Securing Sponsorship & Capturing ROI for Transformation Success | Browzwear | PI Apparel

Good afternoon, everyone. So we're pleased to be here on behalf of Browzware to spend the next 30 minutes or so talking to you. Can you hear me okay?

Yes.

Okay, awesome. Talking to you about a topic that is quite dear to us, which is coming back to basics and translating the value of doing 3D into concrete business metrics. And also securing sponsorship for 3D to become a reality. So hopefully this will be insightful to you. It will bring questions. If you disagree, if you agree, please share. We're super happy to exchange with you. We'll start with introductions. I'm going to let my colleague Barbara introduce herself. And I'm happy to share the stage with you today.

Yeah, thanks so much for having us. My name is Barbara. I joined Browzwear in 2021, so like 3 years at Browzwear, and before I spent over 12 years in the fashion industry. I started as a pattern maker, then as a 3D team lead, and as head of technical development. And my first touchpoint with 3D was actually implementing the solution at Lidl in Hong Kong in the sourcing office, where I firsthand experienced what it means for the business but also for the people. So that's kind of like my day-to-day kind of supporting and walking the journey with our clients. And I'm very happy to be here. Thank you so much, Vincent.

So I'm Vincent. As you can hear, I'm French. I'm based out of Paris. I spent the last 10-plus years in the technology and consulting space. But I've always been working with retail brands, helping them to digitally transform. I've joined Browser last year. And my role as Enterprise Initiatives Director Very simply, it's to help our strategic clients to implement and scale 3D on the most, I would say, strongest foundations. And as we will discover today, it's not just about the sexy technology. It's also about psychology. It's also about processes. It's also about people. So I help clients really every day to build or co-build strong business cases. To implement 3D.

Okay.

So today it's not about Browzwear, but I will just spend a couple of seconds talking about our mission. So our mission is to power the digital transformation of the entire fashion industry. This is a bold mission and it's very ambitious. The reason why we believe in this mission is because, as we all know, fashion is the third most polluting industry in the world. So it's about time we transform, and we believe that digital product creation and digital product selling is a solution to make that transformation happen. Okay, so as I said, today we talk business metrics and sponsorship. The reason why we want to do it is because if we look at, you know, what we see on our screen, so on the left-hand side we have a a digital twin of basically a physical creation that we see on the right. And it's very impressive, very amazing what we are able to do today with technology. But at the end, if I am, as a, let's say, a 3D champion, if I am unable to translate for my business what that picture on the left means as far as money, time, sustainability, metrics, then it's just hype. So I'm sure, you know, some of us in the room have experienced maybe challenges in our respective companies when it comes to explaining the why. Why is it important for us to transform? Why now? What does it mean for the business to do 3D? So today we help, you know, us basically move from the actual picture on the right to the left, taking a business angle. The reason why we want to do it, if we look on the, on the left-hand side first, both McKinsey and KPMG and also other consultancies that are quite known have interviewed and quantified that half of projects that are basically digital transformation, have fallen under expectations. So either they have been described as performance expectations not being met, or in 70% of the case, they have been described as failing. So what we want to do is to basically think about how we are going to be able to fall in the 30% of digital transformation projects that actually end up succeeding. And there are a lot of components that we need to think about just beyond the technology itself to make sure that this becomes a success.

Yeah, and I believe many of the people today in the room are aware of the common obstacles and roadblocks that you face when implementing or even trying to scale 3D transformation. So I don't think I need to go into details. We all know change management has become one of the top topics for implementing any initiative or new initiative in a company, as well as like the lack of digital talent. But whilst all those factors can significantly impact the success of your digital transformation, if you have no return of investment, no alignment there, no executive leadership, and no buy-in specifically cross-functional, it can actually jeopardize your project from the get-go. And that's why we chose this topic, going back to basics, defining what is the impact for your business you need to drive, what are the metrics that you need to achieve with digital, because that will really help you to communicate across the organization. So Vincent, you take it from here.

