Final Post

The Elite Shopper Experience started out as an idea where shoppers could add their favorite items into a shopping bag and by the time they arrived in the store their clothes would be waiting for them. Personalized shopping could never be easier; customers pick an appointment time with the store of their choice and the items they added to their cart would be waiting, to their specifications, in a changing room. Through facial recognition technology, customers would be spotted the second they walked through the door and would immediately be taken care of by employees.

Originally, my idea had nothing to do with social media. I had not factored any social media networks into my online application and later decided to add this feature to the app. i want to add a customer service line through Twitter and Facebook. Doing this will help us engage with our customers, help them if they are unhappy with the service, and it also gives The Elite Shopper Experience free press if customers are satisfied.

Through Facebook and Twitter, customers can also share the brands products, their stories about the experience, and let others know about their elite shopping moments as they go. Customers can also check in through Foursquare and if the store allows, the customer can access a discount or coupon, which will help to bring them back to the store in the future. This will create initiative for them to return and tell their friends about the service.

Another important aspect added to The Elite Shopper Experience is the delivery feature. This feature let's shoppers decide whether they want to go in-store to try on the clothes, or have the clothes delivered to their house. If the clothes delivered don't fit or are not to the customer's taste, they can ship it back for return and refund. This will make shopping time much less consuming. I also added the special occasion reminder feature which tells customers when a special occasion may be coming up according to their schedule. Once reminded, customers will realize they need something new to wear and make an appointment with the store or have something delivered.

Through research, I discovered ways in which I could improve my idea. Adding social media outlets, a delivery-system option, and a special-occasion-reminder setting to The Elite Shopper Experience will definitely make the idea more appealing to customers. To make this idea a reality, I would need to contact elite stores that are interested in making personal shopping easier and more exclusive. Once they gained interest, I would have to explain the costs of installing the facial recognition system and how much of their customers' info would be stored in our database. If their interest continued, the feature could begin implementation and The Elite Shopper Experience would be available to that stores' customers.

Computer Security

• Making sure that my computer is protected from viruses and various crime is imperative to the success of my entrepreneurial idea. The information in my computer will be extremely valuable to the brand and security will need to be tight. With so much personal information to control, the risk of a security breach would be extremely unfortunate and could possibly lead to the downfall of the company.

• My idea would benefit from computer security because we will have credit card records on file and personal information of the customers. Without protecting this information, it would have the potential to be stolen which could lead to many lawsuits. Stressing the importance of security on the entrepreneurial idea's software is a necessity. Because the idea is based so closely on personalization, this means personal information will be stored on our systems.

• With such personal information being stored may come with consequences if there is a lack of security for the company's system. A secure computer security system is important for the customers' conscience too as this will make them feel more confident about giving our company their information. Controlling who accesses the information is important as well; my company would not want our customer's information available to everyone, but rather just the right people who deserve access.

Operating Systems

Entrepreneurial Idea: The Elite Shopper

• While shopping online, a purchaser places his or her favorite items onto a wish list. The purchaser takes the items that were chosen and while on line makes an appointment time with the store's stylist. The stylist will hold the items and when you arrive for your appointment, places the items into a dressing room for you to try on. When showing up for the appointment, facial recognition of the purchaser is performed by a store computer and he or she is escorted into a dressing room to try on the items. After shopping, the purchaser's finger is scanned by another computer and the selected items are automatically charged to the purchaser's credit card.

Operating systems : The Elite Shopper

• Working in an industry where time is money means that one requires a fast, up-to-date, top of the line operating system for their company. Whether in the store or at headquarters, functioning with older operating systems slows down the ability to do business well. Operating systems are required for the understanding of a computer for those not in the information technology field; they convert computer language to a language that the majority of the population can understand. Without the operating system, there is no function of a computer and instead there is a black screen when booted on.

• My idea benefits from the use of operating systems because we use facial recognition software which is a computer application. Without software, my store couldn't recognize customers and therefore the experience would be less personalized. The main part of my idea that I want to stress is how personalization leads to happier, more frequent customers and without facial recognition on my computer, I would lose a vital part to the experience.

• The operating system I would want to use would be able to work with a program for my shoppers. It would manage the information entered into files and organize it accordingly. My operating system would also help me to perform specific tasks catered to my customers' needs and desires. The Elite Shopper Experience would be useless without operating systems as it requires a connection with the facial recognition software being used.

Blogger Review

YOUNG, FABULOUS, & SELF-EMPLOYED

http://yfsentrepreneur.com/

• YFS, also known as Young, Fabulous & Self-Employed, was created by Erica Nicole, serial entrepreneur, and Lauren Rich, CEO of the boutique public relations agency RICHPR. Nicole not only founded YSF, but is also a memory of the Young Entrepreneur Council and the National Association of Professional Women. She has received many awards for her creation of YSF and has been featured on reputable sties that include Forbes.com, Portfolio.com, and more. Rich graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology based in New York City with a major in Advertising and Marketing Communications. Not only did Rich obtain her first two clients while still a student, but she now has offices in both New York City and London. RICHPR services clients in event production, writing, publicity, and social media.

• Young, Fabulous & Self-Employed is a an online magazine that gives advice on small business startups and entrepreneurship while also delivering news on both topics. They post original content on how to succeed in an entrepreneurial or small business throughout the whole website and YFS also invite visitors to write articles for the site. YFS suggests books, news of other entrepreneurial events, and tips in all sections of their webazine. At the top of their page, they have categories from which to chose from named Getting Started, Running a Business, Success Profiles, Savvy Startups, Stylish Gadgets, and Lifestyle; all containing subcategories organizing the site further.

• After researching and discovering YSF, I was immediately drawn to their openness to writers; letting anyone who desires to submit an article to the website is a bold move which creates huge networking benefits for both YSF and others. Inspirational posts about success stories gives hope to entrepreneurs everywhere as seeing is believing. Though the web magazine has many categories to chose from to explore, when I searched "fashion" in the search bar, I saw that the amount of posts about the topic were rarely posted and nothing truly focused on fashion entrepreneurship. After seeing all of the categories on the site, I expected there to be a section on what seems like a business with such huge entrepreneurial opportunities. I wanted to see inspirational stories about fashion as my entrepreneurial idea was fashion-related and I could not find one. Regardless, YSF is very informative, inspirational, and open to readers and writers alike.

The Elite Shopper's Competition

Entrepreneurial Idea: The Elite Shopper

• While shopping online, a purchaser places his or her favorite items onto a wish list. The purchaser takes the items that were chosen and while on line makes an appointment time with the store's stylist. The stylist will hold the items and when you arrive for your appointment, places the items into a dressing room for you to try on. When showing up for the appointment, facial recognition of the purchaser is performed by a store computer and he or she is escorted into a dressing room to try on the items. After shopping, the purchaser's finger is scanned by another computer and the selected items are automatically charged to the purchaser's credit card.

My Competitors: The Elite Shopper

COMPETITOR URL: http://www1.bloomingdales.com/about/shopping/personal.jsp

• Bloomingdales personal shoppers is similar to the Elite Shopper Experience because we both identify the customers taste in clothing and pick out pieces that we feel are similar to the customers style. We both keep up with trends consistently and work with the customers schedule. Though we are similar in these aspects, Bloomingdales delivers the merchandise where as the Elite Shopper Experience is an in -store experience wherein the customer comes in to specifically buy the clothing. Bloomingdales also has their personal shoppers register the customers' important dates on their calender; reminding them to come into their store when a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion draws near.

COMPETITOR URL: http://www.cakestyle.com/

• CakeStyle differs from the Elite Shopper Experience because it is a seasonal styling service rather than a shop-when-you-please service. Rather than coming in-store like you do for the Elite Shopper Experience, your clothes are shipped straight to your door where you can choose what you love and return what you don't. We are similar because the styling service is a free part of the experience. Their goal was to make shopping less time consuming and the Elite Shopper goal is to make shopping more personal while also making shopping less hassle free.

After researching for companies and services similar to mine, I discovered ways I can improve my idea greatly. I would possibly add a delivery service, special occasion reminder service, and add an aspect of making returns more quickly to make the experience less time consuming. Through researching companies similar to mine, I've discovered more ways to improve my entrepreneurial idea.

