EZ Home: Worksheet 4
What is the problem your app is addressing?
EZ Home is the app for anyone who has ever had to move; whether you are travelling from apartment or apartment or into your new dream house, every new living space has a different layout to accommodate and a different aesthetic to match. Anyone in this situation has dealt buying new furniture and struggling with limits to both with their space and their budget. When couches and seating can run into the thousands of dollars, buyers need to be certain their new pieces will perfectly fit the new living room before they make the purchase. At the same time manufacturers, stores, and interior designers need to entice reluctant customers to purchase these same expensive pieces the first time they walk in to look for a new bed or dining room table.
Currently both customers and salespeople struggle to find the perfect match for an existing apartment or room. There’s a multitude of furniture brands with their own sizes, colors, and styles for every room, from big box budget stores to expensive designer leather pieces, and the bevy of independent boutique shops that fall somewhere in between. Although individual brands have online applications and websites to help the customer, there is nothing comprehensive. There is a need in the market for an adaptable and customizable phone app to help streamline the buying and selling of furniture. EZ Home can fill that void.
EZ Home helps both customers and salespeople to create an online 3D space to visualize how furniture of all brands and budgets will look before the purchasing decision has been made. App users plug the dimensions of their apartment or the rooms into the interface, and then choose items from a database of pieces aggregated from a number of different furniture manufacturers. Independent salespeople can also upload their own pieces, thanks to compatibility with websites like Craiglist and a feature which isolates searches to local stores users might not find with a quick Google search. This feature will let users focus on local and smaller businesses who do not have the resources for expensive websites or massive advertising campaigns to get word of their product out.
For customers, the app will help eliminate costly trips to multiple stores, which will in turn help furniture stores make that initial sale. Not only will consumers benefit tremendously from this app, both manufacturers and retailers will reduce their SGA (Sales, General and Administration) cost in displaying and retailing the products. Users will know about the furniture in detail using our app, while retailers can use the app to show off pieces that might fit customers even if they are not necessarily on the showroom floor, avoiding depreciation and abrasion during the customers’ visit. The cost of handling return and exchange issues will be significantly saved when customers will know what they want before they even come into the store; they are unlikely to send pieces back or demand a refund for a product that doesn’t match their space.
Thanks to its Facebook connectivity, EZ Home also serves as a kind of home design social network, which will home design companies to fully utilize the power of peer approval. As industry publication Furniture World explains, customers “spent on average 6 hours and 35 minutes on Facebook versus 1 hour and 21 minutes spent on Google” (Root, 2011). The International Journal of Advertising also suggests that user-generated content or “peer” advertising is a more effective sales tool than equivalent ads made by a professional (Mikyong 2011). Put simply, EZ Home facilitates communication for both sides of the furniture market.
Who is the audience and why is this relevant to them?
EZ Home will come in two forms: a free version for consumers and a paid version for salespeople, interior designers, and other professionals in the industry. The free version of EZ Home will target technologically savvy smart phone owners. These customers are creative, intelligent, and willing to shop around to wear they can get the best deal. They are also interested in cultivating a certain aesthetic in their home or apartment and will not take just anything available. This includes a number of demographics, from students moving to college, to young professionals in their first apartment, to families in the military or corporate world transferred from place to place multiple times over their careers. For these consumers, their information will be payment for the free application. Users of the free version of EZ Home will start by plugging in demographic information, location and existing furniture, which may include heirlooms and antiques but also branded merchandise. Then they’ll be able to search and select pieces from a catalog of items, with those matching their tastes and customary budget prioritized at the top. With Facebook connectivity, users will also be able to see which pieces their friends liked and what pieces might have a coupon available. With the coupons our app will attract bargain hunters, and with the Facebook connection we’ll also attract those users interested in peer reviews and approval. They will also be able to share their 3D homes and apartments using the same connectivity once they’ve finished choosing their pieces, providing a marketing tool for both the application and any furniture brands the user chooses to feature.
While the basic, free version of the application has a broad audience, the more expensive paid version is strictly meant for a a professional and experienced audience of manufacturers, salespeople and interior designers. They will use the app not to choose what to buy but instead to sell furniture. EZ Home will have two versions based on the advice of interior designer Xiao Zeng, who feels that professionals will not just benefit from enhanced options but require them (Zeng 2011). The enhanced options and appearance will provide a more professional looking and immersive experience for customers and the more powerful tools will provide more control and flexibility. The basic application helps to better find the piece one needs for their room, while the enhanced app is built to convince a customer the piece in front of them is the item they’ve been looking for. Enhanced options will include a more extensive database of furniture (including wholesalers and antiques), better interior lighting simulation, more customization options such as the ability to simulate different materials and upholstery options, and a more flexible layout tool allowing for curved walls and stairways. Professionals can use this tool to recreate the customer’s apartment and place the desired pieces in an attractive and realistic 3D setting. Instead of an interface that prominently showcases coupons and Facebook popularity, the paid version will have the option of turning off the side bar of information and instead prominently showcasing the constructed 3D model from all sides and angles. However, these features will not be removed totally. Should an interior designer suspect their client could be more likely to buy with peer approval, the Facebook connectivity feature can be called back and placed up front and center. Other influential factors like price and coupon availability likewise can be manipulated. Professionals can also use the Facebook connectivity to share their 3D models with customers. This will create a permanent copy of the 3D model on the person’s Facebook page, which their friends can see and comment on, allowing access to these potential customers.
