Sheila Dahlgren SVP Marketing & Corporate Communication
Scene7, Inc.
Office: 415-506-6002
Cell: 415-948-5207 sheila@scene7.com
December 16, 2004
How the web could make a big maker of shoes smaller –
and why that’s good
By its own calculation, if athletic shoemaker Nike made only the samples its
sales force needs to show the product to retailer customers and no other shoes
for actual sale to consumers, it would still be the fifth largest shoemaker in
the world. But that could be about to change. Nike is implementing new imaging
technology from Scene7 that will cut the time and cost of producing that many
samples by allowing Nike reps to show retailer customers online immediately how
a new or redesigned shoe will look.
“We needed tangible pieces to sell, so we would mock up each color of shoe,” says
Mark Capalbo, executive producer at Nike.com. “This way we are going to
be able to limit the number of samples we make. And if you can reduce that number,
you’ve obviously got a cost benefit.”
Capalbo adds that reps will have the ability to graphically make modifications
to shoes online in response to customers’ requests and on the fly. “While
consumers won’t see that directly, it will help our sampling process,” he
says. What consumers do see on e-commerce site Nike.com is new imaging functionality
including guided zoom that allows them to call out selected image details for
a greatly enlarged product view, part of the same technology platform.
Capalbo adds that Nike.com also used Scene7’s platform in image production,
saving manual labor costs and some expense that would be entailed in coloring
the images through another process. Over the course of the year, he adds, Nike.com
should break even on its investment in the technology in pre-production cost
savings alone, apart from any sales lift generated. Copyright 2004, 2005 Vertical Web Media
