Latent

Connecting Latin American designers with international retailers The easiest way to expand your business internationally

How things got started?

How can we help Latin American designers grow their business?

As Latin American designers we have face the struggles that designers have along the way when they are trying to run & grow their own business.

After reflecting from our experiences, last year we started doing a research about How can we help Latin American designers grow their business? By understanding their behaviors, cultural aspects and their main challenges.

We met some inspiring people along our research...

Different perspectives from across the design industry

Along our research we met a lot of inspiring people who motivate us to continue in our journey.

As we wanted to have different perspectives from all across the Design industry, we interviewed designers from different fields, as well as people who work on the business part of the design companies.

Among them: ●

Designers (emerging & established)

●

Business (incubators, coaches, start-ups)

●

Design Event planners (Fairs & Events)

●

Retailers (gallery owners & retail buyers)

Scarves Designer One of the stories that inspire us the most was the story of Maria a Colombian Artisanal Silk Scarves designer, who one of her biggest aims is to export her products to other countries.

However, for her as well as for most of the emerging designers it's very expensive and time consuming to travel to find new potential clients who want to sell her products.

Also as other designers mentioned, she said that selling her products online is not a good strategy, because the clients can’t appreciate the material and the details of her designs.

“it's very expensive and time consuming to travel to find new potential clients who want to sell her products”

“It’s so hard to sell my silk scarves online; People need to touch them and feel them to understand the price they are paying for”

Maria, Scarves designer Colombia

“Participating on Design Fairs has give me projects all around the globe�

We also found out about Rebecca, who is a product Designer which has grown a lot on the last months.. She started showing her products on the Design Fair in Milan and from there she started collaborating with international brands and retailers.

These participations have help her to grow significantly her business and to positionate herself within the Design industry at her country.

Product Designer

“Latin American Design has a strong identity which is really appreciated in global design fairs” “I am constantly looking for Latin American designers to feature on my Gallery and it's always challenging to find new faces””

The last story that we want to share is about Montse, she was really interesting for us since she is on both sides of the spectrum. In one side she is a Design Gallery Owner who is always interested in promoting and showcasing Latin American designers and on the other she promotes their work and her gallery going and exhibiting the work of these designers in the most recognized Design Fairs around the world. She shared with us the struggles that she faces when she is trying to find interesting products. Also she told us about the value that going to these events and expanding her network have helped her to grow her business.

Design Gallery owner

Besides the people we met during our research, living in New York have make us realize that this city has a lot of opportunities that we can take advantage of to help Latin American designers to grow their business.

There are a lot of design events happening along all the year and due to the multiculturalism of the city there it's a lot of interest to explore other cultures.

Design Events

What were designers doing in order to expand their business?

To understand what was happening in these events, we went to talked with people who already were trying to open to themselves opportunities there. We interviewed designers who have been participating in international design fairs for years, designers who were starting to explore new markets, and business people who were helping designers to sell their products internationally.

In order to have a better understanding of the struggles designers were having when they try to enter to new markets, we also interviewed experts who worked at Procolombia, a governmental organization who help designers to explore new markets and export their products.

-

*If you are interested to learned in more detail what we learned from them you can refer to Appendix A

What were designer's doing?

After analysing the whole scenario, we realized that the designers who were trying to expand their market internationally, were using two main channels: Design fairs and Online platforms.

Some of them think about international design fairs as an aspirational goal to achieve due to the possibility they give to them to expand their network, find new clients and get inspired by new trends. The main problem is that they are very expensive and time consuming.

That is why most designers choose the online platform as their main channel to reach international markets: They are less expensive, they can reach a lot of clients from all around the world in a very easy way, but the problem is that the consumers can’t really appreciate the products on the screen.

Design Fairs

Online Platforms

(Physical experience)

(Digital experience)

Pros Expand network Exhibit products and find clients in one single place Search for new products, trends and strategic partnerships

● ● ●

Pros ● ● ● ●

Cons

Cons ●

Expensive and time consuming

Less Expensive Full-scale market penetration One click away from the world 24/7

●

Lack of physical appreciation

Valuable insights Based on all the information we gathered after interviewing the designers, the managers of some of their business, some experts of the industry and after assisting to the design fairs, we gathered very valuable insights. The three that we found with more potential behind them are:

Community

Too many hats to wear

Strong Identity

(support & trust)

(overwhelming)

(tradition & uniqueness)

For Latam designers it’s very important to be part of a community in which they can trust, exchange information and feel supported.

Most of them lack of time, money and knowledge to develop business & marketing strategies to expand their business. Design company owner’s have to manage their time to design and to deal with business operations. Overwhelmed by the amount of work and their limited resources, it is difficult for them to reach international clients and retailers.

Latin American design has a lot of artisanal traditional value behind and a strong identity which is highly appreciated by the whole world.

Opportunity Community

After analyzing all the insights, we realized there was a great opportunity if we could find a way to tackle three of the main pain points of the designers.

Build a community that help them grow their network & gain exposure

That is why we begin to think about a way to help them to: -Create a community in which they can trust and feel supported by, which allow them to expand their network and gain exposure.

Opportunity

-Expand their business internationally in an easy and convenient way -Celebrate the identity and value behind the Latin American Design to leverage their promotion, by taking advantage of the interest that the Latin American design awakes in other countries.

Grow Offer them a service to help them expand their business internationally

Identity Celebrate the identity & value behind the Latin American Design to promote them

What do designers need?

Value

Having clear the opportunity we wanted to explore, and in order to create a service that could be useful and meaningful for designers, we did an analysis that allowed us to understand which activities were the most valuable for them and which ones were the ones that were more difficult to perform by them. This helped us to, identify which activities were more critical and where we could have an entry door.

