My selected opportunity is the one that I identified in assignment 4. That there is an opportunity to make purchasing shoes online easier. I am focusing on just shoes rather than clothing to stay specific and extending to clothing may be a further out goal. There is a lot of variance of shoe sizes between manufacturers and even in some cases within manufacturers.
I think this can be solved using technology and crowdsourcing. There are two methods I can think of to work on solving this that I can see. The first is by having users submit certain dimensions of their feet and sizes of specific shoes that fit them. From there it would not be too difficult to create an algorithm that can the dimensions of a person’s feet to a shoe that might best fit them. The second method is less technical but maybe more practical, rather than trying to match the dimensions of feet, users could submit the shoes they wear and have worn in that past that have fit well. The result of this method would be that there is a database of shoes that are similar enough for someone who wants new shoes to browse. Once a user has found a shoe that they like from either of the two methods they will be linked to different retailers, hopefully using some form of affiliate link or to a company willing to pay to have themselves promoted.
A very creative solution to such a common problem, I’m thoroughly impressed. There are so many online retailers that have tried to create their own solutions to this problem, but they’re all too inconvenient and inefficient. Your idea of creating a data base that fits people to different shoes and creating an average shoe model based on the shoes people already own is truly innovative. I would, however, argue that, while it is true that this is a problem for shoppers, perhaps its an even bigger issue for sellers. Imagine all of the money companies spend on trying to develop ways to successfully close on a shoe sale. Think of all of the inventory that is sent back and all of the transactions and revenue that are put on hold because sellers don’t know if customers will send product back due to size/fit issues. Perhaps, this solution, though shoppers may benefit from it, could be designed more for the “need” of online retailers to adopt and use. This is just something to consider. Great job.
ReplyDeleteHi Justin! This opportunity is so important because many college students only shop only because it's easier. I struggle with this issue SO MUCH because you can't tell and some shoe brands have a different size 6 than others, which makes it even worse. This is a really simple solution to a major problem that many people will use. Good job!
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