E-commerce Gadgets: Shaping Online Retail

E-commerce Gadgets: Shaping Online Retail – How has technology changed the way people shop for clothes? Designers explain how to use AR and VR to drive conversions and reduce returns.

Authors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they demonstrate experience. All our content is reviewed and validated by experts in the same field.

E-commerce Gadgets: Shaping Online Retail

Laurence is the Senior Writer for Technology and Software. A former analyst at Google and ITA Software and researcher at Bell Communications Research and Verizon Laboratories, he currently writes about the intersection of technology, business, and design. Laurence holds five patents for AI and internet applications and a master’s degree in computer science from Columbia University.

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Pushkar is a leading UI/UX designer specializing in AR and VR. He has worked with some of the world’s leading design studios and recently designed for Doom 3: VR Edition. He teaches in the VR/AR Design & Development Program at the Vancouver Film School.

Sarah is a designer with experience in marketing, branding, and graphic design. He specializes in working with fashion retail and luxury brands.

Najeeb is a UI/UX and product designer with experience in the software, marketing, fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce spaces. He is a UI/UX designer for Shopfit, an AI-powered virtual testing platform.

Mark is the Director of Marketing Studies at Columbia Business School and a consultant to the retail and consumer products industry. He is a former CEO of Sears Canada.

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Buying clothes online is challenging. According to the National Retail Federation, the apparel industry has the second highest rate of return (after auto parts) of any other sector. Even with high-resolution images from multiple angles, there is no substitute for a customer seeing and feeling how a dress or shirt fits their unique body.

But retailers are hoping that virtual try-on technology will soon catch up, and are investing in solutions that mimic the experience of trying on clothes and accessories in real life. The global virtual fitting room market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 25% through 2028, and retail giant Walmart acquired virtual fitting-room startup Zeekit in 2021.

The YourFit experience through 3DLook teaches shoppers how to take pictures of themselves, then show how the clothes look.

Although the technology is still in its early stages, it is developing rapidly. For virtual testing to reduce sales returns, the user experience must be as smooth, accurate, and intuitive as possible. talks to experts about emerging trends and how best practices in UI and UX design can create successful experiences.

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E-commerce has been around for over two decades, but there is often a disconnect between what customers see online and what arrives at their door. As Mark Cohen, Director of Retail Studies at Columbia Business School, says, “most merchandise sold on the internet is sold through a postage-stamp-size photo with some bulleted body copy elements, which describe-goodness. basic terms—parts and benefits.”

The virtual try-on provides users with large, sharp images and clearly shows how the clothes will look when worn—by the customer or by someone who looks the same. As the technology grows more ubiquitous, “it will enable customers to make more successful choices, to shop with more confidence, and it will also enable the retailer to present merchandise … more accurately,” said Cohen.

Most virtual testing technologies use augmented reality to show a garment or accessory in an image or video to a person to help them imagine how the item would look in real life. Virtual testing is more useful for cosmetics, and it’s more effective for durable accessories that don’t drape or move when the wearer moves, says AR/VR designer Pushkar. Patange. “Most of the use cases you see [for virtual testing] are in hard objects like accessories, bags, and eyeglasses.” A case study of Shopify Plus by handbag company Rebecca Minkoff, for example, says that shoppers are 65% more likely to make a purchase after interacting with an AR item.

The soft stuff, however, is a different matter. “For apparel shopping, we’re talking about real time,” says Pushkar. “So when you try on a shirt, and it’s a moving object, once you turn, it should drape over you. It’s very difficult to achieve because allowing it to drape over you would require thousands of polygons,” the geometric building blocks that make up 3D models.

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Yet companies are eager to find ways to help customers get an accurate picture of what a soft garment will look like when worn. Walmart, for example, provides a Choose My Model feature. Customers can select an item of clothing on the company’s website or app, then click the “choose my model” button. Users can input their height, then choose a model that closely matches their overall shape and skin tone. When customers click on the dress, the site puts it on the model. The technology uses computer vision and advanced AI to analyze the apparel catalog and virtually dress the models. It’s similar to a “see it in my size” feature offered by Levi Strauss & Co., Madewell, and other retailers that allows customers to view clothes in pictures of models that are very similar in their size and shape–but that feature is labor intensive, requiring each item to be photographed on a model of each size.

Walmart’s virtual try-on option allows shoppers to imagine how a piece of clothing would look on someone whose body type is similar to their own.

Many companies, however, are eager to show customers how to view a piece of clothing specific to them, especially as customers demand more personalized retail experiences. One player in this space, 3DLook, integrates with e-commerce apps and instructs customers to wear appropriate clothing and capture images from the front and side. The extension creates a body model and takes multiple measurements to show customers how the clothes look on their bodies. According to a case study, New York-based denim brand 1822 was able to reduce returns by 30% and quadruple conversions using 3DLook technology.

While many virtual try-on experiences aim to improve e-commerce, some retailers are experimenting with in-store applications to help people find the right sizes. FIT: MATCH relies on sensors in dressing rooms to scan people’s bodies and create so-called digital twins. (The company says that retailers who use the software quadruple conversions and increase their average order value by 20%.)

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After Luluemon acquired fitness company Mirror, which offers workouts through a mirror-like display, the athleisure company installed the devices in its retail locations. In addition to making stores studios by streaming exercises, the display allows people to try things that are not available in stores. Although the technology is similar to the one used in mobile and desktop devices, companies have the resources to deploy it with more processing power, Pushkar said. “So you see good use cases are in-store virtual mirrors. … Because they can have a high-end computer attached to that display. The virtual tests of devices that’s in the store can also cast merchandise in a more favorable light. “Usually, when you try these things at home, [the lighting is bad]. But in the store, there are three spotlights on you; when you turn around, they also make sure you’re okay.”

For Cohen, an in-store AR experience is a “halfway point” toward achieving greater penetration of virtual trials. “The real payoff happens when a customer can easily try things that they do today in a physical space,” he said. “Finally, the technology will give them notifications about texture and sensory response. That’s where we’re headed, and I think it will happen soon. Of course, it will be a big investment on the part of everyone involved , but it is also a great counterbalance to the terrible burden that is returned to represent retailers.

A long-term vision for virtual technology testing is a VR environment, perhaps in the metaverse. Here, the customer is not only looking at a selfie on a mobile device but can see an accurate digital representation of their body wearing realistic clothes in a virtual world. Today’s metaverse fitting rooms are meant for consumers to try on digital accessories for their avatars, not real-world outfits. However, some top designers, including Gucci (which also uses AR overlay technology in collaboration with Snapchat), are already selling virtual clothes and accessories through metaverse platforms.

Although most apps don’t require extensive instructions or walk-throughs, experts recommend offering comprehensive instructions for AR apps because it’s an evolving and rapidly changing technology.

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Technologies that place clothes over a person’s image work best when people position themselves in certain ways, many virtual testing apps provide detailed instructions. For example, Ray-Ban’s app uses spoken language to provide feedback for the right fit for eyewear. When the customer turns on the camera, the app draws an oval to indicate where the customer should place their head, then instructs them to move closer or further away from the camera. The app also tells customers to look or tilt their heads to the left or right.

The Ray-Ban app provides

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