AI-Based 3D avatars of customers improve digital shopping experience

• Takes personalization to the next level
• Reduces gap between online and offline shopping
• Huge advance in bike sizing and fitting

SIGNA Sports United, the leading sports e-commerce and tech platform, today announced a strategic partnership with Motesque, a specialist startup for biomechanics, computer vision and AI, founded by Professor Dr. Kai Oberlander and an interdisciplinary team. Together the companies plan to launch the first ever biomechanical AI-based virtual bike fitting engine for online bike shopping.

Based on scientific metrics this engine generates personalized 3D avatars of the customer, allowing customized bike sizing and fitting recommendations. With this revolutionary fitting engine, both partners aim to further close the gap between offline and online shopping.

Thomas Spengler, MD Bike, SIGNA Sports United, said, “Motesque’s advanced AI technology is a perfect complement to SSU’s guided-selling experience and will further help customers make the best bike purchase decision. We’re confident that this new offering will be well received by our customers, especially those in our mainstream segment, as it will enhance the customer experience and reduce the return rate of full bikes – underpinning our sustainability strategy even further.”

Prof. Dr. Kai Oberländer, CEO and co-founder of Motesque, added, “Motesque has long pursued two goals with our solutions: supporting healthy lifestyles and optimizing the customer experience at the same time. We achieve both with our 3D Avatar solution, which recommends the perfect product for consumers. We are therefore delighted to have found a partner in SIGNA Sports United who shares these approaches and wants to collaborate with us to make the bicycle market even more attractive.”

The partnership between SSU and Motesque follows the broader trend towards digitalization. It allows SIGNA Sports United to be laser focused on the unique needs of each customer, enhancing and customizing their shopping experience. This is also a great step forward in reducing the gap between online and offline shopping. And for the most serious athletes, this new capability means biomechanics is now integrated into the shopping experience. That is a key consideration for some of the most performance-oriented and discerning customers.

About SIGNA Sports United

Based in Berlin, Germany, SIGNA Sports United is a leading global sports e-commerce and tech platform in Bike, Tennis, Outdoor and Team Sports with more than 7 million active customers and close to 500 million annual webshop visitors. SSU combines iconic webshop brands such as Wiggle, Chain Reaction Cycles, Fahrrad.de, Bikester, Probikeshop, Campz, Addnature, Tennis-Point, TennisPro, Outfitter and many more. More than 1,000+ brand partners, 500+ independent offline retailers and more than 15 million digital sports community members are connected to its platform.

For more information, visit www.signa-sportsunited.com.

About Motesque

Since 2015, Motesque has been using data from body movements and proportions to develop unique solutions for the healthcare, e-commerce and retail industries. Leading global companies such as Ottobock, ASICS and SIGNA Sports United rely on the company's technologies. The goal of the four-member founding team around international experts in biomechanics Prof. Dr. Kai Oberländer and Prof. Dr. Gert-Peter Brüggemann is to improve people's health and quality of life. To do this, Motesque uses the latest findings from biomechanics and AI. Using advanced sensor technology, the company measures body movements and translates them into recommendations, for example for the perfect running shoe or a prosthesis that really fits. In addition, Motesque can generate AI-based 3D avatars from customers' physical data. These can be used to realistically simulate a user's interactions with a specific product in order to create individual product recommendations.

Motesque is based in Brooklyn, NY and Cologne. For more information, visit www.motesque.com.

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