KNOMI, the social discovery platform for high-end fashion, was founded with the aim to bridge the gap between virtual and physical showrooms, after its founders’ belief that shopping transactions taking place equally in both the online and offline world are complementary rather than competing one another. KNOMI is designed especially for those who want fashion to be a social and shared activity, integrating social interaction into the online shopping sphere; KNOMI brings together fashion lovers, editors, stylists, bloggers, designers, and fashion boutiques. We sat down with Sahiba Saluja from the KNOMI team to discuss developing a fashion app, expanding their product, working with emerging designers and the team’s ultimate goal for KNOMI.
How have you grown since your launch in 2012?
We recognize the importance of understanding and adapting to new consumer behavior, and as a result KNOMI has been changing shape throughout its development process, adapting in response to customer feedback. Initially, we created a product aimed at personalizing customer service in high-end retail. The idea being that when a registered customer walks into a boutique with a mobile phone, the salesperson will see his or her details on a tablet, which makes it easy to customize customer service to suit an individuals needs. Structural issues with the adoption of the product in the partner stores led to the realization that the concept needed changing.
After carrying out an extensive research phase into consumer behavior, we recognized a gap in the market for a genuinely social and tailored shopping experience. This is what we believe differentiates us from our competitors and we’re really excited about it! We’ve learnt a lot.
How is KNOMI making the fashion app world more social?
There’s offline brick-and-mortar shopping, which is a very social activity, and online shopping, which is inherently unsocial. With KNOMI, we aim to make the online world more social by combining online inspiration and offline shopping into a seamless experience. Our app has the ability to directly share and recommend products and brands with friends. In this way, users are able to integrate social interaction into the online shopping sphere. We are able to unite fashion lovers, editors, stylists, bloggers, designers and boutiques, providing a direct link between influencer and customer. We then provide the tools to order the product from an online store – or the directions to the nearest boutique selling it. The function becomes part of the smooth process of new generation fashion discovery. Our central theme of social shopping is reflected in our name, “KNOMI”, as in, “Know Me.”
You have also integrated an ecommerce in your app. What prompted this decision?
Our aim at KNOMI is to simplify the shopping experience for the user so it was natural for us to incorporate shoppable products. We recognize that transactions will take place in both the online and offline world, and it isn’t our intention to change this, but to accommodate it.
Tell us about your including emerging designers. How do you select them?
Currently we have a database of over one million products on KNOMI. We are fortunate enough to have access to unique talent in fashion through our work with FIA (Fashion Innovation Agency). We are working with affiliates but soon we will work directly with upcoming designers graduating from fashion schools. This is made possible by our ongoing collaboration with UAL (University of the Arts London), of which many of our marketing team are alumni. We are really grateful for this ongoing partnership, and we’re certain it holds great opportunities for the future of KNOMI.
What is the top priority when building a user-friendly app?
Simplicity is key. When building an app, it is very easy to get carried away by lots of great features that one wants to add to the product. But keeping the experience clean and simple so that a first time user understands it right away is most important and hence one has to learn to say “no” to a lot of cool things.
What has been the biggest problem to overcome as a startup?
The most important success factor in a startup is having the right team. Building the KNOMI team has been and continues to be a great challenge as we strive to have the best fashion and tech talent onboard.
Can you actually make everything shoppable?
Every product featured on KNOMI is shoppable; just click “BUY” and you will be directly linked to the retailer.
Is there really time to catch up to all the changes in consumer behavior to keep your app moving forward?
Speed is essential for survival as a startup. Naturally, we can’t accommodate every consumer trend we see right away, but addressing the right changes in consumer behavior in a timely fashion with a simple and clean user experience is key to success as a venture.
Are you looking to integrate more social platforms to grow your reach?
Yes we are. We strive to have integrations with all major social networks.
What is your ultimate goal for your project?
KNOMI was founded on the basic idea that mobile fashion discovery and the shopping experience in the physical world are there to complement each other, rather than to compete with each other. Our goal is to bridge the gap between virtual and physical showrooms through the use of beacon technology in order to create an enjoyable, social and seamless shopping experience for the consumer.
www.knomi.com
Images© Knomi
Featured image via
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