NIXT SKI COACH RELEASE YOUR POTENTIAL
1 Anders Miltersen & Jonas Svendsen - MSc.04 - ID 4 - June 2020 Aalborg university
TABLE OF CONTENTS Skiing Key challenges The new leader in ski coaching Live feedback Functions User interfaces The three users User scenario - rental store User scenario - instructor User scenario - skier Exploded view and components Business Timeline Competitor Market size Key numbers Our innovation Future visions
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ABSTRACT Denne specialeopgave der er udarbejdet af Anders Miltersen og Jonas Svendsen, MSc04 - ID 14, har til formål at undersøge skilæring, kommunikation mellem ski instruktør og skiløber i undervisningssammenhæng og redegøre for, hvordan et nyt teknologisk produkt kan ændre måden hvorpå skilæring foregår. Da nuværende løsninger er for tidskrævende og dyre i forhold markedssegmentet, kan et nyt produkt, der udfordrer disse parametre, skabe en ny måde at tænke skiundervisning på. Løsningen og processen er udarbejdet i tæt samarbejde med professionelle skiløbere, ski instruktøre og almindelige skiløbere på alle skiniveauer. Løsningen, vi igennem designprocessen er kommet frem til, benytter nyudviklet tekstilteknologi, der ved hjælp af tryksensorer og vibrationsmotorer kan aflæse skiløberes tryk i foden og give real time feedback. På denne måde kan skiløberen og instruktøren se, hvad der foregår i foden på skiløberen, og -skiinstruktøren kan visuelt nemmere forklare skiløberen hvilken problemer vedkommende skal arbejde med. Denne specialeopgave benytter både traditionel Design Thinking metoder og Lean Startup metoder, der i sin enkelthed går ud på at indrage brugeren så meget som muligt i processen. Vi har igennem interviews, prototyper, scenarier og analyser, indrage brugeren og fået feedback fra brugeren.
TITLE: Nixt Ski Coach THEME: Sports equipment PROJECT START: 01.02.20 SUBMISSON: 04.06.20 PROJECT TEAM: Nixt - MSc04 - ID14 MAIN SUPERVISOR: Louise Møller Haase CO-SUPERVISOR: Jørgen Kepler 3 ISSUES: 4 DIGITAL COPIES: 7 PRINT: Scan Design Aalborg
SKIING
One of the most popular winter sports is skiing. There are more than 840 million skiers in the world who, on average, spend 1200 Dkr on skiing education. The fast-growing winter sport is popular in Denmark too, as 12 % of the Danish population goes skiing every year. The most typical form of skiing is carving skiing, where the skier rides down prepared slopes that are different levels: Green slopes for the beginners and black slopes for the experts. The ski sports resorts that offer the slopes is a million-dollar industry, and in the cities, they are placed, they highly depend on tourist. These tourists are often families or friends who go skiing as a vacation. They want to spend time with family, kids, and friends, enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery, and have an active vacation. This type
of vacation is expensive. Many families use much money on ski education for their children and downgrade their own ski education because of two main factors. 1.: They want to use their money on their kids to help them improve, leaving little for themselves. 2.: When they send their kids to a ski school, they do not want to use a full day of skiing with an instructor and not be able to ski with their family or friends. So how is it, that their have not been developed a solution for those needs? That is why we asked ourselves: How can self- and professional teaching be combined in a product while keeping the social interaction when skiing, while being an economically better choice than standard professional teaching?
THE NEW LEADER IN SKI COACHING The Nixt Ski Coach wants to rethink the way we teach people to be better skiers. We want to make it easier and more comfortable for the skier to improve their skills without losing precious time with family and friends. At the same time, we want to create a new tool for the instructors to teach the skiers—a solution where it is possible to know exactly what is going on in the foot. Through in-depth user research, analyzing, and concept development, we have a long with both the instructors and skiers developed a new solution that rethinks the concept of hiring a ski coach.
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KEY CHALLENGES COLLABORATION The collaboration between the rental stores and the instructors is the most critical part of our business plan. Not all rental places have instructors associated with their store, and for the business plan to work, we need to establish a collaboration between the two parts for the product to work.
FULL FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE TESTING Before the product can be launched, we need to make a fully functional and aesthetic prototype that we can test on both instructors and skiers so they can provide feedback. The feedback will be used to look for critical improvements and full validation of the product before manufacturing.
PRODUCTION STARTUP As there have not been developed products like this before, we need to train and set up the production of the liner with manufacturers along with OHMATEX, who has experience in collaborating and start up production from scratch with manufacturers.
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BECOME THE NEW LEA
t
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ADER IN SKI COACHING
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LIVE FEEDBACK WHILE YOU’RE SKIING Anders is skiing with the instructor Thomas. Thomas has seen what Anders needs to improve in his skiing, and he is skiing with way too much back weight. He needs to push more on his front foot when he is skiing. The vibrators turn on in the front foot every time the sensors measure to much back weight and
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will guide Anders to press more on the front foot. Thomas can even with the app control the vibrators in Anders’s foot, and turn them on to illustrate where he needs to put pressure. After an hour, Anders is ready to learn his new exercise on the slope with his family and friends!
ON/OFF BUTTON
CONNECTING THE DEIVCE
Press one short push and then another long push for 2 seconds to turn on. The battery indicators will light green. Do the same thing to turn it off. If all three LED’s lights, the product is fully charged. To use BlueTooth, hold the button for 3 seconds, and the light turns blue.
Just click the unit on to the base with the snapfit lock on the sides. Pull on the bottom groove to pull the device out of the base again.
CHARGING
PLASTIC SUPPORT
Place the device in the charger. The charger uses USB-C to power the devices and can charge two at the same time.
The liner is wrapped with high-quality plastic, to ensure stability around the calf for better performance.
DOUBLE SAFETY
KEY LOCKER
Place the strap into the carabiner lock for double safety, in case of hard crashes.
The carabiner also functions as a lock for your keys or jacket strap if you, like us, likes to enjoy a cold one at the local Apres Ski Bar after a long day of skiing.
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INSTRUCTOR
FRONT WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION
STEP POSITION
SHIN PRESSURE
FRONT/REAR WEIGHT
STATISTICS
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VIBRATION CONTROLLER
CHOOSING USER
LATEST RUN
STATISTICS
MAP
TOGGLE FEEDBACK
The user interfaces for the skiers, and the instructors differentiate, giving the right information to the right users. The skiers can nerd their daily statistics, control their feedback options, and see on a map where they have been skiing.
The instructors are able to see how the skier’s pressure in the boot has been, during the runs in the foot and shin. They are also able to swap between users and see statistics.
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THE THREE USERS THE SKIERS
THE INSTRUCTORS
THE RENTAL STORES
SKIERS
OUR PRODUCT INSTRUCTORS RENTAL STORES
At Nixt Skiing, we want to make a business concept that profits both the instructors, rental stores, and the skiers, making an, as we call it, economic triangle. All three users are related to one another, and for us, it makes sense to create profit for all three and make the local ski sport facilities stronger and better competitors on the market. As all three users have different needs and demands, the following three pages will explain how the three user groups will interact with the product and interact with each other.
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USER SCENARIO
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RENTAL STORE
CUSTOMER WALKS INTO THE SHOP
TAKES THE UNIT OUT OF THE CHARGER
CUSTOMER RETURNS THE UNIT EVERY DAY AND RENTAL STORE PLACES THE UNIT IN THE CHARGER
ENTERS INFORMATIONS ON COMPUTER (GENDER, SKI LEVEL, HEIGHT ETC.) AND CHOOSE A PACKAGE.