All right, so this is quite an interesting piece of the presentation. When it comes to implementing and selling 3D internally, there are questions that will need to be answered. Now, you have two types of questions. You have the questions that are being asked and you have the questions that are not being asked. Those are the dangerous ones. But what we have to know is that these are questions that's in the, the mind of senior leadership teams, decision makers, sponsors that we need to secure to make that transformation happen. These will be questions that will definitely be explored. So if we look at the left, why 3D? OK, we need to start by these foundations. Why does it make sense? But not just like the overall stuff that we all know about, but why for my business specifically it makes sense to contemplate the idea of launching 3D now, and also why now? Why should we transform now? How about waiting another 6, 12, 18, 24 months before launching this project because the business also has other priorities, right? So it's about showing the importance of 3D, but also the urgency of 3D. Then how are we going to do this? Again, I think it's fair to say, at least for the people here, we are convinced on the why of 3D. But at the end, it's really about how are we going to get there? What's going to be the right framework for us? How are we going to pilot? How are we going to measure success? And how are we going to scale when we will know that those metrics have been met? How are we going to get there? And also, who are we going to need to get there? As they say, when you are alone, you go fast. And when you are as a team, you go far. So it's very important to also really, you know, realize from the beginning that if you are alone in this transformation, it will fail. Okay, so who are the sponsors that I need to secure now? And how do I involve them in order for this project to become important for the company and not just for me? Do we have the right capabilities and capacities? Okay, what is the return on investment we want to get? I know that's the interesting piece as well today. We will dive into it later. But how do we translate that into return on investment? And then what will be required for us to get there? As far as investment, not only just financial resources but also human resources. So these are questions that we need to anticipate. Now, to answer those questions, I'm going to spend a couple of seconds here just talking to us about a methodology which, which is called a value pyramid methodology. So in essence, a value pyramid is about starting from the vision of the company, which should always be at the top of the pyramid, and that vision presenting the project, the digital transformation of the, of the 3D, linking it to the vision of the company. Okay, so there is a process of getting there. We have a roundtable, by the way, tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have time for questions after. I'm happy to explain that in, in more details, but just in essence, from a vision of a company, in order for it to become a reality, it will be supported by business strategies that have been implemented by the leadership of the company. And those strategies are fulfilled by initiatives. Those initiatives have business metrics, okay? And in order for those targets, okay, for example, I don't know, reducing samples by 50%, right? That can be a business metrics that is fulfilled by your business initiatives. To become more sustainable or digitally transform. But in essence, those metrics, they come with critical risks and needs. All right. And so this whole philosophy is really in order to present that to future sponsors and secure that sponsorship, we need to translate the project with the vision of the company.

Yeah, thanks Vincent for walking us through that. So basically, this pyramid aims for defining the why and the why now for the company, linking it to the core objectives. And this is really what is needed for the C-level buy-in. But once we have that, we also need to look at the how, as he said before. So very much the executing part of the project. The why and the why now should guide us as a north star, but now we need to break it down. And specifically at Brauseware, this is, I believe, a known methodology, building the synergy between people, process, and technology, really looking at it from a holistic part. And please bear with me as I walk you through this. This is really what I'm passionate about, how to bring people into this transformation project. So if you think about implementing change, the disruption it causes in an organization, how can you lead people through that? How can you communicate with them transparently, really from the top to the bottom, making sure to cascade the message of why we're doing this as a business, where we want to get, what it means for me as a person, and what I can bring to the table. This is really crucial points where we need to think of, because in the end, people are the ones that will make it work. So really, apart, I feel with all the technology, with all the innovation, quite often It's lost a little bit in the whole thing, but just bringing back the focus to that and enable people, you know, it's all about training and support. It's not a one-stop solution. You don't go in, train them once, and they will perform to whatever metrics you need them to. It's an ongoing, it's an ongoing journey. So making sure to enable people throughout builds trust, trust in the digital as an as a process, but also that it is the right thing for your business. So that kind of brings me then to processes. For example, we have consultants that work every day with our clients, defining the workflow, mapping it out, looking at what it's going to look today, tomorrow, with the investment we have right now, what we want to do in a year, 2, 3 years' time, and really looking at what are the quick wins for us? What can I achieve? With the most impact and the least effort that will drive the business forward. And then also, how can I implement it? We need a kind of plan of step by step what needs to happen every week, month, year that we get there. And that kind of tie to technology, once you know what you want to do, when you know what the workflows are, bring technology in to start automating some of those. This is where scaling starts. And that's one of the reasons why we work with an open platform. Because every business is unique. I've never talked to a client and they told me, ah, yeah, it's exactly the same as this client. It's always unique. The people are unique. The processes, the systems all need to be connected. So if you look at the next slide, don't worry, I'm not going to go into detail here. But we just wanted to illustrate, for example, this is a 3-year plan. How many dots you need to connect in terms of different stakeholders, probably also globally, different processes, different use cases, different workflows, different systems, different end outcomes in order to make an end-to-end digital transformation. You really need to look at it holistically and see how those fit together and how you can connect people, streamline workflows, and integrate the data into a digital transformation. And only if you get the people on board, you can capture the return of investment because someone needs to execute that. So just to kind of like show a little bit what it can look like across an organization.

Thank you, Barbara. Okay, so let's talk return on investment now. As I said, I spend my day really helping 3D champions to basically prove the return on investment. And so today And for the sake of just illustration, I will spend a bit of time with an example that we all know, which is sampling associated cost. But at least here you have all the kind of, I would say, traditional ROI levers that are being explored when it comes to translating the value of 3D. However, it's important for me to share and again to kind of bounce back on what you shared. Every business is different. So actually, what ROI means to you is going to be very different from another department, another market, or another company. So behind this approach, there is also a psychology aspect that needs to be really underlined. And a return on investment matrix is never going to be created by you alone and then presented and then kind of agreed upon. It's something you co-design with people that you actually want as contributors to this project to make sure that they actually, they own those levers or those challenges or those pains and they contribute to it. Because at the end, they will need to validate your analysis and they will need to validate the scenarios as well, the return on investment scenarios that you have. So as I said, I'm going to kind of just talk hear about an example that is concrete, hopefully to most of us, which is sampling. So with sampling, really all you need is just a couple of data points that sometimes are difficult to get, sometimes are not. But here you have an example. So for example, we start asking questions. Okay, what is the total amount of lead time for a collection? So here, for example, it will be 12 months. And then what is the time that the sampling process actually consumes out of the 12-month fleet time. Here again, it could be an example, 4 months out of 12, so equivalent to 33%. And then how many development samples and salesmen samples are we producing a year? Again, this is just hypothetical data, but at least we have an understanding. The amount of rounds of samples needed, the cost, of course, of producing the sample, but not only producing it, actually shipping it. And so many times when I co-design those ROI analysis with partners, we realize that there's sometimes a lot more money being spent and wasted in shipping than producing. So that's an important factor to have. And yeah, just the same for the salesman sample. Okay, so if we continue in this exercise, By just running this very simple calculation, which will be development samples, okay, cost per year, multiplied by the number of samples that I need to produce, it gives me, you know, very easily, I mean, this is simple math, right? I don't think I need to spend the whole 30 minutes talking about this multiplication, but essentially what we see here is €2 million spent on samples every year. Now, because we know with market information, with case studies, what we can look at gaining from doing 3D, it's fair to talk about different scenarios. Optimistic scenario, realistic scenario, and pessimistic scenario. So keep that in mind with you. ROI is never one figure, it's always a range, okay? We're estimating that on an optimistic scenario basis, we could lend this, or on a realistic scenario, we could lend that. And then here, just by showing basically this potential return on investment, we can quantify what amount of savings we are looking at. Now, for every business, there is different aspects that needs to be looked at. Cutting cost is important for everybody. But so is earning time and growing our top line. So in fact, when we continue in the narrative of cutting samples, it's not just about cutting costs. We've conducted a study, actually a survey, with over 400 different persons from renowned retail and fashion brands globally, and we've asked questions What is your total lead time? So you can see it here, right? You know, how long does it take you to— sorry, here, okay? How long does it take you to take a collection to market? And then what is the total amount of sampling process that basically consumes that overall lead time? And what we see here is that the longer the actual collection lead time, okay, the lower the sampling process represents. However, it's a minimum of 26%. So this is quantified. Minimum of 26% of your total time to market is consumed by samples. And if you take it to the fastest brands that today take less than 8 weeks to take a collection to market, the sampling piece becomes even more important. All right, so 52%. Is taken by the sample piece. In other words, it's about time efficiencies. So continuing in this narrative, if I cut samples, I'm able to earn time. So here we continue in the example that I shared. Average number of sample rounds, so 4. We have that from the previous data point slide that I showed. Sample turnaround, let's say it's 30 days per sample. Sample round. That means 120 days if I have 4 sample rounds out of the 360 days, which is my total lead time. 33% is consumed by samples. So if I am able to cut samples by 50% to 75%, that's 60 days to 90 days being saved. Again, I know it's not rocket science, but I'm just trying to explain here that these Savings can be translated into economies in time. And then the question becomes, what do we do with this time? What do we do with those additional 60 days to 90 days we just earned? For some brands, it's going to be, we create more collections. For some others, it's we get closer to the consumer faster. The answer is going to be different. But essentially, it takes us to transforming that additional time into top-line revenue. Okay, so hopefully you guys are still following me.

I know there's a bit of information, but just raise a hand before you fall asleep. Yeah, then I get him to move on.

Because sometimes I can go on a rabbit hole, so please help me. Yeah, anyways, so as I said, cutting cost, cutting sample cost. Okay, earning time, we've seen it on the previous slide, and now it's about top-line. And we're going to speak about something that is quite important. We call it the 1%— my God, I'm shaking— 1% theory. So here, I think we can agree that getting faster to market will allow us to get a bigger piece of the market share. If that is the case, then assuming that we can reduce, for example, so here it's just an example, okay, but reduce our lower return rate by 1% can translate into €8 million of additional revenue, okay. So you can, you can read it here. For an average $500 million company, that's for the example, bringing our collection to market from 4 to 6 months, reducing it by 8 weeks, is associated to a 1.4 lowered rates in returns for the company. It's not an opinion, it's, it's been quantified. So we ask those questions and that's a result we can expect. To conclude on this 1% theory, what, what could a 1% improvement do for the average brand? We have other examples here. As I said to you earlier, the full report is available, so please scan the QR code at the end and you can download all these metrics and data. But essentially, if we assume that 57% of my total sales as a brand are sold full retail price, if I am able to get quicker to market by an additional 30, 60, 90 days, can this help me go from 57% to 58%? That's the 1% improvement. If so, That helps me basically generate from $331 million worth of full retail price sales to $337 million, which as we see here is almost $6 million additional revenue generated. Hopefully that was explicit enough. I'll let Barbara conclude with some takeaways.

Yeah, thanks so much, Vincent. I know we talked a lot, I know there was a lot of details in there. As Vincent said, you can follow up with it later, but we wanted you to leave the room with some key takeaways. First of all, the odds are a little bit against digital projects, you saw that at the beginning, but don't leave it to chance. There are certain practices you can follow to secure the success of your project. For example, by aligning to core business objectives and strategies, Engaging the stakeholder sentiment, understanding who believes in that, how much resistance I have against this change will really help you to also sell cross-functionally. And understanding of what of those values, what of those metrics resonate with different stakeholders. The same might not, for example, between product development might not resonate to design. Knowing that, you can go in with the right metrics. To drive this. Building synergies between people, process, and technology, it really is a must to kind of like drive this forward and use the business case as foundation. So identify what are your return of investment levers, what is the data you need to feed analysis, and then also consider the impact variables. What could kind of impact that it is an optimistic versus pessimistic outcome? So never give like a fixed number, but give a range. And just think about the 1%. Small improvements can really drive return of investment, and I think I think that's the angle to look at it. Okay, Vincent, what's left to say?

What's left to say? Thank you, first of all, for listening to us. Hopefully this was valuable. As I said earlier, feel free to please scan this QR code if you want to get an early access to the report. And yeah, oops, sorry, maybe. Yeah, otherwise it's going to be difficult for you. Uh, but yeah, thank you so much. Thank you, Barbara. And, uh, happy to take any questions we have. Uh, yeah, we have, you know, a good, a good 10 minutes left. So if there's anything that resonated, uh, maybe with you, a personal experience you'd like to share, something you'd like to challenge with us, um, we're very happy to, to take your questions. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Please.

I have a question. My name is Klaas, I'm the next speaker. So thanks a lot for a super good presentation.

Awesome.

And I think we are very aligned and the topics are very related, so I'm going to give another like take on— so thanks for prepping.

Thank you so much.

So for the topic of freeing up time with digital sampling. You mentioned that that time can be used for different purposes. So I guess that if you really want to get closer to the speed-to-market goal, that would mean, well, basically that you would need to start later in your design process. Or do you see any other— because that seems to be very difficult. For teams to do, because you have your seasonal— like Helen, you're planning the way you have your methods and ways of working, your processes that you have worked for very long. So, do you have any examples or like maybe elaborate a bit on exactly that?

Absolutely, I agree, but I think the time could be used differently in doing more research, more trend analysis, validating with, you know, first insights already, like, is this actually what's currently trending? And I think the whole concept of getting closer to market is also making decisions later, right? So I love this example of the Barbie movie. No one knew that pink is going to be the color of the year, right? Some were lucky and had it in the collection, others didn't. But if you're able to make decisions later and still kind of then say, OK, instead of the green t-shirt, I go for the pink or whatever it is, and therefore generate more sales, then that's what the benefit is in there. So I think we can also look at it from that side. And then from a development perspective, the time freed up, like which developer had time in the last 10 years to review if the actual sizing I offer to my customers is what they're wearing, what they need to wear, what has changed. So also like this research, making sure Am I selling the right clothes for my target audience? So all those things can then be covered as well. So just as a few examples.

Yeah.

Anything to add?

No, no, no. I mean, maybe one thing to add, because, yeah, again, I do it a lot with brands. And what I realized is we can give ideas of answers. We can be hypothetical and say, hey, this is how you could potentially use your time. But the truth is, we never know. The person that has the answer is the person we're asking. And that's why the question is more important than the answer here. And we see, you know, I've seen, I've seen, yeah, I've seen answers, you know, I've seen companies decide that it means more time for employee, you know, earn, which means higher employee efficiency, which means we can rethink their role. You know, I've seen it go that direction. I've seen it We can create more products because we've quantified that the more newness we have in our season, the more sales we make. So it's just really, really depending, and we don't have the perfect answer to that. But if we ask—

co-creating—

yeah, it's cool. It's just co-creating.

Based on our experience, can bring this to your business and really discuss what makes sense. Are we doing this just for the hype, or are we actually driving for some key metrics that will help us to either increase market share, reduce returns, whatever it is. So I think it's tying it to that. I saw a very important question. How do we get the slides, Vincent?

How do we get the slides?

Yes, how do we share the slides with the audience?

Well, you can scan us. Oh, can we go back to the presentation? Thank you.

But you can also do it later, right?

So yes, but I think we have our QR codes in there, and then I think it's the other one. Okay, so scan us here, Barbara or Vincent. Barbara is nicer to deal with, so I would suggest that. I'm joking. Whatever you pick, and we'll send you the slides. Okay, so it should normally lead you to an email. Just send us an email. Don't write anything in there if you want. And then we'll—

And if you have time, just stop by the booth. I'm sure we can find a moment to talk a little bit, but for like really deep dive, very happy to set up a follow-up. And then there's the roundtable tomorrow as well.

Yes, there is a roundtable tomorrow if you want to join as well. Something I haven't shared is these ROI levers, ROI metrics that I showed earlier. As you can imagine, there are calculations behind each lever. We're happy as well to share more examples, to share a template. I mean, if you're right now in the process of wanting to prove value of 3D in your company to get more sponsorship, to get more buy-in, we're happy to work with you on that as well. So yeah.

Vincent, I think we're going to get kicked out in a minute. Are there any last questions from the audience? All good?

All good.

All good.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.