Commercial skills

Business growth

Improve Performance

We confirmed that business growth, industry positioning international exposure, improve performance and boost their sales where the ones they considered the more valuable and difficult to achieve.

Followed by them they highlighted Network Expansion, promotion and industry awareness as key aspects for their business.

Industry Positioning

Client Management

Expand Network

International exposure

Workplace

Boost Sales Promotion Information exchange

Management skills

Industry awareness

Difficulty

Legal

Inspiration

Social media

3D printer Funding

Creativity

Project Management

Materials samples

HR

Experience map

+

Satisfaction

As international exposure where one of the main concerns of the designers who were trying to expand their business, we developed an experience map to explore the process which designers and retailers were experiencing when they wanted to make connections and business among them, and we identified that searching, connecting and negotiating with each other where the most critical pain points, which helped us to clarify on which activities we could interfere and make things easier for them.

Motivation To explore new markets

Designers

Retailers

Encourage Optimistic

Determined

Search Connections & new opportunities

Anxious Overwhelmed

Interested Curious

Promotion Of their work

Exited

Determined

Connect

Negotiation

Designers & Retailers

Close the deal

Challenged

Pressured Insecure Cautious

Overwhelmed

Empowered Optimistic

Sampling

Order Plmt.

Consignment/ Commision

Hopeful

Excited Proud

Intrigued

Intrigued

Shipping Internationally

Manage Relations

Excited Anxious

Excited Proud

Satisfied Alert

Relieved

Based on this, and after multiple iterations of our cencept (Appendix B) we started thinkinging about the possibility of creating a community that celebrates the identity & value behind the Latin American Design , and which help them to expand their business internationally in an easy and convenient way by taking advantage of the online and the offline platforms.

And that is how we created LATENT!

THE OPPORTUNITY Putting together the pieces

The easiest way to expand your business internationally

Connecting Latin American designers with international retailers

What we do?

We help Latin American designers to grow their business, grow their network and increase their visibility by providing them international online and offline exposure

Who are our customers?

Customers

Designers & Makers

Buyers

(Main customer)

(Key customers)

1

2

3

Latin American designers

Retailers & wholesale clients

Consumers

Want to help them to explore other markets around the world and we want to assist them by opening opportunities

Help them to find Latin American designers to work with and offer their products

Interested in buying unique Latin American products in an convenient way

How can we help designers?

Through an online & offline platform that connects designers with customers

and retailers, by promoting and sharing their work In an online design marketplace and also by exhibiting and promoting their work on design events & tradeshows

Jobs to be done

Attributes

Expose and promote Latam emerging designer products in USA Connect Latam emerging designer with retailers and final customers Guide

designer

throughout

the

process

of

exhibiting

and

commercializing their products internationally Engage with our users by offering them a personalized service and constant feedback about their product’s result Reduce uncertainty, money and time investment on the process of finding new clients and selling their products Foster online and offline space sharing to exhibit their products, reduce costs, collaborate and support each other.

+

Provide a digital and physical experience to our community

+

Have a wide network of interesting retailers and designers

+

Have curated and high quality design products

+

Be user friendly

+

Provide understandable and actionable information

+

Provide reliable information

+

Provide trustable transaction methods

+

Convenient

What we offer to designers?

Offline (Design Events)

Online (digital platform)

1.

2.

3.

Upload a Catalog

Connect w/Buyers

Online Marketplace

Manage & share them

5.

6.

7.

9.

10.

Promotion

Exhibit designers work

Sell designer’s products

Exportation guidance

Promote designers

Retailers (wholesale )

Sampling request

Social Media

Consumers

Consignments

Newsletter

Logistics

Commissions (special orders)

Blog

Networking

Design Events

4.

8.

Feedback & Data Analysis

Feedback & Data Analysis

Industry Awareness

How does our platform work?

To have a better understanding of how our platform work, we invite you to take a look to the following timelines which explain step by step how can we help you!

How the digital platform works?

Create Account

Sign up

Accept terms & conditions

Account Validation

Confirmation account.

We will do a highly curation of the designers we want to exhibit in our platform.

Newsletter

Retailer makes payment & designer get its until the delivery is done

Content uploading

Catalogue creation

Messages

Sampling

Order Placement

Receive order confirmation

Commissions: In our platform we don’t just sell products, we promote Latin American Talent

Manage orders

Consignments

Order history Review orders

Upload their products

Category/ interest

Payment

Access to payment Portal

Shipping

Track order

Get payment once the order is received

Ratings

Rate retailer / designer

Feedback

Feedback & data analysis of their profile & sales performance / trends

How the event exhibition works?

Design event

Design Event Preparation

Provide info of products to exhibit & branding material (pictures & stories behind the products)

Design Materials for exhibition

Logistics Planning

Designers Promotion

Transportation

Design Event

Sales

Feedback

Results

We promote and sell to the buyers, the products we are exhibiting in the fair through our website .

We Create a feedback report for designers based on their sales and clients reactions

We Share the results of the events with the community to encourage them to keep participating

Provide product specifications (location, dimensions and materials)

We design the stand based on the products we are going to exhibit

We do the logistics Invite interested & research of stakeholders & transportation buyers Guidance from Create social strategic partners media content ProExport, ProMexico, Cross promotion ProColombia) with strategic partners We trained our staff to sell the products

We transport the products and exhibit materials to event venue

We take charge of the logistics of building stand and displaying products We Provide tablets in our stand to make all the transactions

We Invite Buyers to join our Online platform

UX: System map/ Experience map Landing, enrollment & Order Placement

As you have noticed, in our platform multiple interactions are happening at the same time between the stakeholders and us. To understand how the whole system behind LATENT works, we have developed system maps, They are divided in three columns, one per each stakeholder, and will help you to understand the experiences and interactions between them, as well as the flow and logic of our processes.