How is your app different than other apps that potentially address this problem?
While there are many furniture and interior design mobile apps, EZ Home stands out from other apps thanks to two major features: its clear emphasis on design and the aggregation of multiple manufacturers’ catalogs.
The existing mobile apps that might compete with EZ Home can be divided into three broad categories. The first group could be described as furniture collections (pictures distributed by the manufacturer) and interior designer’s portfolios, which consist of a great number of pictures but of no design capability. Home and furniture magazines like Dwell specialize in this type, as they already have images to inspire users with the various furniture and interior design styles. The second group consists of Internet or cloud based sharing platforms, which allow users to exchange design ideas and keep track with the latest interior design information. As with the first type, the second class provides users with rich interactive design resources to broaden users’ horizon. The last group has 2D or even 3D design capabilities, but the majority are expensive and their usefulness is overshadowed by the instability of the operating systems. A good example of this app type is Udesignit, which creates a realistic 3D plan but doesn’t offer real-life examples of their furniture (HB Conception, 2011).
Given all of the limitations of the existing similar apps, EZ Home’s strong design capability significantly adds to its competitiveness and practical applicability. The majority of furniture and home design apps aim to help customers by inspiring them with various kinds of furniture items or design styles. However, there are two crucial drawbacks. First, not all of these fancy and beautiful furniture artifacts displayed on apps are accessible and affordable to average customers. Secondly, these apps exhibit furniture on a piece-to-piece basis, which prevents users from comparing a combination pieces or understanding how these individual pieces will contribute to the aesthetics of the whole room. Other than the uncertainty of the complete aesthetic picture, users are further burdened by a lack of dimensions; they have no idea whether their chosen furniture could be squeezed into their rooms. EZ Home in comparison equips customers with powerful tools to translate their imaginary plan into a model they can visualize and manipulate, which will help them better position their furniture. This is the major point that EZ Home excels at, far more than most existing furniture and home design apps.
The other major feature that distinguishes EZ Home from other similar applications is EZ Home’s catalog, which includes multiple manufacturers into one database. In most cases, the current 2D or 3D design apps confine users to dragging furniture items from a set of very basic shapes and types which do not necessarily translate to real world items. This mechanism places users into an awkward situation; if they want to furnish their rooms based on their design plan, they will have to search for matching furniture in the real world. EZ Home incorporates manufacturers’ catalogs into our database, and update periodically. With this feature users know where to find the items used in their designs before they settle on a vision. Some giant chain furniture manufacturers, like IKEA and HOWE furniture, have competing mobile apps exhibiting their products exclusively. These apps inform users of the available colors, measurements, and other detail information of their furniture. But they don’t incorporate competitors into their database, nor do they have any support for custom pieces or heirlooms. As brands continue to release their own apps one after the other, more and more manufacturers show how valuable mobile apps are in promoting their products. EZ Home provides that same visibility while balancing between design application and advertisement.
What interesting research questions might emerge as a result of this app?
As we researched and asked professionals in the industry what they thought of EZ Home, we discovered a number of questions the application raises that must be answered.
For example Jennifer Green, vice president of public relations firm Michael A. Burns and Associates and account executive for furniture brands American Leather, Lilly Pulitzer Home and Hotel Maison, warned that a mobile app that simply connects to the Internet would not be good enough. The more important thing would be make sure that the app could let multiple companies have access and implement Facebook thoroughly. Her focus on Facebook raised questions about its power over purchasing decisions. How could social media effectively enhance the power of communication?
Xiao Zeng, an interior designer, made the team aware of the fact that that there are already some similar design software packages available for personal computers. Most of them are marketed to professional designers. Mobility would be EZ Home’s greatest advantage, which made the group question how mobility and convenience impacts the message the app attempts to convey. In addition, how does the app balance the two very different consumers, professionals and less knowledgeable consumers? Will the functions like color blending guide, space allocation, and interior design samples help the designing process or confuse neophytes?
We also discovered in our research that there is some 360 degree 3D capability on the websites of certain brands. However, the sizes and formats varied a lot. How will EZ Home transfer such a multitude of uneven information into one database? Are these internet-based 3D advertisements effective enough to be worth the trouble? What are the positive and negative implications of such a technique?
