What is Virtual Fitting Room and its future in the Retail Industry?

How about trying many garments to see how they look and fit on your body without actually wearing those things before buying? Shoppers always have a doubt about how a garment will look on their own body, and hence ordering online was a matter of hit-or-miss and that’s why they prefer shopping at physical stores where they can actually try the product. Also in a physical store it’s not always possible to try so many varieties of clothes. So why not stand in front of a camera or mirror and try as many clothes and accessories you want. This is achieved through AI powered virtual fitting rooms. Virtual fitting rooms allow customers to see what they would look like in any item of clothing. Virtual fitting rooms are leaving less space for doubt by offering several benefits to the shoppers.

Virtual mirrors incorporate computer vision and augmented reality technology to allow users to try on different outfits in different sizes and colors without having to change and use the fitting room. A customer scans the code of a clothing item and the virtual mirror displays the image of the person in the outfit.

The lighting and background scene can also be changed to give the shopper a fairly good idea of how they would look in the outfit in various environments without having to actually physically wear it.Virtual mirrors use gesture recognition algorithms to recognize user commands and they also feature a virtual cart. Once a buyer short lists an item for purchase, it is added to the virtual basket for later payment and checkout.

Virtual mirrors and recommendation engines

In retail, virtual mirrors may become the next frontier of personalization and customer experience enhancement. A virtual mirror is a conventional mirror with a display behind the glass. Equipped with computer vision cameras and AR, virtual mirrors can show a range of contextual information, which helps customers connect with the brand better.These are some of the companies doing wonders in virtual fitting Technology

Zeekit

Zeekit , is revolutionizing the way people browse, share and shop from their mobile devices through the most advanced virtual fitting room app for consumers and retailers.

Using the Zeekit app, consumers can now virtually “try on” fashions before buying online or trying on in-store. After uploading a full-body picture, a shopper taps a product they see online, in print or in store and is able to see how it looks and fits on their actual body. The item can then be mixed and matched with fashions from different retailers in their virtual closet, shared with friends or purchased through a link in the app. Retailers and brands can easily incorporate the Zeekit button in their online, mobile and physical stores to give shoppers the ability to try on their entire catalog of products, virtually.

FindMine

FindMine claims to offer virtual fitting rooms as part of an array of retail marketing solutions that include AI-driven eCommerce, mobile, in-store and personalized email services.. The ML-powered engine behind FindMine’s flagship product provides its users with real-time fashion recommendations based on their current outfit. For example, if a person tries on a hat in the fitting room, the virtual mirror will recognize the hat and recommend a bag, accessories, jewelry, and other items that will complement the look.

To make this happen, a retailer feeds FindMine’s algorithm with the data on each product from their catalog. The system then considers a multitude of items’ characteristics including color, description, price, and gender targets to recommend other relevant products at the store.

Virtusize

Virtusize is a virtual fitting solution that enables online fashion retailers to illustrate size and fit for consumers.Virtusize lets customers compare specific measurements of an item they are looking to buy with a similar item they already own. By displaying and overlaying 2D silhouettes of both garments, the startup says that customers can more accurately compare sizes and, ultimately, choose the item that would fit them best. It’s a compelling pitch and has obvious cost savings over the up front work involved in 3D visualisation of a retailer’s entire catalog.

Benefits of using Virtual Fitting Rooms

In-Store Navigation

These applications claim that studying customer behavior helps retailers understand the various factors that influence the buying decision. Customer behavior could include where in the store they go, the route they take, how much time they spend inside, among others. Understanding the behavior enables store owners to respond to customer needs, and potentially increases the chance of customers buying a product.

Better brand exposure

These days, a brand that uses AR tools motivates many people to try new features and share their experience on social media. This grapevine approach brings tech-friendly companies into the spotlight and provokes faster organic growth. Fancy VR events can also bring more potential customers closer to the brand, especially when shows are impossible to conduct due to lockdowns.

Personalization

In traditional shopping, a customer relies on a shop assistant for personalized support. shop assistants may be pushy, annoying, or over-enthusiastic. Oh yes, one more aspect to consider: recent social distancing rules don’t encourage person-to-person interaction. Luckily, Augmented Reality apps come to the rescue. Now you can visit a smart AR shop that remembers your personal preferences and metrics and is ready to guide you around the area.

Reduction of returns

Statistics show that people return about 30% of all goods they buy online. For offline stores, the number of returns equals 9%. Therefore, most frequent customers tend to buy from a retailer with better return policies and free shipping. It goes without saying that such practices mean extra costs that retailers would prefer to avoid. In this way, AR/VR shopping tools allow customers to examine a product in greater detail and make an informed decision. Thus, it reduces the number of returns and decreases those related costs.

Conclusion

The aim of the AI technologies seems to be to enhance the shopping experience by providing convenience or increasing engagement. As for the retail industry, it’s almost certain that more and more businesses will be gradually switching to AI and AR/VR tools in order to enhance customers’ shopping experience.. These technologies allow everyone to learn more details about products, provide a comfortable and stress-free shopping environment, and help make informed decisions when buying a product.

Originally published at https://www.tagxdata.com.