The surge of Covid-19 has not only affected public health, but all aspects of people’s daily life and routine. One of the biggest industries that were affected by the pandemic was the retail industry. When the virus started to spread in the US, it caused a complete shutdown of the economy, where retailers were the first to be affected. While the economy slowly reopens, there is still the central issue of the proper way to open retail stores without causing another wave of Covid-19.

Noticing this issue, Team 15 has decided to tackle this issue head-on, looking at possible solutions to give proper aid to stores that need it, ensuring a safe and clean environment for both customers and employees, while ensuring that retail companies can make a profit. With this, Shop XVAR was created, an augmented reality app. The application is a product and service that allows users to Shop X variables of goods ranging from electronics, food, and clothes through a Virtual Augmented Reality interface. The primary purpose is to allow an interactive shopping experience for customers while buying goods in-person, but also decreasing the exposure to diseases by maintaining proper Centers for Decrease Control and Prevention (CDC) safety guidelines. The primary function is an "object information by recognition," which allows customers to get information from a product by scanning it.

SHPE’s Innovation Challenge is just the beginning point to start promoting and selling the company’s VR idea. As it enhances customer in-person experience in retail stores, our secondary focus is to promote our service and product different retail stores, within a determined mall located in the United States, to make Shop XVAR adaptable to different locations, as well as expanding our customers to multinational retail stores.

This project aims to initially test the technological efficiency of the app in leading retail stores such as Walmart, Target, and Hollister, to later on expand to Latin American countries such as Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia to decrease the exposure level of COVID as public health in these countries is deficient. For future reference, the company envisions itself as a leader in the VR field, helping undeveloped countries where the presence of our technology has a significant impact.

To obtain the necessary financials to extensively build and launch Shop XVAR, the company will direct themselves to national, leading retail chains, to reach the money needed in the shortest time possible. Once the funding phase is completed, the company will focus on promoting the technological idea to regional and independent retail stores, with reduced cost, as the end goal is to equally help all retail stores get back on track, and stay open as long as it follows safety protocols.

The initial idea of Shop XVAR is in the initial phase is the object recognition function. The feature will recognize the objects that the camera shows and will provide information about tem in the retailer’s website. Future services include an in-store navigation that will allow customers to find products within the store, an inventory control system that will allow separating items that
are going to expire soon from the rest. Finally, a “fit room” feature will allow customers to know if a specific cloth fits them without any physical contract.