Online Change Room Becomes Virtual Reality: Try Before You Buy
Published on 05 December 2019
Many shoppers can relate to the emotional rollercoaster of buying fashion online; the instant gratification as you click BUY, the anticipation of waiting for delivery and then…the sheer disappointment of receiving a garment that is not at all what you had hoped for, plus the added inconvenience of having to return items.
This week Elize Hattin, SmartHub Business Manager, sits down with two online shopping aficionados who are making online buyer’s remorse a thing of the past through their virtual change room, PUCTTO, aka Pop Up Clothes To Try On.
ONLINE INSPO
Browsing potential buys on a fashion site was the inspiration that lead Belinda to develop an online changing room; allowing shoppers to view what an item or outfit would look like on them in real life, in a virtual context.
“I was sitting in front of my computer going, "Oh. I don't look like any of these models. I just want to be able to see what it looks like on me…whether the colour and the style suits me.
“Being a graphic artist by trade, I knew all the editing tricks…I would actually sit there and manually edge out the clothing, putting it on a photo of myself just to see and then buy online. Then I asked myself, why has no one done this?” Belinda explained.
Belinda began a cycle of creating virtual change room prototypes; investing money, developing prototypes, getting validation, pivoting and changing, until the Snappy Dresser App was borne.
“I uploaded items of clothes from different retailers and then users uploaded their own photo so they could just virtually try on those clothes as well.
“I put Snappy Dresser App on iTunes and I had 25,000 downloads without trying…so I knew there was a market for it. The timing wasn't right and the tech wasn't right yet, but the then Snappy Dresser App validated the basic concept,” Belinda recalled.
Belinda was able to test and validate the concept herself as she built her own manual online change room, getting it right every time she tried on a garment in her virtual change room, before proceeding to the online checkout.
“It's just seeing the colour, you can see if something's not going to suit you. Just having a look and visualising,” she said.
With two more prototypes under her belt, Belinda joined forces with business partner Crystal to formalise the product and business offering.
After some final tailoring, PUCTTO now helps online fashion retailers to convert sales, create strong repeat customers and establish brand ambassadors through its unique virtual change room.
Users can upload their own photo, try on multiple items from the retailer, save their dressed up selfie into their closet before sharing that with friends for their opinions and advice.
VIRTUAL BECOMES REALITY
While both Crystal and Belinda are SmartHub members and participating in its Turbo-Traction Lab, neither are from Rockhampton; only meeting in person recently despite working together for almost 14 years.
“I hadn't actually met Belinda in person as we live seven or eight hours away from each other. I decided to hop on a plane from Gladstone to Brisbane and met Belinda for lunch and we're sitting in the restaurant and the energy was just so high that she's like, let's do this!” Crystal recalls.
Belinda reflects on the journey from prototyping to validation and the lessons learned along the way from The Smart Hub and Turbo-Traction Lab community.
“If I'd had the Turbo-Traction Lab information a few years ago, it would've made a big difference. I started out just doing prototypes…whereas I should have worked on it more, got validation that online shoppers want to do a virtual change over and then created the product,” she said.
PUCTTO operates in a three company structure, comprised of an IP company, a trading company and a holdings company where their investors sit. PUCTTO also has an Australian innovation patent.
“Creating the patent took time again, but it documented all the processes that we needed to do to articulate what the virtual change room was…then it was validating the idea again with more retailers and more shoppers, working on marketing campaigns,” Belinda recounted.
DEVELOPMENTAL JOURNEY
Crystal explained the journey of finding developers and working with them to create the software that allows users to try on clothes virtually was a challenging process.
“It was hard to find the right developer and getting them to work on our project without them getting distracted by a new project they want to start working on,” she said.
Rather than securing a primary software developer as a technical co-founder with equity, Belinda and Crystal took a different approach; seeking out a network of developers as a succession plan. Each time a developer moved on, so too did Belinda and Crystal, building their resilience in the process.
“Being able to change, understanding the code enough ourselves to be able to pass it onto the next developer gave us clarity and confidence,” she reflected.
Crystal acknowledged while it took some time for the next developers to understand the code, they had comments documented into code, making it easy for the next developer to pick up.
“That's crucial in terms of developing code - having all of the comments articulated through that code,” she confirmed.
Belinda and Crystal now have a fellow Smart Hub member and Turbo-traction Lab colleague, Phil, as a mentor and ‘master’ of their PUCTTO coding.
“When we're struggling to explain something to the next developer, we ask Phil if he could explain something to them in a technical way. He can definitely translate layman talk into technical…so he's been amazing in the whole process,” Belinda acknowledged.
It was their existing relationship with Phil and seeing his involvement with Turbo-traction Lab that inspired the girls to apply.
The Turbo-Traction Lab is a program delivered by the SmartHub, running for 80 consecutive business days to assist entrepreneurs gain traction for their product or service in an international market.
Crystal explained the Turbo-Traction Lab was very different to other programs she had participated in, because it focussed on getting global traction rather than investment, getting funding or pitching.
“As startup founders you don't know what you don't know, and some of the skills, tricks and hacks that we've learned in the last 80 days, would just blow founders' minds.
“We stood and pitched in front of the SmartHub’s Mentors who were able to give really great solid advice to build our confidence and take our pitching to the next level. One of the mentors told us as entrepreneurs we need to remain 30% outside of our comfort zone.
“We create these rings of comfort and step into the next one and level up. The learning hasn't always felt comfortable, but it's been really valuable in terms of stepping into that next level,” Crystal explained.
Being part of the SmartHub community has also supported PUCTTO’s marketing; allowing the duo to develop customer value journeys for both shoppers and retailers, supported with a sales funnel.
PUCTTO is ready to hit the virtual fashion world and become mainstream, all that is left to do is to ‘plug it in and play’. When asked how PUCTTO would execute its rollout during the noise of Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Christmas sales, Belinda and Crystal advised they were putting themselves out there as relatable women who also struggle with confidence in their fashion.
"We’re saying to our audience ‘hey you guys are the same as us. Do you know what to wear? Do you want to engage more with fashion? Do you want to experience new brands, create outfits and really get back to having fun with fashion,” Belinda said.
DRESSING FOR SUCCESS: Top business tips and learnings
- Have grit and don’t give up - if you truly believe in an idea, there'll be lots of pivots and changes…just to keep going.
- Change is inevitable - If you're going to be part of a start up, you cannot sit in the one space.
- Stay in the present - you can look back on things that maybe didn't go so well and focus on that, you can be quite anxious or stressed about the future. There's a really nice space in the middle where you're sitting in the present moment and right now we're having so much fun, we're learning new things, we're not scared of failure.
- Find your StartUp tribe - talk to other StartUp founders; we're all on the same ride, and not alone. The SmartHub is a welcoming community who supports fellow entrepreneurs and StartUps.
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The SmartHub encourages entrepreneurs and business owners to adopt technology and modern based business practice to make the whole business journey more profitable, more enjoyable, more effective and more efficient.
Being part of the SmartHub gives local business owners opportunities to meet with and learn from mentors, to help them learn the discipline required to succeed in business. If you’d like to learn more about becoming part of the SmartHub, message SmartHub Rockhampton on Facebook or just head over to Customs House at 208 Quay Street, Rockhampton for a tour.