These system maps are divided in four charts that correspond to each of the phases of our system: Landing, enrollment & Order Placement, Product Exhibition (Recruiting > Payment), Product Exhibition (Pre-event), Product Exhibition (Event).

Product Exhibition (Recruiting > Payment)

On this phase we wanted to simulate the online experience to understand the experience and interactions between all the stakeholders, and also to build the architecture of our site. Since the online market is a very important feature of our platform we analyse every step: join the platform, post/ search products , sell/buy, ship/ receive products rate and receive feedback

We mapped the online and offline process of searching design fairs and recruiting designers and buyers to part of them.

Product Exhibition (Pre-event)

Product Exhibition (Event)

To understand all the preparation and logistics that we need to take into account to participate in an international design fair, we created an outline of each of the steps and their requirements.

We made an outline of the way we are going to exhibit the products in the design fair and sell them through our online platform. Also we analyze the way we are going to evaluate and present the results of the design fair participation, sales and buyer’s reactions toward the products.

27

System Map

Enrollment & Order Placement DESIGNERS

PLATFORM

BUYERS 1

Account creation & Enrollment

Upload their products

2

Account Validation

3

Choose category/ interest

4

Curation process

4

Accept terms & conditions

5

Validation of accounts

5

Get enrolled on newsletter

6

Confirmation account

7

9

Product Selection

Monitoring content

17

Monitoring conversations

16

Register Order

13

12

Start conversation

15

Place an order

18 Receive order confirmation (website /mail) 19

Feedback

Messaging

Answer messages to buyers

Take 10% of commission of the sale

Shipping

Product selection

21

Notify shipment order

20

23

Track order

25

27

Evaluate and publish ratings

26

28

Evaluation of performance

Manage orders See orders history - Review orders

Ship orders

22

Confirm tracking number

24

Get payment of order Rate retailer 29

Track order

26

Get delivery

Rate order & designer

Receive feedback & data analysis of their profile, performances and trends

OPTIONAL

11 14

Access to platform & wholesale catalogues (final consumers don’t have access to wholesale prices)

Catalogue creation

8

Messaging

Ratings

7

Access to subscription fees & payment portal

10

Order Placement

Upload their credentials & interests

2

(Price / Stories / Location /Materials)

Payment Content uploading

Sign up & create an account

Product Exhibition (Recruiting > Payment)

System Map

DESIGNERS

PLATFORM

Identify Design events

Design Events Research

2

Researching & Networking

Recruiting & Info

3 4

OFFLINE

1

Invite Designers to participate (Direct Channels, website, Newsletter)

Designers Invitation

9

Curate submission and approve request

See or request detail info of the event

6

(success stories, testimonials, impact on their business, stats, event {facts {numbers})

7

Request Participation on the Event

8

Upload info and products to exhibit (specifications, info about designer, production capacity, story behind products)

10

Send formal invitations and estimated participation fee 12

14

Receive formal invitation to participate and estimated fees

Agree on meeting/ call to discuss participants needs

Exporting & Logistics guidance (guidance from exporting partnersProexport/ProColombia/ProMexico)

Terms & Conditions Payment 18

11

Receive the payment and enroll them to the event

13

Show what they want to exhibit (photos and specifications)

OFFLINE

Product specs. & exporting guidance

5

Publish upcoming design events on website

Request Participation Designers Selection

BUYERS

15

Choose if they want to transport, exhibit and sell their products by themselves in the fair or if we would do it for them for an extra fee.

16

Sign up contract + Accept terms & conditions

17

Payment

19

Receive payment confirmation & guidelines for the exhibition (we prepare them and give them tips of how to take out most of their exhibition)

Find out info of the events on which we are participating (find out who is participating, testimonials of other retailers)

Product Exhibition (Pre-event)

System Map

DESIGNERS

PLATFORM

Design Materials for exhibition

1

Display/ Exhibition Design & exhibition materials creation

3

Recollect Branding Materials from exhibitors

4

Create exhibitions materials

6

7

Designers Promotion

Logistics & research of transportation Guidance from strategic partners ProExport, ProMexico, ProColombia)

10

Create social media content

11

Cross promotion with strategic partners

13

Provide info of products to exhibit & branding material (pictures & stories behind the products)

5

Provide product specifications (location, dimensions and materials)

Invite interested stakeholders & buyers

12

Transportation

2

OFFLINE

Logistics Planning

OFFLINE

Design Event Preparation

BUYERS

8

9

Newsletter

Transport products and exhibitions materials to event venue

13

Transport the products and exhibit materials to event venue If they choose to handle the transportation themselves

Get Invited to the Design Events Register & get tickets

Product Exhibition (Event)

System Map

DESIGNERS

PLATFORM

Take charge of the logistics of building stand and displaying products

1

2

Sales

OP1 Us: We promote and sell to the buyers, the products we are exhibiting in the fair through our website .

OFFLINE

Design Event

BUYERS

2

OP2 Themselves: Designers assist to the fair and sell their products by themselves using our website.

3

Recruiting

4

Equipped our stand with tablets where buyers can make the purchase in an easier and convenient way.

4

Designers do the transactions in our website by using their tablets

5

Feedback

Invite the buyers to buy the products through our webs

6

8

Buyers see and touch our products and hear the story behind them. Might give us some comments about our products and what they are looking for.

7

Buyers buy the products in our stand by using our website

Receive an invitation to participate in our platform to search for more products

Create a feedback report for designers based on their sales and clients reactions

Results 9

11

Share the results of the events with the community to encourage them to keep participating.

