The Opportunity

VizAR was founded in 2012 in response to a need by the $200 billion Home Furnishings industry to increase online sales conversion rates, which have always averaged well below 3%. Our research projects conservatively a 5-year post-money revenue of approximately $77 million with $34 million EBIDTA.

The Problem

Sales conversion rates have been limited in the home furnishings industry due to the lack of confidence buyers have in their potential purchase. Despite massive expenditures on SEO techniques to drive traffic, online sales for the industry have fallen far from expectations. As commerce has moved increasing online, and now onto mobile devices, the furniture industry, and many other similar industries, are in danger of being left behind.

The Solution

VizAR has developed an Augmented Reality-based solution that overcomes this problem. Our software allows the consumer to upload or capture a picture of their room through their browser or mobile device, select from a catalog and visualize the product in their space. It has been developed for easy deployment, and with a fun and simple user interface, as illustrated in our video.

Assuming a small company with annual revenues of $100 million and a sales conversion rate of 3%, a modest improvement of 1% will increase profits from $3 million to $4 million. There are many examples of retail solutions such as virtual dressing rooms and see-it-on-your-face sunglasses applications that have proven to increase sales conversion rates to as high as 50%. We expect our customers to experience a similar, substantial increase in their conversion rates. 

Why VizAR

Our goal was to launch a business with sustainable growth and profitability. To accomplish this, we believed it was critical to understand our market, their needs and create a solution that delivers real value. 

Some strategic imperatives achieved:

• Breakthrough technology that is easy to deploy and maintain
• Premier consumer experience, simple to use and accessible on major platforms, including iOS and Android devices.
• Mature iPad-based deployment with large customer (LiftMaster)

Success factors include:

• Core team with combination of experience and world-class skill sets
• Limited capital requirements given solution fully developed, deployed in market, and clear "go to market" startegy
• Validated market demand as demonstrated by analogous providers (e.g. Virtual dressing rooms, sunglasses etc.)  
• Multiple end-user population including, retailers, manufacturers, designers, real estate (virtual staging) and resellers

Primary use of capital:

• Business development to build and harvest our pipeline, and promote our services
• Operating capital to develop 3D content for launch of VizAR Market and Design LOBs
• Acquisition of hardware and software
• Minimum compensation for core team

Key features meet consumer and retailer requirements

In developing our solution, we have been guided by two primary objectives:

1. Consumer Experience: We have designed our software from the perspective of the consumer. Simplicity and speed are essential, but we also focused on the primary goal of the consumer, to gain confidence in their purchase.
    
2. Retailer Experience: To support our financial projections, we understand that our solution must be easily deployed, maintained and updated by our customer, the retailer employing it. It also must reach consumers though every major platform if we hope to obtain the reach necessary to deliver on the potential of this technology.

Consumer-Facing Feature Set

• Augmented Reality Visualization - See 3D models of products in real spaces. The models move within a real photo as if they were actually there, giving a realistic view of how the actual product will look.
• Product Customization - Products can have multiple configurations, woods, and fabrics, and changes to these configuration options can be seen on screen, in real time.
• Real + Virtual Synergy - Tools such as the ability to erase items from the real world picture, insert virtual "cover up" walls, and measure areas within the real space with the click of a mouse or tap of a finger allow the user to combine the real world and the virtual world in powerful ways.
• Work Products - The resulting visualization can be output in many forms, from design photos to PDF invoices.

Retailer-Facing Feature Set

• Universal Deployment - Visualization is available in the browser, iOS devices, Android devices, and even kiosks in standalone applications.
• Sophisticated Catalog Management - All aspects of the product catalog can be controlled from a retailer-oriented interface.
• Lead Generation - Dealer locator and other lead generation mechanisms are supported
• Simple Pricing - Pricing is a simple monthly subscription based on number of products currently active, with discounts for larger catalogs or pre-commitments of time.

Invest in the team

Each member of our team brings a unique set of skills and a resume of success. Our team members have track records of execution, leadership and market- specific and technical expertise. The graphic below provides a brief overview of our team and business milestones achieved to date.

LiftMaster determined that they wanted to leverage their market-leading position in the garage door and security market. Their goal was to launch a line of products to compete in the garage storage and organization industry. Their offering would be distributed through their existing national dealer network, and a new relationship with Costco. They conducted, as expected, thorough market research to determine the most effective method for selling their premuim product line. It was clear that to be competitive and to leverage their existing dealer network, it was imperative to provide an effective design tool that could be used with the consumer at their home. To find a solution, they distributed a RFP to all major design software firms. They quickly realized that although these companies were market leaders, their software was complex, expensive, and difficult to customize. Most of all they were impractical for a dealer to use on-site within a reasonable appointment time.

Their marketing team was aware of Augmented Reality and the potential. Ultimately VizAR won the contract and developed a custom solution that easily met all their goals. In addition to the original design features, we delivered a number of custom features which are proving to be invaluable. We used this project to further develop, test and refine our software. As this application overview video illustrates, this comprehensive solution can allow a sales person to conduct an appointment in 30 minutes, complete and reveal a final design, provide an invoice, close the sale, schedule installation and transmit a parts list/installation plan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJdVARBqSAE