Tanya Shaw had to look it up when I asked how many scanning outlets Unique Solutions has now opened in malls in the U.S.
“Sorry,” she said over the phone Friday as she waited for the window to open. “The numbers are changing daily.”
Seconds later she delivered the update: the company has installed 22 mybestfit scanning booths in the U.S., of which 10 are fully operational and the remainder are installed and training staff.
“By the end of February we’re in 45 locations, and by the end of June we’ll be in 160,” said Shaw, the founder and
Just before the holidays, I singled out Unique Solutions in my list of 10 things to watch in 2012. This blog, I hope, with show why I find this company so exciting. (Disclaimer: I have worked previously for and have a microscopic share in Unique Solutions.)
Unique Solution allows shoppers to step fully clothed into a booth and within seconds receive a 3-D scan that charts 200,000 points on their body, absolutely free. They then tell the system what articles of clothing they’re looking for and receive a buying report, outlining what store has what they want and which size fits them best. It’s a huge help to shoppers because of the huge variations among sizes used by different clothing makers.
After years of modifying the business, Shaw opened Unique’s first booth at King of Prussia Mall near Philadelphia in late 2010. Then last summer, she received $30 million from Northwater Capital Management Inc. of Toronto – a massive funding that will finance the installation of more than 300 scanning booths. That rollout is now proceeding, and the customer response is tremendous.
Each location is averaging 3,000 customers a month, which means that once Unique has 45 locations open in seven short weeks, it will be bringing in 135,000 new clients per month. But it’s worth remembering the company has the funding for at least 300 scanning booths. Once those are installed, assuming the current rates are maintained, Unique will be scanning about 11 million new clients annually.
Those numbers are important because the scanning of customers increases the company’s immediate revenue and the overall value of the company’s assets. Remember that the shoppers pay nothing to be scanned, but as soon as they receive a shopping report showing where they can buy perfect-fitting clothes, the retailers and or clothes brand named on the report pay a commission to Unique. More scans mean more revenue, which will fuel more growth.
But that’s only part of the story. Unique already has the world’s largest data bank of body scans, and the growth of that databank accelerates every time the company opens a new booth. The data on all those millions of body shapes is invaluable to designers of clothes, furniture, bicycles, car seats and on and on. Shaw can list dozens of uses for the scanning technology and the data it produces. What’s more, the larger the databank, the more valuable Unique is to a potential acquirer.
Right now, Unique is focussed on the apparel industry, deepening its penetration in major malls (i.e., those targeting more than 8 million customers). It will soon announce new facets of that business, such a mobile applications and other innovations. The other products will come in time.
An exit? Shaw isn’t even thinking about it now, except to say that she doesn’t want to exit too early. When an exit does happen, it will create tremendous wealth in the region as the company is backed by Nova Scotia Business Inc., members of the First Angel Network and other investors. I doubt very much the exit will happen in 2012, but it’s still one to watch for this year.
