11-A Idea Napkin No. 1

Business

Virtual Shopping

Founder

Shannon Tamburi, 24

General Business – Online

University of Florida

Miami

  

Talents/Experience/Skills

I am a young, female student, as well as a full time bookkeeper, who uses online shopping. I have an entrepreneur spirit, inherited from my father and grandfather. Both owned their own art and picture framing manufacturing businesses. I worked as an apprentice with my dad, where he taught me sales and basic accounting. This experience pairs well with the theoretical business aspects taught in my courses. I speak multiple languages, including Armenian, Spanish, and Italian. I am multicultural, extroverted, organized, and goal-oriented.

This business would be my brainchild, where I take the convenience of online shopping with the technology of virtual reality to create a perfect e-commerce experience. In an attempt to make the experience more accessible and effective for shoppers who do not fit or look like the average straight-size model, this business would play a large roll in my everyday life.

Business ideals

Virtual Shopping will be an app that alleviates the stress for online shoppers who do not look like the straight-size models that are used to showcase clothing on e-commerce retail websites. With the help of an avatar, shoppers will be able to view themselves trying on the clothing before purchasing online. The avatar would be programmed with your exact measurements. This would include your waist, bust, hips, inseam, arm length, torso, and neck measurements. With these throughout details, Virtual Shopping will be able to build an avatar in the virtual world that would scale perfectly in the physical world.

By pairing with brands that offer online shopping, Virtual Shopping will have an inventory of all product sizes and measurements for the avatars to try on in the virtual world. The brand advertising would pay for the app services. To help shoppers narrow down the best brands for their sizes, Virtual Shopping will use the inventory of brand product measurements to give the shoppers options that will best fit them. The app will allow for any shopper, regardless of shape or size, to feel comfortable and sure of their online purchases. The goal is to make the online shopping experience the most convenient and enjoyable method to shop.

Demographics:

Ø  Students (18-28)

Ø  Busy parents (26-40)

Ø  Shoppers who are plus-size, petite, or not considered average sized

Ø  Men (18-34)

While I originally targeted plus-size women in this business opportunity, I have since done throughout research that suggests that the majority of men aged 18-34 make up the majority of online shoppers. Their biggest issue is also fit and sizing when buying online. Therefore, I have expanded the demographics of Virtual Shopping to include both genders. Virtual Shopping would ideally include all ages and genders, however realistically it will be limited to those who already use e-commerce as a primary form of shopping.

Virtual Shopping will be a monthly subscription available as an app on all mobile devices. Customers would use this service because it is the only service to allow online shoppers an opportunity to virtually try on clothing and ensure the fit before purchasing. It would be a fun, new way to shop that bridges the gap between online and in-store shopping.

Core competencies

As stated above, Virtual Shopping will be the online app to offer these services. We will pair with brands to create a virtual shopping world. The end goal would be to create a virtual shopping mall of all the brands working with the app where shoppers could virtually walk through and compare clothing from the comfort of their mobile devices. This shopping experience will create a certainty with online shopping in terms of size and fit, through the use of the shopper avatars. Accurate measurements will ensure that what fits in the virtual world, will also fit in the physical world.

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I do believe that these elements go well together. I still think I need more buyer feedback to perfect the virtual experience. I look forward to constructive criticism from my peers. Probably the weakest part of my opportunity would be considering how to get this service to the masses. The average consumer would have to have a virtual reality headset in order to view the virtual world. Another possible way to view your avatar would be to create a mirror sized tablet that could scan the shoppers’ body and show their reflection as their avatar. The limitation to this mirror product would be that it would be too large to carry with the shopper and therefore would not be as convenient for online shopping.