There are two disciplines we explores for our mobile app: business and communication. The business world sees 3D as anew opportunity, particularly on the side of marketing. David Court alone raised a number of questions about three-dimensional virtual world environments (or 3D VWs) and how they have influenced a number of marketing variables: telepresence, engagement, enjoyment, brand equity, and behavioral intention (Court, 1999). His paper made us wonder if 3D VWs and the experiences they offer to customers can help enhance perceptions of branding and purchasing decisions, especially on high ticket items like furniture. Our main question became simple: How could this mobile app make profits through advertisements, information collection, and coupons?
In comparison, many communication scholars are interested in how mobile phones have changed how we spread information. Scholars have questioned a number of new influences these phones give; one even studied how emotional attachment to the mobile device influences adaption (Olsaker, 2009). Okazaki Shintaro, for example, considered mobile apps as a kind of “medium of the future” (Shintaro 2011). He questioned the effects of persuasive communications in the cyber environment and how social networks form around mobile phones and mobile apps. His interest in the power mobile applications have over traditional computers fueled our communications research. So the main question becomes: How do we spread EZ Home’s social network presence and persuade more customers to use it?
How might two different disciplines address these questions? What might be missing as a result of this approach?
The opportunities and implications of EZ Home can best be understood in the context of the business and communication disciplines. These two areas of focus will showcase the increased revenue for the furniture industry and an expanded community for likeminded individuals as a result of using this mobile application.
In order to ensure the success of EZ Home, strong relationships must be forged with furniture manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and industry professionals. EZ Home’s goal is to provide a mutually beneficial experience for the industry and the consumers by making all related processes efficient and effective.
Since this mobile application is free to download EZ Home will generate it’s revenue from advertising sales and selling demographic information for market research purposes. Furniture companies can have access to a target demographic that would be most receptive to their advertising, coupons and offers which incentivizes buying the advertising space from EZ Home. The demographic information that is collected from the users can also be used to better understand the behaviors and patterns of the consumers to better tailor advertising and marketing efforts. These types of features will serve as incentives for industry partners to invest into EZ Home’s platform, both literally and figuratively, and provide us access to their catalogues. Another incentive for the industry to get involved with EZ Home is the streamlined search process which has the potential to expose new customers to companies and their websites that they would have otherwise never come across. Alternatively, EZ Home will also generate revenue from the selling of the advance professional version. The features of the application will allow the industry professionals to increase their own sales due to the visual component and persuading potential that can influence customers.
EZ Home differentiates itself from other mobile applications that focus on furniture because it has more of an emphasis on creating a community of likeminded individuals. EZ Home understands the significance of the peer review trend and has built in features and shortcuts that promote sharing with social networks. EZ Home will help the industry stakeholders see that there is directly correlation between peer reviews and sales or lack thereof.
“SoLoMo,” also known as the “social, local, mobile,” movement is another trend that EZ Home is sensitive to (Barone, 2011). Since EZ Home focuses on providing search results of the best suited products that fit the need of the user and less on the companies there is a strong emphasis to support local businesses.
Overall, EZ Home provides a means for a static industry like furniture manufacturing and retail to benefit from the efficiencies of the digital and mobile movement while providing a better customer experience. Apps like EZ Home will become more prevalent in the near future as every industry thinks about translating what they do and customer relations online.
Works Cited
Barone, Lisa. "The SoLoMo Revolution: Social Media, Local Search & Mobile Search Collide." Outspoken Media. Outspoken Media, 7 June 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .
David Court, Thomas D. French, Tim I. McGuire, and Michael Partington. “Marketing in 3D.” The McKinsey Quarterly 1999. Number 4
Green, Jennifer. "Jennifer Green on EZ Home." Telephone interview. 6 Oct. 2011.
HB Conception Virtuelle Inc. "Home Design 3D Udesignit Demo." AppBrain. 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .
Kim Mikyong, et al. "Peer Or Expert?." International Journal Of Advertising 30.1 (2011): 161-188. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.
Olsaker, Ailsa, and Nikolaos Drakatos. "Mobile Advertising: The Influence Of Emotional Attachment To Mobile Devices On Consumer Receptiveness." Journal Of Marketing Communications 15.4 (2009): 267-280. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.
Root, Mike. "Bring In Customers With New Facebook Strategies." Furniture World. Furniture World Magazine, 11 July 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. .
Shintaro, Okazaki, and Patrick Barwise. "Has The Time Finally Come For The Medium Of The Future?." Journal Of Advertising Research 51.(2011): 59-71. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.
Zeng, Xiao. "Xiao Zeng on EZ Home." Personal interview. 8 Oct. 2011.
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For CCTP 505
November 29, 2011
EZ Home: Worksheet 4
A Summation of EZ Home’s Workings and Implications
Project Team: Tracy Carlin, Wen Yan, Dorothy Peng, Junya Yuan, and Ani Okkasian
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