3-D product modeling is nothing new, but Kaon Interactive Inc. is taking it to a new level, in creating high resolution interactive product catalogs available to customers with the touch of a button.
By David Weldon
Anyone that has turned on a television, opened a magazine, or ventured into a shopping mall lately knows that, as customers, we no longer browse goods — we have product experiences.
As retailers constantly look for new ways to present products to potential customers, the key is to demonstrate how the customer would use the product, or how it would enhance their life or their business.
But that can be a tall order in a time when retail stores increasingly leave shoppers to fend for themselves, convert themselves to giant self-serve warehouse operations, or put sales associates on the floor that know less about the inventory than their customers.
For manufacturers, it is getting equally challenging to put their products in front of customers. Inventories are growing; suppliers are multiplying; items are frequently assembled or housed at disperse locations; and often the product is just too big to deal with anyway.
However, help is available, and it is comes in the form of virtual reality.
Kaon Interactive Inc., an 11-year-old software development firm in Maynard, Mass., is a leader in this space, producing high quality 3-dimentional image tools that enable manufacturers or retailers to visually display their entire product portfolios, in an interactive fashion.
The Kaon V-OSK, the company’s flagship solution, is “a high definition, large-format display, with touch-enabled interactivity that gives companies the ability to showcase an unlimited number of products at trade shows, retail stores, and other sales touchpoints,” the company website says.
While the use of 3-D imaging is nothing new, Kaon is working to differentiate itself with vastly improved visual images and interactive features that form the core of its service.
“We have developed a unique and powerful technology to display and demonstrate products in a virtual environment,” explains Kaon President and CEO Gavin Finn. “We photograph the products and create high-resolution, 3-dimensional models that the customer gets to manipulate. We then integrate the products into interactive flow charts, and set everything into one application.”
Kaon has three primary goals with its software application and services, Finn says: to display a customer’s products in a truly realistic fashion; to help influence customer behavior in a desired fashion; and to create experiences in a multi-source environment which includes “the web, storefronts, etc. — no matter what the platform is.”
In many cases, Kaon provides kiosks to a client which enable their customers to view a full product catalog, or all versions in a product line. The customers can manipulate the images themselves so that the products can be viewed from different angles and with changing features.
Finn gives the example of a large national retailer that sells household appliances. Since these items are large, and take a bit of display space, the retailer would generally put the most popular versions on the display floor, and leave all other available models in an ordering program. He cites Best Buy as an example.
The key here, Finn explains, is to let consumers know about the other available models in a fashion that excites and involves them.
Such kiosks can also help a retailer that isn’t able to provide knowledgeable floor staff, Finn notes. In these cases, customers can get all of the information they need directly from the kiosks. With a retailer that has more inventory than its staff can possibly keep up with, the kiosk can become an educational tool with marketing and sales tips for the staff.
“All of these retail stores are expanding their product lines, but the retail associates are helpless to learn about all the products,” Finn notes, or are unable to explain the differences of one product over another. “As a result, the retailer fears that the sale associates’ inexperience with the products will hurt sales.”
The good news is that customers are becoming more comfortable with obtaining product information in digital fashion, Finn says.
“Most customers now research products in general, but they need help with comparisons, and with expert advice,” he says. “Rather than selling boxes or products, they have to provide solutions to their customers.”
Another venue where Kaon is making strong inroads is in the trade show industry.
When attending trade shows, exhibitors have a limited amount of floor space, and products to display that usually don’t come cheap, Finn says.
By using a kiosk or digital display, a company can bring key and representational items to the trade show floor that let attendees access their full product line virtually without the company spending extra money on shipping and reproducing a product.
When working with customers, Finn says Kaon provides the entire virtual solution. This includes creating digital images of all products in the company’s catalog, related data on each, interactive features and diagrams tied to appropriate items, and the software features needed to enable each item to have customizable views.
Kaon also works with their clients to tie their applications to the customer’s ordering and inventory systems. The same demonstration features offered to customers are also available to sales staff.
While Kaon Interactive would be classified as an IT products and services company, a large percentage of its staff actually have graphic arts, modeling, and animation backgrounds. The 3-dimentional modeling work is done both by inhouse staff and offshore contractors. Other staff include sales and marketing professionals, and a client services team that works with each client to get a true sense of their needs.
It is with the ability for customers to manipulate images that Kaon is differentiating itself from other software developing firms.
“The application is very novel,” Finn says. “You can manipulate it, turn it around, and access information in the process in ways that are very new.”
Looking to the immediate future, Finn sees only good things ahead.
“As the technology evolves, and the capabilities evolve, people are pretty impressed with what they can get,” Finn exclaims. “And as our customers get more sophisticated, they will start to lead us in the technology front.”