Concept:
Today, retailers not only compete with each other — they compete with the ease and personalization of Internet shopping. In a cutthroat market, retailers are looking for ways to attract customers and inspire loyalty, turning a one-time visit into a lifelong relationship. Likewise, customer expectations are evolving to include more personalized service and custom incentives, as well as dramatic reductions in wait time.
Recognizing this developing concern, ILoveVelvet launched in France in 2009, with the mission of enabling luxury and small- to medium-sized retailers the ability to provide this custom shopping encounter while eliminating the payment queue. Customers have the option to allow their purchase history, loyalty card and other information to be stored and accessed by the retailer, and in exchange, are rewarded with a valuable and engaging, one-on-one experience. By providing this tailored shopping experience, retailers build customer loyalty and showcase a high degree of brand differentiation, contributing to repeat sales and potentially creating brand evangelists.
Team:
Yann Grillere and Patrick Simon Bouaziz developed the ILoveVelvet solution. Yann Grillere is the VP of delivery management at Elyon Services, the major representative of ILoveVelvet’s French operations, and held IT director positions at France Telecom for six years prior to joining ILoveVelvet. During his time at France Telecom, Yann was responsible for information security (IS) in every aspect of the business, including retail outlets.
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Patrick Bouaziz is ILoveVelvet’s managing director, and prior to joining the Company, had more than 15 years of experience in management-level positions at SAP, Oracle and Comverse. Patrick helped develop business strategies for France Telecom, Group Suez, Alstom Power and Group Areva, while advising Degremont, Alstom Power, and L’Oreal regarding enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation.
ILoveVelvet is headquartered in New York City, with a sister company in France. The company also has offices in Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Israel, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
Market Relevance
U.S. retail sales have continued their 2010 dive through July, but the ILoveVelvet team believes the downturn presents an opportunity. Many prominent retailers haven’t been thinking creatively or strategically about how to get consumers back in the store. With the traditional service-based sale close to extinction thanks to Internet shopping, brick-and-mortar retailers are under the gun to find new ways to engage their customers. Integrating the most applicable aspects of web shopping with a face-to-face experience is the key to recharging retail sales — and this can only happen by addressing the changing dynamics of 21st century service differentiation. Accessible, web-enabled tools need to be at the hands of salespeople in order to better cement customer loyalty in new, exciting ways.
Since the Company’s inception, the Velvet Suite has been designed to be a true “Customer-Centric” application for in-store mobility, with a strong focus on increasing the expertise of an organization’s sale representatives.
Delivery
ILoveVelvet’s technology, The Velvet Suite, includes both hardware and software components. Compatible with Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods for in-store mobility, the Velvet D-Holster is a comprehensive cradle designed to allow retailers to scan bar codes and employs contactless, smart card and magnetic swipe readers for customer payment and loyalty cards. Additionally, the system offers a contactless RFID processor for accurate, real-time inventory tracking.
The Velvet Store, ILoveVelvet’s software solution, enables retailers to create a branded, enhanced in-store experience for customers. With The Velvet Store, customers are offered a personalized, end-to-end encounter via information at the salesperson’s fingertips. Retailers can offer “concierge shopping” to every customer, providing targeted promotions and recommendations based on past purchases.
Additionally, retailers can access their entire product catalogue on the device, showing the customer items that may be of interest, while having access to details and sales pitches unique to each product. As a training tool, the software also includes the ability to create quizzes for new inventory, ensuring that sales representatives are educated on all products.
Logistically, through the system’s single web-based platform, the Velvet dashboard is designed to consolidate the need for multiple retailing reporting systems, resulting in easier-to-maintain databases and reduced maintenance costs. In addition, the dashboard supports multiple user interfaces and document languages.
ILoveVelvet negotiates with individual credit card companies to offer flat rates with no hidden costs to all of its customers. The current card rate is 2.39% with a retail transaction/batch fee of $0.20.
Proof Points
Luxury brands like Gucci, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Sephora have already adopted ILoveVelvet into their storefronts, and the Company currently operates out of Hong Kong, Israel, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and just recently launched a presence in the United States.
Aside from luxury brands, the Company has worked with small- to medium-sized retailers to deliver a unique, differentiating in-store experience, which improves the overall value proposition outside of the core products or services being sold.
