What if you could always find the product you wanted while actually shopping? No more roaming the aisles, or wandering aimlessly through different departments. And what if the whole experience could be simplified, with more relevant information at your fingertips? And better still, what if you received the personal assistance you secretly desired—all from the privacy of your mobile device? This is the EasyShopping experience provided by StoreXperience, an on-demand service for consumers, stores, and brands.

Founded in 2007 by a team of executives with strong expertise in enterprise applications, CRM and retail, the company set out to find the next big opportunity in the world of commerce. According to President Herve Pluche, “About two years ago, I got together with a group of friends to find that next big opportunity, and after looking at more than 10 different ideas, StoreXperience came out on top, meaning this was the one that got everyone all fired up. It started from the basic observation that new technologies, mostly associated with the Internet, and telecommunications, had had a massive impact on enabling eCommerce, but had very little impact on traditional retail.” Why, asked the company? It reasoned it was because of a missing element — mobility. And the company set out to change this by enabling traditional retail to benefit from the same new technologies. With smart phones getting more and more popular by the day, the timing was perfect.

The company set out to develop and sell its business services on-demand via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model that retail stores and brands could use to interact with the consumer in the field, using his or her mobile phone. StoreXperience’s innovative service is based on a wide range of Microsoft® technologies that include: Windows Server™, .NET Framework, SQL Server® 2005, PerformancePoint ™ Server 2007, Dynamics™ CRM 3.0, Visual Earth™, Silverlight™, Windows Mobile® 5 and 6 to name a few.

The company chose Microsoft as its primary technology partner for two reasons: technology and business development. On the technology front, it wanted a partner that would provide as many of the fundamental building block technologies it would need. And on the business side the company’s founders already had experience with the IDEE program, born within Microsoft France, and were convinced that the business dimension was an important element that had to be factored into its partnership decision. So when StoreXperience was asked by Microsoft to join the new Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program, it jumped at the opportunity.

In fact, even before that, the Emerging Business Team (EBT) made an early introduction for StoreXperience that had a big payoff. The team introduced them to Kevin Kerr, Industry Technology Strategist in the Microsoft Worldwide Industry group. Explains Kerr, “I evaluated what they were doing, and thought it was a great match for what we were trying to bring to Worldwide Industry. Our job is to enable and create solutions that our sales force can then go to market with. We’re more of a strategy creation and developmental arm.”

Kerr introduced StoreXperience to key partners, one that proved critical was to an Austrian company (Imagination Computer Services GesmbH) focused on data matrix imaging technology. It has since become an integral part of the company’s offering.

In the technology area, Kerr says that Microsoft played a key role early on as well. StoreXperience had a business model built around using consumer devices to capture shopping experiences with data matrix, yet they didn’t have a way to analyze those interactions to provide real value to brands and businesses. Kerr designed the integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a foundation product to collect all the interactions of the consumers, and then came up with a ‘dashboard’ that would display the rich data using Microsoft Performance Point Server. Microsoft’s EBT incubation team funded most of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration.

According to Kerr, “The big picture is that we took a partner that had a good business model, we used our scope and vision across the industry in general to help them build relationships that would make the product better, and we used our own technologies and investments to build an architecture that would leave them with an end-to-end solution — rather than just a good idea. We embraced that by having them participate in massive ways at the National Retail Federation (NRF) tradeshow, that is the largest industry trade show.”

Explains President Herve Pluche, “On the technical front, we were able to develop, test and launch our new service in just four months — other solutions would have taken us two to three times as long. The launch of our new product called EasyShopping was announced at the annual NRF tradeshow in January 2008. This rapid development cycle demonstrates both the breadth and interoperability of the different technologies provided by Microsoft.”

Further, the company says that having all of these technologies under one roof, and more importantly, compatible, was crucial.

On the business front, Pluche says the Microsoft partnership gave StoreXperience a “fantastic opportunity” to demonstrate its product to the 13,000+ attendees at the National Retail Federation Big Show and increase its exposure to the market. Says Pluche, “The outcome of this event exceeded our expectations. We not only demonstrated the technical capabilities of the team by offering a live deployment of our solution through a treasure hunt, but also validated the market opportunity and timing through the generation of a significant deal flow with over 200 sales leads with the top brands and specialty retailers.”

StoreXperience offers a service to consumers, stores and brands that promises to redefine the consumer instore shopping experience and allow stores and brands to drive traffic and increase sales. Using mobile phones, EasyShopping creates interactivity by giving stores and brands a platform to send targeted information to the consumer before they make a buying decision.

For the consumer, EasyShopping acts like a Virtual Shopping Assistant, offering product expertise, comparisons, and ‘sweet deals’ while consumers are actually shopping. Consumers get special deals based on shopping context — who they are, what they’re looking for, what time of day it is, even their location. Say a consumer is shopping on Union Square in San Francisco. The service can push a contextual advertisement for a sushi bar just blocks off Union Square and offer a 20 percent discount just for that day.

The solution leverages 2D Datamatrix technology – interactive bar codelike symbols that can be placed next to product information cards, on posters, on signage or on websites. By downloading a simple software application via a text message to their mobile phones, consumers can then “scan” 2D Datamatrix tags with their phones’ cameras while they shop, receiving rich, in-depth product information supplied by participating retailers and brands.

For the store/brand, this solution serves as a marketing and consumer management solution that allows stores and brands to inform, influence, and engage consumers in the field by sending rich information to them via mobile phone, before a purchasing decision is made. As an example, it provides product information, contextual offers, and even non-intrusive mobile advertising. And the connection to the mobile user allows stores/brands to collect rich information on the consumer’s spending habits and store traffic for continuous improvement.

According to Pluche, “StoreXperience is breaking new ground by helping traditional stores and brands transform the consumer in-store experience. The consumer gets the best of both worlds: the power of information with the satisfaction of in-store shopping. The store/ brand is able to inform and influence the consumer at the point of sales for increased revenue.”

The company’s business model is based on monthly on-demand fees for the enterprise solution, combined with revenue for delivery of contextualized mobile advertising. For a minimal capital expenditure and reasonable set-up and monthly recurring fee, stores and brands see an immediate impact on their bottom lines. For consumers, the service is free.

Explains Pluche, “StoreXperience went from a company operating in stealth mode, to a company recognized by the retail industry as a high potential player in just 5 months. The partnership with Microsoft was key to rapid implementation and a broad exposure to the market.”

StoreXperience is now negotiating pilots of its service with several key companies in two different vertical markets: cosmetics and the food and beverage industry.

Download StoreXperience’s success story in PDF format.