Getcolcoord.com is a new e-commerce system due for release in 2009. The system contains colour matching and co-ordination software that allows interior designers to colour match items such as carpets, wallpaper, paint, furniture and curtains.
The same system also allows the colour matching of clothing. So someone with a favourite top can search the Getcolcoord system and look for matching or colour co-ordinated items such as dresses, coats, handbags and shoes.
The system has its origins in a research project part funded by the DTI, now the Technology Strategy Board. In the year 2000, the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Unit of the DTI formed The Textiles & Clothing Strategy Group aimed at establishing a survival strategy for the UK textile industry. Its key recommendations were:
l stronger and more efficient co-operation between manufacturers;
l better use of UK design talent;
l exploitation of university resources;
l better promotion of the UK industrys quality reputation in certain areas.
Whilst being of value, the proposals of the strategy group did not take into account the potential of electronic commerce to dramatically reinvent the textile manufacturing industry. Instead of competing with prices to the retailers, via electronic commerce, knitting manufacturers can compete with high street prices. This offers the viable prospect of reduced prices to the consumer with the potential of creating a profitable UK textile manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the application of electronic commerce has the potential to radically transform the way the industry operates.
Since 2000 the need for a strategy for textiles has increased. In response to requests from ministers from France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Greece, the European Commission has set up the High Level Group On Textiles and Clothing. This group has the mandate to formulate recommendations on concrete measures to improve the conditions for the competitiveness of the European textiles and clothing industry.
The current thinking of this group with respect to e-commerce and textiles is as follows: & linked to the growing take-up of mass-customised goods and B2C trade on the Internet there will be more competition than ever before in a growing higher end market segment where quality and fit, linked to the need for immediate delivery, will become an ever more significant element in determining the customers choice and where the consumer him or herself will be prepared to pay a premium for quality.
No reference is made in the document to the use of e-commerce to make manufacturers less dependent on retailers. The groups report uses the conventional and current thinking on e-commerce which is that to succeed in an Internet environment the goods have to be delivered immediately, to quote the European Commission. This use of e-commerce eliminates the use of e-commerce for a manufacturer to sell goods he has not yet made and thus dramatically reduces the viability of the use of e-commerce by manufacturers to bypass the retailer. This is the same thinking that was used by the DTI when it formulated its textile survival strategy.
So the research project which led to the development of Getcolcoord.com had two primary objectives:
1) To develop a strategy that used e-commerce to create a new trading environment;
2) To develop a new e-commerce system that could be used as a tool to support this strategy.
During the project it was noticed that Internet customers are sometimes prepared to wait six weeks for some products and that it was quite common to see long delivery times being quoted.
This demonstrated that the need for immediate delivery is in reality obsolete. This evolution of Internet customer requirements is likely to have far reaching consequences irrespective of whether the knitter sells his products direct or via the retailer. The longer the Internet delivery time the greater the flexibility in the following areas:
l Design. A longer delivery lead time increases the viability of producing customer led designs;
l Products. A longer delivery lead time increases the range of products that can be sold via the Internet. This applies to greater flexibility to use make-to-order products as well as the sale of more yarn or fibre dyed fabrics.
New software
To achieve the objective of developing new e-commerce software, the project adopted the structure of designing the software in the UK by MRA, with the cutting edge software being programmed by IPA in Craiova, Romania. The textile sector was represented by The Textile Institute which was a partner in the project.
At the software design stage, almost by accident, a way of colour matching was identified. This occurred in stages. Firstly the ability to carry out a strict match was discovered. However, this was of little practical use on its own given that there are many millions of different colours or shades. The next stage was to develop software that could identify close or similar colours to a user defined target colour. Only with these two parts working in tandem did the system possess a practical software tool.
The resulting software contains the following modules:
1) The Colour Studio - this allows users to select a colour from a palette, store that colour via a name defined by them, and match it against products with a matching or similar colour.
In addition the Colour Studio allows users to identify harmonious colours which can then be selected by the user for matching against products.
After carrying out a colour search the software will display back to the user those products containing the closest matching colour to the target colour. The user can then select a product from the search and pick a colour in that product to carry out a second colour search. In this way a portfolio of matching and co-ordinated products can be built up to suit the users tastes and needs.
The software will match and co-ordinate interior design products such as carpets, paint, wallpaper, furniture, upholstery fabrics, bedding and curtains as well as clothes such as blouses, dresses, tops, jackets, coats, shoes and handbags.
2) Product linking software - the software will try and combine orders wherever possible to maximise production and order volume. This will operate on the product identification and product family. The software will combine orders for the same product. It will also link orders together where products belong to the same product family. A product family is defined as those products which share a common manufacturing process or material which reduces the set-up cost of production. By combining products from the same family, the software takes account of actual reductions in production costs when these products are manufactured together. This can obviously have an impact on the minimum sales price required.
3) The auction website - allows users to bid for products available for auction direct from the manufacturer. This part of the system is designed to cater for the following situations:
l allow manufacturers to sell excess production;
l assist manufacturers in identifying market prices for products by assessing the bids being made;
l assist manufacturers in matching products to markets.
In addition to the above main modules, the system has a full range of administrative and support sections. The system is currently seeking investors. If you are interested please contact mike.roberts@getcolcoord.co.uk. KI