This video for this talk from Business of Software Conference Europe 2018 will be published here soon: http://businessofsoftware.org/2016/07/all-talks-from-business-of-software-conferences-in-one-place-saas-software-talks/
A rugby playing economics graduate with limited interest in fashion, Tom founded a fashion tech business. Why? His wife hated shopping – trying stuff on, feeling bad because clothes didn’t fit, not wanting to go shopping again… He saw clothes shopping had significant customer pain, understood the market opportunity and thought about the simplest way to solve the problem.
Tom recognised he couldn’t relate and empathise with customers without a team of people that could. If you want a great business, you need a workforce that represents your consumer base or you will not build products people love. Tom will discuss the challenges he’s faced in ten years building Metail, why diversity is hard but makes makes economic sense, and why he doesn’t think of his team as a family – more of a Formula One team.
4. 4
What I Learned from Sportal…
• Started 1998
• Raised & spent £100m
• 375 people, 9 countries
• Sponsored Euro 2000 &
Juventus for 3 games!
• Administration 2001
Timing wrong!
Ex-colleagues
successfully floated for
£500m, 2012
5. 5
What I learned from 3…
Took 6 years for the handset to come along to deliver on 3G
expectations…and it wasn’t even 3G!!
6. 6
What did I learn from MarquisJet?
The European market wasn’t
big enough for scale
7. 7
What did I learn from my time in the arts?
Market not ready or just too small
19. 19
• Founded 1998
• Raised $135m
• Spent all and bust
by 2000
• Blue-sky’ed every
idea in online
fashion retail
Big ideas:
• Free returns
• 3D garment
visualisation
• Virtual assistant
The company I nearly joined in 1999…
20. 20
My focus on avoiding failure
People Market Defensibility
23. 23
For all the talk of tech startups…
Total valuation = $139.2bn Total valuation = $121bn
Highest ranked EU tech company in
world global companies at #56
30. 30
We also had to become a no-brainer
“…any technology startup must …build a product that’s at least 10 times better at
doing something than the current prevailing way... Two or three times better will not
be good enough to get people to switch to the new thing fast enough or in large
enough volume to matter.” — Ben Horowitz
31. 31
How we extended Metail to deliver more value
CHEAPER IMAGERY GREATER ENGAGEMENT BETTER PRODUCTS
Composed Photography MeModel Try-On Customer Size & Shape
MAKING CLOTHING FIT FOR ALL
32. 32
Metail’s core pillars for the clothing industry
MAKE CLOTHING FIT FOR ALL
Drive
EFFICIENCIES
Create
EXPERIENCES
Generate
INSIGHTS
38. 38
DISCOVER
Paralysis of choice => personalisation
The challenges of modern commerce are opportunities
DECIDE
Always mobile => convenience Know your customer => speed
PURCHASE
Bra size: 32D
Waist: 68 cm
Hips: 98 cm
Age: 28
Height: 1.73 cm
Weight: 64 kg
Recommended size
Recently purchased
Returns: 30%
Spends: £40/m
39. We can also help enable a more efficient consumer
centred supply chain
In addition to the competitive threat of Amazon, UK fashion retailers are facing incredibly challenging macro conditions
After the 6th consecutive monthly drop in sales, UK apparel has suffered its largest slump since 1991
Shopping has often been considered a fun pastime but increasingly, consumers are choosing to spend their cash on leisure activities and eating out
They’re no longer getting their serotine rush from shopping
And this has been exacerbated by the move to online
While it might be more convenient, it delivers a less fun, playful and pleasurable experience
Have no doubt about it – UK fashion retailers are facing immense challenges
In addition to the competitive threat of Amazon, UK fashion retailers are facing incredibly challenging macro conditions
After the 6th consecutive monthly drop in sales, UK apparel has suffered its largest slump since 1991
Shopping has often been considered a fun pastime but increasingly, consumers are choosing to spend their cash on leisure activities and eating out
They’re no longer getting their serotine rush from shopping
And this has been exacerbated by the move to online
While it might be more convenient, it delivers a less fun, playful and pleasurable experience
Have no doubt about it – UK fashion retailers are facing immense challenges
In addition to the competitive threat of Amazon, UK fashion retailers are facing incredibly challenging macro conditions
After the 6th consecutive monthly drop in sales, UK apparel has suffered its largest slump since 1991
Shopping has often been considered a fun pastime but increasingly, consumers are choosing to spend their cash on leisure activities and eating out
They’re no longer getting their serotine rush from shopping
And this has been exacerbated by the move to online
While it might be more convenient, it delivers a less fun, playful and pleasurable experience
Have no doubt about it – UK fashion retailers are facing immense challenges
Rather than talking about fashion, I started off by discussing two internet giants…Amazon and Google
At Metail, we found this statistic particularly illuminating
45% of mobile product searches now start directly on Amazon
This means that instead of using Google to find products, they are now going direct to Amazon to search for them
And of course buy