Month: March 2021

Forma Tech- 

This organization has been able to achieve my desire in creating a software system for online shopping. The organization is a small start-up with two current employees. Currently, the organization is heading in the same direction as the software system. They however are still focusing on a business-to-business model rather than a customer model. Currently, this organization is growing and has achieved a high level of networking funding in order to grow their organization. I believe that my organization disrupting the current market and providing the virtual fitting room software system to business will allow my organization to grow and gain customers quickly.

Fit Analytics-

This organization was founded in 2010 and they focus on providing customers the ability to receive feedback base on their measurement input. Recently this organization was acquired by a large social media platformer Snapchat in March 2021. Fit Analytics provides virtual assistance for customers purchasing online by allowing customers to see where the clothing might have not fit in a certain area. Fit analytics also learns base on your shopping preferences and would help customers make decisions much quicker base on their previous shopping.

Stylebook-

Stylebook is an organization that provides virtual assistance when clothing selection. Customers are able to personalize their clothing selection and even allow themselves to set what clothing they want for another day. While I believe this organization is able to provide for their customer assistance I believe this organization has much growth to do. My organization aims to let customer visualize their clothing selection before purchase. Stylebook is an organization that mainly focus on helping customer organize their clothing selection while also providing them tips with their selection. Stylebook does also allow customers to purchase any clothing selection they prefer base on their preferences.

Trimirror-

Trimirror is an organization founded in 2010 that focuses on providing an online avatar service for its customers. Trimirror also provides a mirror for their customers in order for them to stand in front of them and visualize themselves in other clothing selections. Trimirror while being around for a couple of years they have slowly seen a decline in the visit growth by 20.45% I believe while this organization is able to provide a physical mirror that customers could use, their still very limited to their feature. Trimirror avatar limited the realistic view that customers wish to see in their clothing selection. The avatar feature also could be low quality and can’t showcase themselves properly towards their customers.

Astrafit- 

This organization has been establishing for a while and has created connections with multiple businesses. Astrafit focuses on virtual assistants for customers. They provide a service that allows customers to input their clothing measurements and when customers are shopping this virtual assistant will inform them if their clothing selection will work or not.  While this organization has been around for years, lately have seen a decline in their website foot traffics. Overall, this organization provides a service that allows their customers to input all their clothing size, but only provide virtual assistants rather than implementing augmented reality.

The Factual–

My original interviewee, unfortunately, had last min plans and had to cancel our meeting, but I did interview a close buddy of mine who works with computer engineering. One important question I ask him was how does this software system differs from creating an app. He was able to explain the process of creating this software system and while it might look better to create it on an app this could be problematic in the long run. He stated that being able to create this software system through a webpage will allow the creator to spot any issues quickly and will be much transferable to a mobile app. My expert loved the idea and believe that this software system could benefit others in the long run. He did share the concern that even if I made it free for all customers I will still need permission from e-commerce stores to run the software system on their webpage which could be difficult.

The Reflective–

During the interview, I had much thought about what was being said to me about my idea and the process behind it. For starters what thing that brought relief was the idea that security is included through iCloud services, this made me less concerned about the security system as I originally thought this security system needed to be created with the software system. The follow-up questions gave me a better response as the interviewee was able to discuss more about the software system and how it could play out when creating the system. The interviewee did have questions for me about how I believe this system could distribute the current market and how I plan in getting other e-commerce businesses in using my software system.

The Next Step–

After this interview, I believe that there are many steps forward with this idea. I believe that a software system could be created with someone’s help and the idea being brought to life will be much understandable now that I was able to see how the software system works. While I believe this idea will be worth pursuing I think that the struggle in getting started will extremely difficult. My idea is to disrupt the current market by providing this service for free to others, but at the same time, this software system could be recreated with current organizations. I believe being able to find another expert will allow me to obtain more information and could possibly see new problems that could occur with it. I believe that I will continue to research this idea and find ways to change the concept of this idea in order to make it more unique towards customers and the existing market.

I would love the opportunity to interview either the two founders Benjamin Chiang and Qianyi Zhou.  Both these founders manage to recreate an Augmented reality software system that allows individuals to envision themselves in clothing selection online.

Here are a few questions I would love to ask:

1. What made you come up with the decision to create an augmented reality software system in the heavy market?

   I hope by asking this question I will have an understanding of their decision in why they came up with this decision for the software system. I also plan in understanding what needs they saw in the market that they could fulfill for the customer’s needs.

2. Could you explain why you choose to have this software system available only through the Apple app store?

   Through this question, I want to know why did they choose to only feature their software system only through an app. I want to understand if providing this feature through an app will it be easier than creating a web extension.  I also want to understand their decision to first include only apple products in their decision rather than branch out to google as well.

3. I see that you manage to gain a large sum of capital in recent months. How were you able to gain such a large capital for a start-up business?

   I want to under their methods in pitching to investors about an idea that wasn’t fully operational. I also plan on understanding how they manage to obtain a market cap for $7 million dollars through just a small number of investors. lastly, through this question, I want to understand how they manage to obtain big-name investors in their network.

4. Looking at your business now are there some changes you made that differ from your original business plan?

   I want to hopeful have an understanding of how flexible an organization’s business plan should be. I want to also see if they had to face any issues in the direction they wanted their organization to head. I believe that understanding their shifts in their business plan will help me understand what changes I will face should I pursue this idea.

Upon reviewing one of many of my competitors in the market I decided it was best that I select a small competition named Forma Tech. The one thing I want to replicate from this organization is their software system. They were able to create the idea I wanted. The ability for customers to view themselves in their clothing selection with just a single photo, none of that 3D avatar. The one thing that I would want for my organization to be different from Forma Tech’s business model is its source of income. At the moment I believe that this software should be free or an internet extender for all websites. Rather than collecting income through subscription, I believe my organization can gather data on customers when online shopping and provide this as a source of income. I believe their main competitive advantage they have is their strong networking background and software system. Currently, they have recently started to move their software system through the Apple app store and have big investors such as Roblox and Sandbox VR  to assist them. I will continue pursuing this value proposition as this is the close organization I know that was able to create what I want. I also want my organization to focus their resource on the customer rather than other businesses, therefore being able to build a direct connection with the customers. I believe it might not be a good idea to move forward with this idea because it’s already created. Forma Tech has a large capital that will allow them to grow at a faster rate while also limiting their expenses. I also believe that it might not be a good idea to move forward because I already lack the skills to achieve my organization goals and therefore will take longer for me to build what I want to create.