Share testimonials and results (Facts / # of participants/ # of units sold /#of transactions)

10 Designers share with the community their

experience

10

Retailers share with the community their experience

Designers and Retailers User experience

Designers and retailers are always constantly interacting, but each understand that their experiences will be different. The following charts will give you a better understanding of how the relationship manifests.

32

Designers UX Activity

Promotion

Connection

Exhibition

Sampling

Concession

Value

Designers need exposure to positionate their work and find buyers

Designers need to network with buyers and retailers to show them their work and sell their products

Designers need exposure to positionate their work and find buyers

Some designers sell better their products in retail stores than in online platforms because the details of their designs can only be perceived physically. We give them the opportunity to do both.

Designers can use their talent to make products they would never imagine doing before

We connect them through our website and also through the design events.

They can see a list of some of the retailers who are actively buying from our platform We help them to show their work in a professional and appealing way to attract more buyers

We help them to exhibit their products through our page and also on design events

We give them the opportunity to scale their business online with the benefits of exposing their products physically.

Designers can show their talent and retailers can contact them to ask them to make new customize products based on what they already offer by commission.

Designers feel excited about having promotion but also afraid that the publication isn’t enough to have an impact on their sales

Designers feel hope when they use our platform, they also feel afraid that they might make an inversion without having results

They feel that they are actively reaching out buyers

Designers feel excited about showing samples of their products but afraid of wasting money and time on clients who probably are not going to buy their products.

Designers feel excited about accepting new challenges.

Risk

That our publications doesn’t reach a lot of viewers and doesn’t create any impact on sales

-Not being able to make meaningful connections between them and buyers (not selling their products) -Them to create direct connections with the information provided and not using our service (we can’t charge commission that way)

-Not being able to make meaningful connections between them and buyers (not selling their products) -Them to create direct connections with the information provided and not using our service (we can’t charge commission that way)

Sending samples to many clients and at the end only few of them are going to buy their products..

Designers and retailers will need to communicate within each other a lot to understand their expectations and their capabilities which can end up in miss understandings during the exchange of information.

Solution

Show our users a summary of publications where their work has been promoted and the amount of followers or readers it has.

Sharing with them just enough information to tease them and also give them a monthly summary of how many people visited their catalogue and showed interest.

We are going to send them a report of the website trends and also of their sales and to provide them feedback of what the buyers thought about their products.

Providing them with some guidelines and ideas of how to send samples, we are also going to provide a template letter to explain what are the samples and consider the idea of charging per sample.

We use different social media channels and we also use the platform of strategic partners to have more coverage.

Difference We not only use online promotion we also promote them offline during design events

Feeling

All the conversation should be written to have a prove of what they have said to each other

Delivery

Designers will reduce the risk sending products to another country.

By sending samples and assuring to them that we will use the best options to send their products designers will be secure using our service.

Designers feel excited about sending their products to the clients and anxious waiting for their reactions

Feedback

Designers can monitor their sales performance and receive information about what the customers are buying.

We consider that by being open with the information, designers can better understand how the market and their products are doing

Secure, Designers feel supported and depending on their performance they will feel excited or frustrated .

-The products can be damaged -Clients could have different expectations form the products and they would want to return it.

-We need to buy a reliable program that give accurate data to the designers about the online sales -It would be more difficult to manage the feedback of the design fairs.

-Send samples before sending all the merchandise -Select the best option and more secure to ship the products

Give them hints to boost their sales by giving them a trend report of what retailers are buying.

Retailers UX Activity

Promotion

Connection & exploration

Sampling

Value

Retailers can find designers in an easier way

Retailers need to be constantly looking for designers and they usually find them in design events or through networking

Retailers have the option to receive a sample of the material of the products so they can really know what they are buying

Difference

-We use different social media channels and we also use the platform of strategic partners to have more coverage.

-We not only use online promotion we also promote them offline during design events

Feeling

Retailers feel curiosity about new designers, but also they feel overwhelmed with so many information everywhere

They feel confident that they will find something interesting on the platform and the trust us

Risk

Solution

-We connect them through our website and also through the design events.

-They can see a list of the designers who participate in our platform and they can network with them through our platform

Concession

Retailers can be constantly innovating with new products

Delivery

Feedback

Retailers will be certain of what they will receive, because they have seen the product previously.

We will give them information about the market trends so they can buy what customers are interested in.

Online buying doesn't allow to perceive the products as they really are. By sending the samples to the retailers we will reduce the uncertainty

We don’t only offer the possibility to buy products, we also offer the possibility to buy talent to make customize products by commission.

By sending them samples before the delivery

They will have open access to information to understand their clients better

Retailers will feel secure about what they are buying because they will actually will know how they look in real life.

Retailers will feel empower and unique to have the possibility to co create new things with Latam designers

By sending them samples before the delivery we will reduce their anxiety of waiting for the products to arrive

Retailers will feel secure about what they are buying because the will know what the clients need

That our publications doesn’t create any impact on sales

-Not being able to make meaningful connections between them and designers (not finding products) -Them to create direct connections with the information provided and not using our service (we can’t charge commission that way)

Retailers can order a lot of samples that probably are not going to buy

Designers and retailers will need to communicate within each other a lot to understand their expectations and their capabilities which can end up in miss understandings during the exchange of information.

The products can be damaged -Clients could have different expectations form the products and they would want to return it.

That our publications would not be meaningful for them and wouldn’t affect their decisions on buying products

Create and share meaningful Promotions about our products

Sharing with them just enough information to tease them and also give them a monthly trends report

Charge per sample?

-Send samples before sending all the merchandise -Select the best option and more secure to ship the products

Collect and provide meaningful insights and information about what it's happening

-All the conversation should be written to have a prove of what they have said to each other

Our Digital Platform

Our digital platform aims to facilitate the connection between designers and retailers by simplifying every single step. All the communications and transactions that happen between them should be through our webpage. We will provide them with a user friendly interface that will make easier every single step.

