Virtual shopping malls, sellers and stylists – that’s how retail market will look like in the future. How AR-technologies will change the realization of shopping and simplify our life, we are presenting on the example of the international project Good Style.
The Great online
The five IT-companies that have changed the world include Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Alibaba. As we can see, two of them are online retailers. Internet shopping is getting more and more convenient. It saves time and money. The Russian Volkswagen office shared a remarkable fact: more than 56% of car buyers no longer come for a test drive. Just the information about a car is enough to make a decision. It means that even such expensive purchases can be realized through the Internet.
The main task of traditional retail is to increase the time which customers spend in a shopping center. The longer you stay there, the more money you spend. This is why restaurants and cinemas are anchor tenants. This rule also works on the Internet. The Session length on a product page is one of the critical metrics. Retailers use bright pictures, useful videos, and now augmented reality is used too.
A fitting room in your smartphone
The idea of a virtual fitting room appeared back in 2012. The Japanese company Uniqlo began to use fitting rooms, where LCD screens with augmented reality were installed instead of usual mirrors. There was no need to put on clothes, it was enough to choose the things you liked in the catalog and see your reflection in them.
Everything became much easier when shops began to use phones instead of LCD screens. The Converse sneakers were among the first. You point the phone at your foot, choose the shoe model you like, and you're done. Technologically, it is even easier if you don’t need to put on the clothes during the fitting.
There are more and more brands which experiment with AR. According to the latest report by Markets and Markets, AR in retail is creating a market of more than $ 1 billion, and by 2023 this value will reach almost $ 8 billion with an average annual growth of 47.1 %.
How does virtual fitting work?
Let’s take Good Style's multi-brand virtual fitting room as an example. The developer uses neural networks for quick processing and adding clothes to the catalog, which distinguishes the project from related ones.
The mobile application allows you to try on clothes virtually, give the possibility to combine garments and create complete looks. The user can create and manage his own wardrobe. It gives the new experience of virtual fitting and increases your online shopping satisfaction. Thanks to the project, everyone can feel like a stylist. The application is ideal for those who don’t have time for offline shopping. You can download it on Google Play and the App Store.
However, the owners of numerous shopping centers need to keep an eye out so as not to be left out of business in the future.