The System Unit and The Elite Shopper

Entrepeneurial idea: The Elite Shopper

• While shopping online, a purchaser places his or her favorite items onto a wish list. The purchaser takes the items that were chosen and while on line makes an appointment time with the store's stylist. The stylist will hold the items and when you arrive for your appointment, places the items into a dressing room for you to try on. When showing up for the appointment, facial recognition of the purchaser is performed by a store computer and he or she is escorted into a dressing room to try on the items. After shopping, the purchaser's finger is scanned by another computer and the selected items are automatically charged to the purchaser's credit card.

The System Unit Lecture:

• The System Unit on a desktop personal computer includes the important aspects that will be used for my entrepreneurial idea; memory, a video card, and a sound card. My ‘Elite Shopper’ idea relates to the System Unit because it will be used in store for memory; an important feature in making customers feel special.  When a customer comes into the store they will be identified by the facial recognition software and with top of the line memory, recognizing the customer by file will be much easier. The CPU in our store’s computers will also hold the basic instructions on what to do when a customer enters through the doors; it will quickly turn on and send out instructions from memory.

• Next, the instructions will be transformed into a command, such as “bring up Kara G’s past shopping file”, and then the result will be written to memory. My parallel processor will implement my ‘Elite Shopper’ program on the computer in the fastest way possible; less of a wait for the shopper means better service. As the ‘Elite Shopper Experience’ says right in the title, the experience is elite. Having a SSD, a solid-state drive, means better everything technology wise for the idea. Though it is more expensive, our elite experience means every aspect of the store has to be top of the line.

• A top of the line, reliable computer system unit is a huge aspect in the success of the business idea. Whilst affording expensive parts for the most impressive of computers is outrageous, in the end customer service will be so successful it will pay itself back. By giving the customers quick service with the assurance that the computer will be less susceptible to shock, we are automatically giving off a good impression. Having the cream of the crop computer technology means that your company has the potential to be the cream of the crop in whatever industry you choose.

Social Media and The Elite Shopper

Entrepreneurial idea: "The Elite Shopper."

• While shopping online, a purchaser places his or her favorite items onto a wish list. The purchaser takes the items that were chosen and while on line makes an appointment time with the store's stylist. The stylist will hold the items and when you arrive for your appointment, places the items into a dressing room for you to try on. When showing up for the appointment, facial recognition of the purchaser is performed by a store computer and he or she is escorted into a dressing room to try on the items. After shopping, the purchaser's finger is scanned by another computer and the selected items are automatically charged to the purchaser's credit card.

Social Media Lecture:

• Social media and customer service now work hand in hand. Compliments, complaints, or comments can be made through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. and this puts companies in a place where they have an opportunity to interact with customers. If such complaints are made, brands are given the chance to fix the problem. If compliments are posted by satisfied customers, it results in great press for the company. In either event, social media is imperative to the company's clout and online reputation. My 'Elite Shopper' idea relates to social media because of our loyalty to customer service. If someone is unhappy with our organization, they can complain through our many social media outlets.

• Customers are sure to enjoy our new way of shopping as it integrates online shopping with in-store shopping like never before. Shoppers can tweet about our products, share them on Facebook, and we are able to get early warnings of issues before other shoppers see them. We can get feedback from our customers, and learn from that feedback in positive ways.

• More importantly, engaging our customers online is pertinent to success. Getting shoppers involved online means free positive press if our job is done well. Not only does this mean positive posts by shoppers, but this also means that our company can give people an experience that makes them feel unique. By engaging with customers online, they will feel special and important; a key ingredient in making this what I intended it to be - an Elite Shopper's Experience.

Elite Shopper Anonymous

People sit at home doing online shopping for hours. Some find it therapeutic, others find it addicting. Online shopping does not discriminate against gender, race, or location - it is for everybody. I am to create an application for the elite shopper.

It's a normal Saturday afternoon and one browses online at their favorite retailer. Item after item is put on a wish list and once finished, the elite customer hits "send". Where did it go? This wish list is then delivered to a stylist at the customer's choice of store and after, an appointment must be made by the shopper. Why? To try on the clothes picked out from their wish list.

The customer shows up at the chosen time and as they walk in, the store performs facial recognition to greet and bring you to your dressing room. Everything that you picked out online is in the dressing room under the specific regulations you proposed online and ready to be tried on.

After picking out your favorites, you head to the cash register where a worker has you scan your finger, which automatically charges your credit card. No fumbling to grab at your wallet, whilst dropping your new clothes, and you are free to go once everything is paid for. THIS is the elite shopper's experience.