Our Digital Platform

Home Page On the main page of the platform we will be constantly showcasing the best selling products of our platform, to reward our designers and to show our user the quality of the products that we offer.

Also you can find the list of the retailers where our designers are selling their products.

Sign up As we are a multi sided platform our user need to choose if they are designers or retailers to access to our webpage. According to the kind of user they choose, they will have specific access and information.

Our Digital Platform

Features By clicking any of this features our users will have access to more specific information.

Detailed features To engage our users since the beginning we will show them all the features we offer to them, The example that you see aside are the features we provide to our designers.

Our Digital Platform Uploading products As we have mentioned, our designers can create their own catalog in a very easy and convenient way through our webpage. They can upload their products pictures and all the information they consider important to showcase better their products. Here they will have the opportunity to tell the story behind their products and also all their requirements they have to sell their products to wholesalers, such the quantity of the products they can produce and sell, the time they require to produce them, if they accept or not consignments and concessions and also to which type of retailers they want to sell their products (department stores, boutiques, ect.)

Manage Catalog Our designers can manage and change their catalog anytime they want. They can add and modify their products according to their preferences and to what the market is demanding

Our Digital Platform

Marketplace & order placement The retailers and the consumers can have access to the catalog of all of our designers. They can filter the products depending on their needs and preferences.

Depending on the number of products and to the date they need their products for, different products will appear on their screen

Data Analysis One of the most interesting features for our designers and retailers is that they can be constantly monitoring the performance of their sales and of the market, besides they can be aware of the trends and about what is happening in the market, to be constantly improving and innovating.

What guide us?

In Latent we want to offer our users a consistent and meaningful experience. In order to achieve it, we created four main pillars that will define the essence of our company, shape every single step of our experience and will guide us every time we will need to make decisions.

Create a special community Be part of a valuable network

Advocate for Latin American Design Highlight what Latin American Design produces

Tailor our service to fit our user needs Personalized service depending on our costumers

Ease the challenges of our users Help our users to reach their goals without breaking their head

Design Guidelines

Design Guidelines Design Guidelines

Aspirational sense of belonging

Advocate

Personalized service

To ease

One of our design guidelines would be having in mind always the nature of humans beings and their desire to belong. The service and the experience that we will offer, will always foster retailers and designers desire to belong and feel part of a vibrant and special community full of opportunities.

One of the missions of Latent will be to create awareness and highlight the richness of Latin American design and advocate for the designers and retailers who promote it. In order to support and stand out the design produced in Latin American countries we will be constantly looking for new content and new market opportunities.

We know each of our clients have different needs because of the nature of their production styles or the because the products itselfs; for this reason we will design our service in a way that it provides them a feeling of a personalized experience and a variety of options to supply their specific needs.

In order to be valuable and essential for designers and retailers, we aim to create a seamless experience to ease the connection, communication and transactions between both of them.

We are planning on facilitate all the errands that must be made in order to sell or buy international design .

Why for designers this is important?

They feel as a part of an important community and they reinforce the value of their creations because of being part of a group of talented, successful and ambitious designers

We will be constantly offering them new markets opportunities where they can exhibit and sell their products to expand their market and internationalized Latin American Design

Why for retailers this is important?

They feel that their are contributing to the development of Latin American Design and they also feel excited about being part of a vibrant community that works with interesting and ambitious designers.

Why why believe this is important?

In order to foster their interest in Latin American Design we will be constantly offering new talents and products so they can be constantly innovating in their stores.

They feel that we are paying close attention to what they do and to their needs and they value the service that we offer because they feel that it’s the right fit for them since we make them feel that we tailored our service specially for them and their needs

They feel that we are paying close attention to what they do and to their needs and they value the service that we offer because they feel that it’s the right fit for them since we make them feel that we tailored our service specially for them and their needs

Design company owner’s have to manage their time to design and to deal with business operations.

Overwhelmed by the amount of work and their limited resources, it is difficult for them to reach international clients and retailers. With our help they will be able to reach more in an easier, cost effective and less time consuming way.

Retailers are constantly looking for new products to sell in their stores, however sometimes they don’t have access to explore the Latin American market because of cultural, economic or language barriers.

With our help they will have access to latin design and they will have the opportunity to sell latin products in their store.

How does these guidelines affect our touchpoints?

Promotion

Design Guidelines

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING To attract and engage designers and retailers with our platform, we will foster their aspirational desire to belong and feel part of a vibrant and special community full of opportunities.

Connection

Exhibition

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING By being part of our vibrant and special community full of opportunities, our users will have the certainty that they will only be connected with highly talented designers and high quality retailers

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING We will choose the most important design fairs to exhibit LATAM products. This will arouse the aspirational feeling of being part of our community and surrounded by the best of the design industry

ADVOCACY / EASE We will advocate for designers by exhibiting their products in international fairs and in our online platform to help them to to connect with international retailers and sell their products in other countries in an easier way, by helping to avoid to deal with the logistics of contacting international retailers, travel to the fairs and exportation their products. At the same time, we will facilitate the access and the process to explore and buy Latin American Design to the retailers.

PERSONALIZED SERVICE Designers can have the certainty that we will offer a personalized promotion of their products in the design fair. Our staff will be trained to promote and sell the products as well as the story and cultural value behind them.

PERSONALIZED SERVICE According to the designers and retailers specific needs we will offer them personalized opportunities to sell or buy their products.

Designers can choose where they want to sell their products: boutiques, wholesale retailers or specific stores, while retailers can choose specific designers to design a customized product just for them by consignment

PERSONALIZED SERVICE We will have a personalized session with the designers who want us to exhibit their products by them in the design fairs.

