![[Wayra Startup Story] Big Data goes fashion with Chuisy](https://en.blogthinkbig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/06/8597236009_44fd2f7d72_z.jpg?resize=610%2C225)
By Johannes Müller and Martin Kleinschrodt, founders of Chuisy (@Chuisy)
Fashion always has been an enormous industry. However, rapid growing online retailers and mobile technologies are changing the way we experience and buy fashion. Digital platforms offer new social shopping experiences and unlimited access to fashion products.
At the same time, local stores are struggling to keep up with those new offers and suffer from declining sales. As a recent survey from our brand Chuisy (www.chuisy.com) shows, 75% of the participants in the streets of Munich use their smartphones while shopping and 60% regularly use SMS or WhatsApp to ask their friends about shopping decisions. The consequence is that smartphones are not just a threat but also an opportunity for fashion retailers.
As a Wayra Germany Start-up, we use these trends to enable a more emotional and social shopping experience in local stores and to create an efficient marketing tool for brick-and-mortars. We call it Chuisy. Our vision: Building the smartphone app for a perfect shopping experience which helps to share and discover the stores, clothes and accessories you love.
What need do we fulfill?
The growing mobile industry and the increasing importance of mobile devices for our social lives connect the shopping industry and the consumers at the point of sale. Discovering and buying fashion always has been a strongly emotional and social manner and we are going to change the way people will experience shopping in the future.
We are not just interested in seeing what our peers are buying and wearing, we also want to share shopping decisions with friends and family. On the other hand, retailers have the urgent need to offer new experiences and channels to communicate with their customers. Chuisy helps to increase sales by bridging the gap between online and offline shopping.
The Chuisy team
Big Data goes fashion
Customer insights and real-time analytics become more and more important for the industry. Chuisy is not just a powerful marketing tool, but also an innovative channel to learn more about customer behavior and the social dynamics behind shopping decisions. We are helping retailers to understand the needs of their customers better and to make smarter and faster decisions.
Furthermore, our data helps identify loyal buyers and make them enthusiastic brand ambassadors. Based on these highly enriched information, retailers can use our marketing tools and spread targeted incentives to acquire new customers, improve conversion rates and increase sales.
How Chuisy came to be
“I decided to create Chuisy because I noticed how relevant smartphones have become for my generations’ shopping experience. The way we discover or buy fashion is completely changing and the market is facing tremendous challenges right now”, says CEO and founder Johannes Müller.
It was a long way from the first concept of Chuisy to its launch in April 2013. The young founder worked at Cafés in Munich to found the company and applied to Wayra in the summer of 2012. Bringing Chuisy on a higher level, it was a huge step for the young company to attract Martin Kleinschrodt, an experienced app developer.
Chuisy’s workspace at Wayra
Johannes met Martin in Berlin, who was working for another startup to that time. He realized that Martin was the guy Chuisy needed and convinced him to leave his old team to work on the future of mobile marketing. When Chuisy was chosen by Wayra as one of Germany’s most innovative startups, the team was ready to rumble. Since Markus Baumgartner, who has worked as an investment analyst and management consultant, joined the team, Chuisy has three full-time members and various working students and freelancers.
Right now, we are launching Chuisy step by step with 10 local retailers in Munich. At the same time we are building up relationships with fashion bloggers, celebrities and designers to create a unique community and a strong lifestyle brand. Wayra and Telefónica Germany help us with a professional network to reach an international customer base and gain a high visibility.