HANDS THE EQUIPMENT TO THE CUSTOMER
HANDS A NEW UNIT IN THE MORNING. EVERYDAY THE CUSTOMER WILL COME TO THE STORE AND POSSIBLY USE MONEY
GETS RECIEPT AND HANDS IT TO SKI EXPERT
EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENT PACKAGES AND UPGRADES THE CUSTOMER TO NIXT SKI COACH
SETS UP THE USER IN THE APP, CALIBRATES AND GETS AN INSTRUCTOR
CUSTOMER RETURNS THE GEAR AT THE END OF VACATION
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USER SCENARIO
2
INSTRUCTOR
GETS NOTIFICATION ON THE PHONE AND THE INSTRUCTORS CALENDAR GETS UPDATED
CAN CHOOSE THE USER THE INSTRUCTOR IS ABOUT TO TEACH
MEETS WITH THE CLIENT THE NEXT MORNING
MAKES SURE THAT THE PRODUCT WORKS (CONNECTED TO BLUETOOTH AND CALIBRATED)
SKIES WITH THE CUSTOMER
CHOOSES AN EXERCISE
ILLUSTRATES THE EXERCISE WITH VIBRATION
MEETS NEXT MORNING WITH THE CUSTOMER
SEES THE PROGRESS
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EXPLAINS THE GOOD AND BAD THINGS FX. WITH APP AND HEAT MAP
CAN OFFER MORE THAN 1 HOUR OF INSTRUCTION, POSSIBLY INCREASING SALES
USER SCENARIO
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SKIER
ORDERS ONLINE SHOPS WILL HAVE THE INFORMATION AND WILL HAND OVER THE PRODUCT
OR ORDERS AT THE COMPUTER AT THE STORE
GETS RECIEPT AND HAND IT TO CLERK
GETS THE PRODUCT
STEPS INTO THE BOOT
INSTALL THE PRODUCT ON THE BOOT
PRESS ONE SHORT PUSH AND THEN ANOTHER LONG PUSH FOR 2 SECONDS TO TURN ON. DO THE SAME THING TO TURN IT OFF. TO USE BLUETOOTH, HOLD THE BUTTON FOR 3 SECONDS
MEETS UP WITH INSTRUCTOR AND SKIS
GET TAUGHT EXERCISES AND FEELS VIBRATION
MEETS UP WTH FAMILY AND SKIS. DECIDES TO DO EXERCISES AND TURNS ON EXERCISE
RETURNS THE PRODUCT AT THE END OF THE DAY
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TONGUE FRONT Injection molded HDPE
FOAM CORE Injection Molded EVA with gas additives
SURFACE TEXTILE Water resistant polyester
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CARABINER CLAMB
RUBBER GASKET
LED’S
9-AXIS IMU BLUETOOTH MICROPROCESSOR
CONNECTOR PINS
SPRING STEEL CONNECTOR PINS
BASE
200 mAh BATTERY PCB
MOTHER DEVICE BOTTOM SHELL Injection molded HDPE
BUTTON Injection molded HDPE
MOTHER DEVICE TOP SHELL Injection molded HDPE
HAPTIC FEEDBACK DRIVER
Injection molded HDPE
PRESSURE SENSORS VIBRATION MOTORS LAMINATE COATING FOAM SOLE SUPPORT RUBBER SOLE SEALER 17
IMPROVE
THE NEW STANDARD
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WELCOME TO THE 2020/21 SKI COACHING
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MARKET APPROACH OUR TIMELINE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
FINDING INVESTMENT
FINAL PROTOTYPE
USER & PRODUCT TEST
Further product development is needed before it is possible to find an investor. A simple, functional prototype is needed to test the critical design and functional parameters.
Before it is possible to make a fully functional and aesthetic prototype, we need to find investment. The investment will cover wage and prototype expenses.
A final functional and aesthetic prototype is needed, and this will be developed in collaboration with OHMATEX.
The prototype will be tested on both instructors and skiers to ensure we have all the aspects of the product.
INVESTMENT ROUND 2
ENTERING THE MARKET
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
The first investment covered the first wages and prototype expenses. The second round is needed to cover marketing, salesman wages, manufacturing, and rent.
To enter the market, we will approach the Austrian market. The reputation of instructors and rental places are one of the best in Europe. A salesperson will sell the product to the rental stores. Entering the market also includes commercial in magazines and SOME.
While we focus on sales and marketing, we will keep improving the product and production. We will also work on new markets for the product to enter.
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5.000 Dkr.
3.500 Dkr
MEASSURING
Front foot, back foot, shin and calf
Under the whole foot
Bussines to bussines
Consumer market
A combination of instructor and AI
Uses AI technology
Renting at local rental shop for 800 Dkr.
One time payment online
MARKET
TEACHING
SALES
COMPETITOR COMPARISSON
PRICE
07
MARKET SIZE 14
.6
15.000
4 84
3 18 1
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Number of people who ski in Europe as of 2019, by country (in 1,000) (Statista, 2019)
Un
Ge
rm a ite Fr ny d K an ing ce d Po om lan d Ita A ly Sw ust itz ria erl a Cz ec S nd h R pa ep in u Sw blic ed Fin en la Be nd lgi u No m rw De ay nm ar k
66
7
1.
1.000
1.
1.
26
4
4
6 82
23
1.
2.
32
9
9 2.
95
0 96 2.
2.
7 93 4.
5.000
4.
6.
34
0
8.