We will understand their products and the stories behind them so we can promote sell products to the retailers in the fairs

Sampling

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING /ADVOCACY Traditional online e-commerce platforms only offer a digital exhibition of the products. Through our platform retailers will have the possibility to have physical access of the products by sending them samples of the products they are interested in, which will help designers to promote better their products.

EASE To make the online selling/buying process we will help designers to send samples to the Retailers, so they can have a better understanding for the products.

PERSONALIZED SERVICE If retailers are really interested in the products, they can receive a personalized sample of the material of the product..

Concession

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING By offering the possibility of concession to designer and retailers, both of them can innovate and take advantage of their talent and products.

Which will encourage them to be part of our community.

ADVOCACY/EASY To advocate for LATAM design we will help them to promote their products and overall their talent in an easier way, so they can be exposed to different clients and co-create with them new products.

PERSONALIZED SERVICE Retailers will find the right designer to make new exclusive products for them. They will have a personalized services by customizing the products according to their personal preferences.

Delivery

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING / EASY For designers exporting their products by themselves, is one of the more overwhelming steps. With our help and the help from our strategic partners, we will help them to overcome the process in an easy and convenient way, which will inspire designers to join us.

ADVOCACY By the hand of Procolombia and Promexico we will advocate for the LATAM design, by helping designers to ship their products internationally.

PERSONALIZED SERVICE Due to the different types of products we will offer, we need to give to the designers personal assistance about the best way to export their products in terms of logistics, operations and legal issues.

Feedback

ASPIRATIONAL SENSE OF BELONGING One of the best ways to be successful for designers and retailers, is to have accurate data about what it’s happening in the market and about the performance of their sales and purchases.

Also for designers it’s important to have direct feedback from the clients, so they can be constantly improving and innovating.

EASY All the data we will present to them will be through infographics that are easy to read and understand so they can take the best advantage of it.

PERSONALIZED SERVICE Each of the designers and retailers will have access to a personalized feedback about their performance, to have more valuable information

Why our service is unique?

Connecting the dots

Consumers

Retailers

Design Events

Feedback

Offline

Market-place (sell) Exhibit Promote

Event s

Social Media Newsletter

Online

Guide

Feedback

What makes LATENT better, is that we cover both sides of the spectrum, the online and the offline, to offer them a holistic experience.

Connect Buyers

After analysing the industry we are emerged in, we realize that there are some companies that help designers to expand their business and connect them with buyers, consumers and retailers through online platforms, and there are others that help them to showcase and export their products by providing them offline guidance and tools.

Benchmark

Benchmark

connect w/retailers

designer´s

connect w/consumers

exhibition

promote LATAM designers

designer´s online education

online sales

We wanted to understand what was happening in our costumers world and which were the companies that were helping our users to do the jobs that we wanted our platform to do.

We analyzed the most relevant companies and we tried to compare their metrics and the experiences they offered. In the following pages you will be able to see the opportunities we found, the threats and what we learnt from these companies.

connect with retailers Help designers & retailers to connect+transact only with taking-out the cost of attending to trade shows

Metrics: Fee: $20USD monthly Community: 23K Mode: Online Business Model: Membership subscription- unlimited listing Strategic Partners: Retailers (Urban Outfitters, West-Elm, Ikea, Guggenheim) UX: simple steps Marketing: online marketing Characteristics: . connect/ messages/ transactions . image fixer tool (for catalogues) . catalogues management .

Showroom . managing orders . feedback & data analysis . social media, newsletter . magazine

Experiences: i.

ii.

satisfaction: 1. is a convenient & understandable platform 2. is effortless (clicks away from retailers) 3. is accessible and they can use it whenever they want feel helped: 1. help w/images for catalogues 2. it helps them to access a lot of retailers 3. to understand their data and get feedback from their performance

Opportunities: . .

Threads:: . . . .

vi.

feel connected (w/retailers & other designers) feel hopeful (to reach important retailers) relieved ( the platform can do something that would take time & money-convenient) feel hopeful: 1. that a manufacturer or retailer approach them

to have a short number of retailers to have bad quality products that might not be interesting for retailers not to have transactions on the platform the platform`s traffic

What we learnt: .

iii. iv. v.

to expand the online platform to an off line experience to add final costumers to the marketplace

. .

.

Designers and makers are using this platforms because they are more convenient than going to trade shows Several well known retailers are participating in this platforms The configuration of the site guarantees you pay a monthly subscription (if you want to see which retailers participate with them/ if you want to see the designers catalogues The configuration of the platform make sure that the transactions are made on the platform.

connect with retailers Wholesale tradeshow for design+artesanies for retailers

Experiences:

Metrics: Fee: $2, 800USD Community: 25K Mode: Offline Business Model: . fee for attendants (buyers . fee for designers/ exhibitors

i.

ii.

Numbers: . . . . . . .

24, 300 attendants 2,550 exhibitors 230 returning exhibitors 93% high end luxury buyers 57% of products launched at the event 98% of buyers wrote orders at the market $458 ooo on sales (market)

iii.

iv.

designers get satisfaction: 1. they get a lot of buyers, retailers, media and manufacturers to see their products 2. they have a lot of feedback from industry experts designers feel overwhelmed: 1. it´s really expensive 2. there is a lot of competition 3. it’s tiring 4. it’s stressful: there is a lot of people and noise designers feel hopeful: 1. that manufacturers, retailers or buyers approach designers feel confused: about their performance (there is no feedback, only sales indicators)

Opportunities: · · ·

to expand the offline platform to an online experience to make an on online marketplace to provide feedback an analysis of the exhibitors performance

Threads:: · · · ·

online platforms which are less expensive not having enough attendants/ participants not controlling the content the negotiation and business skills of each designer can make the difference

What we learnt: · · ·

a lot of designers are interested in participating in these kind of events to reach directly with retailers several participants would like to have some analysis of how they did and how can they be better and sale more some of the participants don´t know what to expect and how can they take the most out of the experience

connect with retailers Promoting design & fostering the international creative community.

