Virtual Fitting Room
As online apparel sales continue growing, virtual fitting rooms will become a standard part of online shopping. Virtual fitting rooms can be made up of several technologies including artificial intelligence, augmented reality and motion sensing. Virtual fitting room is the solution for the common problem of clothes ordered online being too small or too large. The current approach for customers to visualize clothes in online stores are displaying 2D pictures, which results in higher rate of returns and extra shipping costs. In addition to the benefit of ordering clothes more accurately, customers can try on various coordinates or accessories with a simple operation, which potentially also increases the sales. For the marketing purpose of retailers, virtual fitting rooms collect and analyze data from fitting experience history within the online stores. Retailers will be able to determine which products need pricing adjustments to attract the customers to make a purchase. In addition, retailers can reduce in-store inventories since customers only need to try on clothes virtually. Therefore, I would like to present the idea of installing virtual fitting rooms to the clothing retailer Gap Inc. Gap Inc. operates stores worldwide, built its casual brand for all men, women and kids. However, over the past few years, Gap Inc. as one of the biggest multi-brand apparel retail chains, is gradually losing its share in the industry. In order to stay ahead, Gap Inc. needs to come up the strategy shifting its sales to the rapidly-growing online retailing.
Sources:
Financial summaries and industry information from Hoovers
Fretwell, Lisa. "Cisco StyleMe TM Virtual Fashion Mirror."
Olenski, Steve. "How Virtual Technology Is Disrupting The E-Commerce Marketplace." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.