expect more competitors arising in the field of 3D modelling, especially since its SDK (software development kit) is an open source software and a tempting challenge for every keen developer. Even though augmented reality is not fully developed at the moment [], the example of TryLive shows that it is on our doorstep, and this is the kind of competition we should expect in the future. Other companies as well are making progress in the field of augmented reality, with the most prominent being Metaio (Germany) [], Wikitude (Austria) [] and Layar (The Netherlands) [], but have not yet entered the world of marketing. They are to be considered potential competitors however.

3.3.4 THEIR WEAKNESS, OUR STRENGTH The challenge we will face is competing with companies that have more expertise with this kind of technology and that have established themselves in the market. The good news though, is that the pioneers in augmented reality have no previous experience in implementing this technology in advertising and that gives us a competitive advantage. Having analysed the market space upon starting our enterprise brings us one step further and closer to the customer. Building on their weakness, we will use the technology they offer to provide better shopping experience to our customers’ customers, thus increasing their profit and establishing our name in the market.

Additionally, what we offer that is not offered by other companies is hardware installation. And why should someone go for hardware when they can have similar results with software only? Because of the quality of the results. Our installations provide top-quality and naturalistic feeling when it comes to buyers’ representations, which exceeds by far the expectations of our retailers and their customers. Plus, we do not charge for the installation and we guarantee top-quality service.

3.3.6 BARRIERS TO ENTRY Due to the fact that we are providing both software and hardware solution, we will have to invest great amounts of money at the beginning of our venture. Since, we will be entering into the most advanced and modern product segment, it is obvious that there will be many technical challenges. We need a big investment initially to bring out the working prototype to field and then


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we can reach potential investors and venture capitalists to reach the huge market and for mass production. On the software part, a lot of work has to be done, in order to implement realistic models.

4 IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 PARTNERS AND ALLIES

Our key partners will be the product manufacturers, mainly hardware manufacturers of sensors[], cameras[], and interactive screens[]. These key partners will be closely interacting with us in describing the specifications, key features of hardware and support us in designing the best on-screen interactive software integrating all the hardware components, databases and networking.

All the key partners will work closely with us on our product, gaining attention of our potential customers and clients, and also they benefit by reaching new business and product development segments through our business channels.

We will also target fashion magazines, fashion designers and emerging clothing brands to partner and merchandise their products. We create opportunity to promote their business rapidly and to reach their targeted customers in a distinctive and innovative method combining both fashion and technology.

In the future, we would also like to partner with gaming companies to provide additional value and services to our customers by designing gaming applications and try to promote the business of our clients.

4.2 RISKS

Among all the risks involved like financial, technical, market and people, we see that market risk as our primary concern. It is highly possible to develop our product with the technology available today, but it takes a little longer to come up with a 3D model, as it involves different factors like physical structure of a person, as well as elasticity of the fabric. So far, there is no such 3D model for trying clothes available in the market and our survey results also show that people and retailers are interested in using such a product, which is an advantage for us. But, once the product is released, it is no longer a secret and it is highly possible to see a lot of followers in the market. So, we would like to handle this by constantly being in touch with our customers and end users to get their feedback and take it into consideration while innovating the product for further


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releases. Also, we believe that we can handle this by having a good Research and Development team that includes experts from different domains like technology, business and fashion, which will help us to think ahead of our competitors.

The next biggest risk is the financial risk, especially during its initial stage. We see that it is a very challenging job to gain the confidence of investors to invest on our product as it is a complex model. So, our idea is to start developing our product with our own investments and come up with an initial prototype to imbibe confidence in investors that this product is viable.

There are certainly some technical risks involved with this product considering its complexity, but since we have a good technical background, we believe that it is of lesser concern to us than the other risks involved. Getting an intellectual property right may protect us to some extent. But, we want to overcome the competition by constantly interacting with customers and end users and take their inputs in improving our design of the product in further releases.

As of now, we don't see any risk of people as our team along with another two subject matter experts is sufficient to come up with an initial prototype. But, once we start developing on top of the prototype, we may need more experts to handle the managerial and technical concerns. We believe that we can handle this risk by growing our network of professionals and angel investors as our common objective is to grow our business. Also we believe that participating in start-up events will help us find like-minded people willing to work with us and grow our business.

4.3 BUSINESS MODEL 4.3.1 VALUE PROPOSITION End users Our product offers a 3D model to screen a person with an outfit. It helps the end-users to try different outfits virtually which gives them a fascinating and hassle free shopping experience as our product will suggest them matching outfits based on their size and physical structure. Our software will help the customers see the recommendations given by our product and other details like nearest shop where those clothes are available in their mobile. End users can try out more outfits than they do in the conventional method of trying out at the trial rooms. Though, the product cannot predict the personal interests of a person, it helps end users try more outfits in a short span of time than they do with the conventional method of trying out at the trial rooms.

Customers We offer complete product package (Algorithms, Expertise, Technology, User friendly and attractive user interface) along with installation and after sale maintenance and support.The product will help retailers to increase their business as there is a higher probability of end user


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buying cloth as our product allows them to choose multiple alternatives in short time. This kind of innovative shopping will eliminate display area within the stores thereby reducing the store space, which in turn reduces the store rent, maintenance cost, and also human resources.

4.3.2 DELIVERY CHANNELS AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS At the early stage, our primary channel to reach customers is by personal interaction and demo, and by showcasing our product in various exhibitions and tech fests thereby reaching more customers on a single stage. We believe that organizations like EIT will help us promote our product and reach different customers. We will use Social media and our website to advertise our product to the customers.