Annual event complemented with events during the whole year and a store.

Metrics: Fee: $38 sq ft.

Community: 23K Mode: Online- Offline Business Model: · Designers exhibition/ Launch Pad: ($38 sq. ft) fee for the exhibition · Design Schools: ($5K) fee for participate in their annual workshop · Design Brands: Sponsorship · Design Stakeholders: cross promotion · Design Competition: Participant inscription fee · Countries: trades (space x space on their design events) Strategic Partners: Design brands, design schools, design studios, design Events (ICFF, Design Week NY) Marketing: design media (cross promotion with all of their partners) Characteristics: · annual event (50 exhibitors) · schools workshop (7 top schools from around the world) · launch pad (designers looking for manufacturers) (33 exhibitors) · Design students competition · Industry city/ Manhattan store

Experiences: i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

designers get satisfaction: 1. they get a lot of buyers to see their products 2. they have a lot of sales opportunities designers feel overwhelmed: 1. it´s really expensive 2. there is a lot of competition 3. it’s tiring 4. it’s stressful 5. there is a lot of people and noise there is a sense of community among designers 1. they meet a lot of designers and design industry members they have fun 1. in the conversation series 2. in their contest and workshops 3. in the event and their parties they feel hopeful 1. that a manufacturer or retailer approach them

Opportunities: · · ·

use a better and trustful rating systems to expand the online platform to an offline experience to provide feedback an analysis of the seller's performance and also a forecast of trends and buyers preferences

Threads: · · · ·

online platforms which are less expensive not having enough attendants/ participants not controlling the content the negotiation and business skills of each designer can make the difference

What we learnt: · ·

·

a lot of designers are interested in participating in these kind of events to reach directly with retailers several participants would like to have some analysis of how they did and how can they be better and sale more some of the participants don´t know what to expect and how can they take the most out of the experience

connect with consumers Marketplace where people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods.

Metrics: Experiences: Fee: $0.02 USD for listed item, unlimited listings Community: 54 Million Active buyers: 26.6 Million Sellers: 1.5 Million Products Listed: 33 Millions Mode: Online- Offline Business Model: Designers catalogue listing fee ($0.02USD) sales commission per transaction: 3.5% Characteristics: + community engagement + they develop tools and educational materials to empower sellers + mission-driven company + Etsy Seller’s Handbook, Etsy Success Newsletter and Etsy Online Labs

i.

ii.

iii. iv. v.

sellers get satisfaction: 1. they get a lot of buyers to see their products 2. it's cheap and accessible designers doesn´t feel overwhelmed: 1. there is a lot of competition but there is a lot of traffic as well 2. it’s convenient 3. is easy to use there is a sense of community among etsy users they trust the platform and the ratings Etsy users feel scared: 1.

Copycat Sellers Steal and sell their work 2.

Etsy tells buyers to report to Federal Internet Crime Bureau if their shipping is late

Opportunities: . .

to expand the online platform to an off line experience to add final costumers to the marketplace

Threads: . . .

copycats not trustful ratings problems among sellers and buyers

What we learnt: . . .

designers and makers are using this onlines markets to sell their products and they are making a living out of this people is willing to buy directly from makers if they offer a good price and a good quality product makers and designers can handle the logistics of exporting by themselves using transportation companies

Business fees

Latent is design to help Latin American designers, that is why we have create a revenue stream to help them to keep their cost down. We will charge them a listing fee and a percentage of their sales, however we will also offer them complimentary services by an additional price if they want to have more exposure in our digital platform or in international design Fairs.

On the other side, retailers will have to pay a yearly membership to have access to our highly curated platform.

Business fee

Design Event

Digital Platform

Designers

Listing Fee

Commission

$0.50

15%

(Minimum 5 pts.)

Of every sale.

Retailers

Advertising

Membership

$10.00

$200

Monthly fee *Optional

.Catalog management .Exportation guidance .Monthly Feedback report .Monthly trends report .Publications on our social media, newsletter and blog + strategic partners

Annual

.Access to designers catalog .Illimited transactions .Monthly trends report .Messaging w/ designers

Designers

Commission $(x)sq. ft . + 20% X: prices established for every sq.ft. by design event

.Exportation guidance .Shipping (depending dimensions) .Logistics .Staffing .Sales management

Business Phases 2

3

Launch

Expansion

Establishment

3 Countries

13 Countries

1

400

150

1000

400

Designers

Retailers

Designers

Retailers

Physical store

3

7

9

Based at NYC

2

Countries

Countries

Colombia Mexico

USA Colombia Mexico

12 30

Major Design Fairs/ Trade Shows Pettit Design Events

Help Colombian and Mexican designers to exhibit and sell their high quality products to american clients and retailers.

Countries Colombia Mexico Argentina Peru Bolivia Brazil Chile

30 50

Countries USA Canada Colombia Mexico Argentina Francia Italia England Finland

1

Featuring the people’s favorite products (based on sales of the digital platform)

Major Design Fairs/ Trade Shows Pettit Design Events

Expand the high quality design community by including designers from other countries of Latin America and help them to sell their products to other countries around the world

Take advantage of the design community created in the previous phases and open a retail store with a permanent exhibition of highly quality curated latin american design products.

Expand the high quality design community by including designers from other countries of Latin America and help them to sell their products to other countries around the world.

