STORES Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 52)

WORTH WATCHING / ONLINE MERCHANDISING Spin Control New technology aims to make 360-degree product views affordable BY REBECCA LOGAN atience may be running out among online shoppers presented with flat pictures that they can’t click, grab and rotate. P “The world is expecting more from technology when they are surfing the web,” says Mike Beedle, director of marketing for OGIO, a Bluffdale, Utahbased gear bag manufacturer. OGIO is using the services of 3DVO, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company that expects to transform the look of online retail with its recently launched 3DVO Engage, a three-dimensional modeling service. While the ability for shoppers to inspect items in a manner that goes beyond two dimensions is not new, what hooked Beedle was 3DVO’s pitch for what it says is a quicker and more costeffective system. “Before, you had to be able to afford the photo studio and all the supplies,” he says. “Now this technology is going to be available to everybody. This is going to make waves across the Internet.” In fact, 3DVO CEO Troy Sheen predicts that the majority of large online retailers will have moved past flat pictures within two years. As of November, OGIO had only one golf bag — its top seller for three years — rotating 360 degrees on its site. But it had just shipped a truckload of golf product to 3DVO’s offices to get the ball rolling on its entire golf line. (3DVO offers other, more advanced options that allow items to be turned upside down or sideways, but that is a bit beyond what the typical OGIO customer wants or needs, Beedle says.) “Go over and look at a car website, where you see the 360 imaging or the 3D imaging,” he says. “You’re going to play more on that site and it’s going to make more of an impression than any other.” Skate and snow customers After the golf line is complete, OGIO will turn the technology loose on its other lines, such as those used by the skate and snow crowds. Sheen is quick to point out that the solution’s intent is to move the technology beyond the marquee products. Early adopters and today’s market dominaWhat makes 3DVO stand out are the systems it uses to make 3-D more efficient and affordable. tors are already offering enhanced viewing: What makes 3DVO stand out are the systems it uses to make 3-D more efficient and affordable, he says. “We’ve made it so that the time associated with creating these types of models is reduced by 90 percent,” which “makes it available for all the products.” The technology behind 3DVO – short for 3-D virtual objects — was developed in association with Utah State University through the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR). “The long-term goal of this kind of technology is to incorporate it into a very highly integrated geo-referenced world or virtual environment,” Paul Israelson, 3DVO’s chief technology officer, said in a recent company podcast. “In the future, it will be a case of getting into an engine such as Google Earth, flying to the gateway mall, coming down … opening the doors, walking up and down the aisles and picking up objects,” Israelson said. “It’s like a virtual shopping environment, and that’s really the path we’re moving down.” StORES WWW.STORES.ORG 52 STORES / JANUARY 2008 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2008

STORES Magazine - January 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Build a 'Bot Sneak Peek at Fashion Trends What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Fishing for Talent Retail CEO Compensation Research Concept2Watch E-Commerce Payment Solutions Online Merchandising POS LPInformation LP Vantage Point Newsbeat Industry Watch Cover Story: Making LP PCI-Compliant Mall Security Video Surveillance Industry Perspective Forum RFID Business Intelligence Data Management Logistics Turning Green into Gold Love of – and for – the Outdoors Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - January 2008

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