Our plans for customer and end user relationships include maintenance, updates of more interactive user interface, more fun games and contests, quicker suggestions and feedback system (users will be able to report a fault on the fly). We will be able to answer questions of customers and provide them with support. We will be more focused on end users feedback at start-up stage to improve the product quality. Later, as we grow, we try to merge the customer and end user feedback and suggestions in to a complete automated standalone service system.

4.3.3 KEY ACTIVITIES, RESOURCES AND PARTNERS The main activities include developing and improving the 3D model, an attractive and user friendly interface. We will provide installation and technical support for customers. We will be more focused on end-users’ feedback so as to improve the product quality. Apart from these activities, it is also important for us to grow our professional network and find the right persons who can work with us and thus help us develop our business.

Our key resources include physical resources such as offices, integrating facilities, servers for hosting our website and databases. Our business starts with our initial investment followed by attracting funds from Angel investors and Venture capitalists. Human resources like software developers and domain experts will play a vital role in the design and development of our product.

Since our product generates a 3D model of a person in a specific outfit, we need different hardware resources which we cannot start building from the scratch. So, we partner with suitable camera, sensor and interactive screen manufacturing companies to provide their products to us.

4.3.4 COST STRUCTURE AND REVENUE STREAMS Our expenses include operational expenses like employees’ salaries, workspace rent and, to some extent, marketing cost. Since we need to offer maintenance support to the customers post-sale of our product, it incurs some cost to maintain a technical support team.


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We provide free installation on-site and we receive revenue from purchase, service and maintenance. The product will be available to our customers on a subscription based model [] with part of the equipment cost paid upfront and an agreement for certain period of time.


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REFERENCES [] Kipper, G., Rampolla, J., Augmented Reality, Syngress 2012

[] Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality Market by Technology, Sensors & Components, Applications & Geography (2013 – 2018), Globe Newswire, July 2013.

[] Fitnect, Fitnect Interactive ©2013, http://www.fitnect.hu/

[] Fits.me Virtual Fitting Room, Fits.me, http://fits.me/

[] Glamstorm, Brainstorm Ltd ©2012-2013, http://glamstorm.com/en

[] Kinect, Microsoft ©2013, http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

[] Layar, https://www.layar.com/

[] Metaio, http://www.metaio.com/

[] PrimeSense LTD ©2013, http://www.primesense.com/

[] Rappa, M. A., The Utility Business Model and the Future of Computing Services, IBM

SYSTEMS JOURNAL, VOL 43, NO 1, 2004, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5386779 [] Smartfit, Styku ©2013, http://www.styku.com/business/smartfit/

[] Swivel, FaceCake©2013, http://www.facecake.com/swivel/

[] TryLive, Total Immersion ©2013, http://www.trylive.com/

[] triMirror ©2013, http://3d.trimirror.com/

[] Virtual Dressing Room, The Virtual People Technologies ©2013, http://www.thevirtualpeople.com/

[] Web Social Shopper, Zugara, Inc. ©2013, http://webcamsocialshopper.com/

[] Wikitude GmbH ©2013, http://www.wikitude.com/

[] Xbox, Microsoft ©2013, http://www.xbox.com/


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APPENDIX A BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS


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APPENDIX B

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS OF OUR MAIN COMPETITOR

DIRECTORY INFORMATION

Name of company Branson (ours) Total Immersion

Domain name (URL) branson.co.in http://www.t-immersion.com/http://www.trylive.com/

Mission statement or purpose (either listed at the Web site or in your own words)

Fascinating shopping experience

product visualization and virtual try-on solutions for retail, e-commerce, mobile commerce and brand marketing

Company's physical location (this can usually be found on the "about us" page)

Stockholm

Europe (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid) N America (Los Angeles) Asia (Tokyo, Hong-Kong)

For-profit or non-profit? For profit For-profit

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Principal product or service ScreenMe TryLive: 3D visualization of glasses, jewelry & watches, apparel and home solutions

Indication of pricing? monthly subscription 2000€/10000TryOn’s Eyewear3000€/4000TryOn’s Home, monthly/annual subscription

How similar is principal product or service to yours?

Using 3D model virtualization with live video stream

Uses 3D model representation but for eyewear and home solutions, not for clothing (as ours)


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List as many additional products and services as possible

Interactive billboards, In-store solutions, mobile apps (tba), gamification (tba)

Eyewear: live, photo-, video capture, compare feature, mobile app, training Home: mobile app, compare, share, multiple views, customisation

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Toll-free telephone number? 1800-ScreenMe Not available

"Contact Us" page easily available?

Yes Yes

Guaranteed response time listed?

24h 48h

FAQ page on website? Yes Yes

Privacy policy posted? Yes Yes

Credit/financing policy? Yes

Phones answered by staff after hours and on weekends?

Yes No

Transportation available? Yes Not required

CUSTOMERS AND MARKETING

Primary target market (either listed at the Web site or surmised from their product offerings and presentation)

Clothes’ retailers Marketers, customers, retailers, e-commerce players

Secondary target market Customers (end-users)

Reputation and image projected by the company

Yet to be announced Pioneer in AR, unique solutions


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SOURCES OF COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE

In what ways does the company exhibit competitive advantage in terms of:

- Differentiation (distinguishing itself in the marketplace)

Advanced Technology, Hardware solution

Using advanced technology

- Innovation (creates a new way of doing business)

First in the clothing retail market

- Growth (selling into new markets, introducing new products)

Mobile application Gamifigation

Expanding in apparel and accessories 3D representation

- Alliance (partners with others)

Primesence (3D sensors)Samsung (Screens)

- Time (offers express customer service or convenient hours)

No No

- Quality (performance measures available)

5-year guarantee

Screenme- An interactive approach to shopping.

Business

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