Phase 1 -Goals & Priorities GOAL 1 Create a high quality design community

GOAL 2 Offer our clients a high quality services

GOAL 3 Profitability

The Web Page Strategic partnerships ●

Create an Online Webpage and social media accounts to promote our our and connect designers with international clients and retailers.

The clients ●

Find Colombian and Mexican emerging designers with high quality design products, who want to expand their markets.

●

Find international clients and retailers interested in Latin American products.

Design fairs

●

Find Design fairs, events and bazaars where potential clients assist with the aim of buying design products.

Strategic partnerships It is highly important to find strategic partnerships, in order to offer convenient opportunities and better experiences to our clients and to reduce our costs. ●

Transportation companies: Find the best company that guarantee us the best quality and best deals for our clients.

●

Procolombia and Promexico: Find support from Procolombia and Promexico to reduce uncertainty by guiding us and our clients to export products and find potential markets.

●

Amazon Web servers

Profitable & Accessible In order to have a high quality design community and provide a valuable customer experience to our users, we are more focus on the profitability of the business than in rapid growth. We are interested only in selecting the best talents who offer high quality products and who can represent the best of Latin America. However having in mind that our main clients are emerging designers the prices should be accessible for them.

Business success

Measure to success

Our success depend on

·

Reach the right retailers and designers

·

Adaptability: As we are an international business we need to be able to adapt easily to different markets. For this reason he decided to grow by phases to reduce uncertainty and be more flexible toward the change.

·

Strategic Partnerships: Find strategic partnerships that support the services that we offer.

·

Sociocultural aspects: Depending on the sociocultural aspect of each country the demand of the market will vary.

Aspects that can threaten our success

·

Politics-Economy: The continuity of the Free trade agreements will affect the profitability of our business, the less duties we have to pay the profitable we will be. By the contrary if this duties increase our finances would be directly affected.

·

Designers can contact designers directly

·

Designers commitment and capabilities: In order to comply with retailers, designers need to have the infrastructure and labor force required to comply with the deliveries dates and requirements.

How we test the idea?

Latent always want to offer to its users the best. That’s why we prototyped, iterated and ran a pilot about our system map, online and offline platform, offline, and brand identity to test and improve our concept.

What we test and why?

To Prototype

System map (interactions)

UX Online (marketplace)

UX Offline (Exhibition)

Brand Identity

Importance

5

5

Uncertainty

1

3

Prototyping

How

5

Framework, map of the interactions and experience maps on the offline and online experiences

5

Website Design, Invision

Why - To understand the Interactions & touchpoints that are going to happen and to identify where we need to intervene - To understand how we have to build the architecture of our website

-To understand the features we need to provide in our web page according to our users needs to create a seamless and engaging experiences - To learn how understandable and transmittable is our concept

-To understand the logistics we need to take care off to exhibit the products internationally.

5

5

1

Framework of the exhibitions experience -To test if what we are offering is appealing for our users.

2

2

5

Logo, tone, pallette,: reflected on website

- To learn if we were appealing to our users - To see if we were speaking to our users on the right tone - To test if we could transmit who we are with our branding

59

Online platform

Objective: Test the experience of the Online platform Method: Use Invision to connect the screens and simulate the actual user experience

What we learned: 路 The platform is user friendly and provide valuable features 路 Missing connectors between the screens 路 Users need more interaction when doing Concession 路 Payments vary depending of the retailer or designer requirements

Due to the design fairs schedules we couldn’t participate in any of those, however we talked with people who had participate on them, as well as with buyers and organizers.

To test the offline experience we decided to simulate the experience of the fair, but in this case visiting the retailers. . We ask one of our designer to send us some of her products and to fill out the form, specifying all the characteristics of the product, the story behind it and her production and selling requirement.

Once we received the products and the information, we went to Wanted Design store, to showcase the products to the buyer and we got very meaningful feedback about our offline experience.

Design Fair

Design Fair

Objective: Test the Offline experience of the Design Events Method: -Designer filled out a form with the product description -We visited retailers to simulate the design fair

What we learned: ● ● ●

Retailers value the story behind the products How are we going to manage the concession offline?

Retailers are not willing to spend time or money returning samples

Learnings

Implications

+

We learned that some designers find the online market appealing, while others prefer the idea of exhibiting their products on international fairs.

+

We have to make the connection between the online and offline service stronger to engage designers on both services.

+

On our Online platform we missed some connectors between the screens that we must add: (ex. Fair inscription, bills, etc)

+

On our experience maps we skipped some steps that we must add

+

Concession is one of the most important features of our platform and we need to define better how is going to be this online and offline experience for our users.

+

We need to design better the concession online and offline experience, to help designers and retailers to close deals in a simple way through our platform.

+

Payments vary depending of the retailer or designer requirements

+

We need to offer multiple payment options to the retailers.

+ Designers highly value the exportation guidance and that could mean a value proposition that we can offer.

We have to expand our offering and guidance for the exporting as our value proposition

+

We have to guide them but at the same time we can’t give them all the information about our contacts and the exportation process otherwise they would do it by themselves. Also our service have to be very appealing and meaningful so they can feel need to hire us.

We have to be careful in the way we guide them and provide them information, to avoid that they left our platform as soon as they learn how to do it.

+ + +

We have to be more emphatic in the story behind the products

+

We have to have a wide variety of retailers to attract designers and a wide variety of designers to attract buyers (network effect)

+ +

+ +

Retailers value the story behind the products Retailers and buyers who are about to make a large order want to see and feel (samples) the products. However they are not willing to spend time or money returning samples

+

Testers did liked the website prototype and could understand how it worked and follow the process

We need to design a better strategy to manage the sampling offering

63