57
4
10.000
Denmark is the smallest market with no mountains. 12% of the population still skis. Every year each person on average uses 1.200 Dkr. on education and uses 5.000 Dkr. on clothes and footwear.
1.200 DKR
+4.1%
EDUCATION The amount of money spent on ski education (instructor, guide etc.). The amount is predicted to increase with 4.1% in the next year.
5.000 DKR
+3.2%
FOOTWEAR The amount of money each skier uses on clothing and footwear each year. The amount is predicted to increase with 3.2% in the next year.
846,5 MILL +0.2%
POPULATION The total population in the world who skis. The amount of skiers is predicted to increase with 0.2% in the next year.
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The budget is a guesstimate and will reflect that. The budget has been developed with a conservative mind, as there are many parameters that are uncertain. Wages, plastic Kg price, molds for injection molding, app development and production time has been taking into the calculations as well. A topdown calculation has been done on a liner from SURF & SKI, to estimate the manufacturing price of a liner. It is found that an investment of 2 million Dkr. is needed to get the product on the market. With this investment, we will reach break-even within year 3 or if 729 units are sold.
KEY FIGURES
BUDGET
2M
265 %
729
2296 DKR
INVESTMENT
ROI
BREAK EVEN UNITS
PRODUCTION PRICE
5.3 M
0,56
3.5 M
5.000 DKR
RETURN
CMR
BREAK EVEN
RETAIL PRICE
Dkr. 8.000.000 Dkr. 7.000.000 Dkr. 6.000.000 SALES REVENUE
Dkr. 5.000.000 Dkr. 4.000.000 Dkr. 4.000.000
CONTRIBUTION
Dkr. 3.000.000 Dkr. 2.000.000 Dkr. 1.000.000 Dkr. 0 Dkr. - 1.000.000
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
UNITS
1100 1200 UNITS
UNITS
Dkr. - 2.000.000
INVESTMENT OPERATING COSTS YEAR 1
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YEAR 2
YEAR 3
YEAR 4
YEAR 5
OUR INNOVATIONS
INNOVATION
With this new innovative solution, we create value for both the instructor, the skier, and the rental store. An economic triangle that will benifit all three parts.
TECHNOLOGY
OUR SOLUTION
Adding new market technology in the form of textile pressure sensors and incorporating vibrators in a liner, creates a whole new product never seen in the skiing industry before, creating a solid foundation of being a market leader.
QUALITY
The solution needs an investment of 2 million Dkr. to be realized. This investment is needed to ensure high-quality components, so the solution can last more than a few seasons.
COMMUNICATION
The communication between the instructor and the skier becomes much easier. The solution creates an opportunity for the instructor and skier to understand what is going on in the boot. This means the instructor and skier can communicate on a whole new level.
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... A TOOL FOR TEACHING INSTRUCTORS
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FUTURE VISIONS
COLLABORATION WITH NATIONAL SKI FEDERATIONS Another way to approach the ski market is through the national ski federations. When the product is launched, and out in rental stores, we hope to create awareness of the product and proof that the concept is accepted by the skiers. The ski federations will be our future target customers, so they are able to buy a batch of the products to use as a teaching tool at their ski schools. This will not necessarily expand their market at first, but they will be able to use the product as a new tool in their existing business. This way, the skiers will use their business/ski schools in the future, possibly expanded their business and be ahead of competitors.
OTHER MARKETS... ... that could benefit from a solution like ours, is basically any other type of sports where foot technique is essential: Snowboarding, football, basketball, running, etc., but also the healthcare industry. In physiotherapy, a product with pressure sensors and vibrators can be used in rehabilitation of foot fractures or other lower limb fractures. In such cases, the patient is allowed to pressure fx. 80% of their body weight on their foot. Today many use a bathroom scale to measure their weight and calculate how much weight they are allowed to pressure with their foot. Then they need to rely on their ”feeling” of how much weight they pressure.
A PRODUCT FOR TEACHING SKI INSTRUCTORS In the future, we will expand the product to the instructor’s teaching market. The product will be used as a tool for instructors to teach upcoming instructors. It makes sense for the new instructors to learn the product in their education, so they are able and want to use the product when they teach skiers. With a product aiming this segment, we want to make a better tool for understanding ski techniques, by connecting the information in the boots with video analysis. Video is already a tool that is used to educate new instructors, and by adding our boot, we will be able to add a new dimension to the video analysis.
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