By T. Leigh Buehler | 05/31/2024
Businesses constantly seek out new innovations for customers to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping. One new technology that is gaining momentum in recent years is the virtual fitting room.
I personally avoid shopping in stores for clothes because I hate trying on items. At the same time, it is frustrating to order clothes from online stores and not know with certainty if they will fit properly according to my body measurements, especially when not all retailers have seamless return policies.
New digital tools such as virtual fitting rooms are revolutionizing the way customers shop for apparel online. They offer personalized and interactive user experiences through a virtual lens that often exceeds the shopping experience offered at traditional brick-and-mortar stores and improve customer satisfaction. Also, the virtual rooms offer a viable alternative to using a physical fitting room at a retail store, because customers can try on accessories and clothes virtually.
Understanding the Virtual Fitting Room
The virtual fitting room (also known as virtual try-on technology) leverages augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Virtual fitting rooms allow shoppers to visualize how clothing or accessories will look on their bodies and coordinate with their skin tone before they make purchases.
Users can see what garments or accessories will look like on their bodies by using live camera feeds or uploading photos. As a result, retailers provide an immersive and engaging shopping experience, all from the comfort of the customer’s home.
The trend for virtual try-ons began in the eyewear industry to help customers find prescription glasses online, without the need to go to a retail store to try them on. This technology usually relies on a combination of computer vision, augmented reality, and machine learning algorithms.
With such technologies, online customers buying eyewear can decide on which eyewear looks best with their face shape, and they can also see if a gorgeous dress will complement their body shape before purchasing. As a result, they can avoid the frustration of having to return items they purchased online, which is hurting customer welfare.
The Benefits of Virtual Fitting Rooms
There are numerous benefits for both retailers and customers when businesses offer a virtual fitting room to customers. These benefits include personalization, convenience, increased confidence, and reduced returns.
Personalization
Everyone’s body measurements are different, and the clothing offered by online retailers is available in a variety of sizes. A virtual fitting room enhances personalization and helps the customer feel confident in the shopping choices they make, whether they are buying accessories or clothing.
Convenience
Virtual fitting rooms are highly convenient, especially for those customers who do not like to go to brick-and-mortar stores. By eliminating the need to personally go to a retail store and physically try on items inside in-store fitting rooms, a virtual fitting room saves customers time and effort.
Increased Confidence
All of us have most likely make an online purchase in the hope that the item will fit properly once it is delivered. Privately trying on virtual clothing in one’s home in virtual dressing rooms increases a customer’s confidence and encourages that customer to make a purchase when shopping online.
Reduced Returns
One of the biggest advantages of the virtual fitting room is the elimination of extra returns. By providing accurate size and fit information up front, virtual fitting room technology helps to reduce the number of in-store returns and exchanges. This decrease in returns leads to cost savings for retailers and a more sustainable shopping experience.
Fashion Retailers Who Use Virtual Fitting Rooms to Encourage Online Shopping
Several fashion retailers have adopted the virtual dressing room. So which retailers use this technology for online shoppers and who is successful at it? Here are some virtual fitting room examples.
ASOS
ASOS® is a global fashion retailer that implemented virtual fitting room technology through its “See My Fit” feature. This feature allows customers to view clothing items on models with similar body shapes and sizes to their own. By providing personalized visualization tools such as virtual fitting rooms, ASOS aims to enhance the online shopping experience and increase customer confidence in their purchases.
Zara
Fast-fashion retailer Zara® introduced virtual dressing rooms at select stores. The technology enables customers to try on virtual clothes by using in-store interactive screens. By blending the convenience of online shopping with the tangible experience of trying on clothes in virtual dressing rooms, Zara aims to create a seamless, omnichannel shopping experience for its customers who dislike using a traditional dressing room in a physical store.
Warby Parker
Warby Parker® is best known for its eyewear. The retailer expanded its virtual try-on capabilities to include virtual fitting rooms for its prescription glasses and sunglasses. Through its mobile app and website, customers can virtually try on various frames using their device’s camera, helping them find the perfect pair of glasses and an accurate fit from the comfort of their homes.
Adidas
Adidas® leveraged the virtual fitting room to enhance the online shopping experience for customers. Through its mobile app, Adidas offers a virtual shoe-fitting feature that uses AR technology to superimpose a virtual shoe onto the shopper's foot. This technology is allowing customers to see how different styles and sizes will look and fit on both feet before making a purchase.
How Virtual Fitting Rooms Work
The virtual fitting room technology used by retailers usually relies on a combination of computer software, augmented reality, and machine learning algorithms. Here’s a brief breakdown of how a virtual fitting solution works for an online store.
Image Processing and Recognition
The virtual fitting room software first analyzes images or a live video feed from the user, captured through a webcam or smartphone camera. The software identifies the key facial features of online shoppers, such as the eyes, nose, mouth, and facial contours of the customer's body.
3D Modeling
Based on the user’s facial features, the software creates a 3D virtual model of a shopper’s face for the online store and the customer. This model is crucial for accurately overlaying virtual items like glasses, makeup, or accessories onto the image of the user's face within an online fitting room.
Augmented Reality Overlay
Using augmented reality software, virtual retail products are overlaid onto the customer’s image or video feed in real time. The virtual fitting technology adjusts and scales a product to fit the customer's body or face properly, mimicking the user actually wearing that product and creating a more pleasing virtual fitting room experience.
User Interaction
Users can often interact with the virtual try-on experience by adjusting the position, size, or style of a product. This flexibility that is built into online fitting room software allows shoppers to see how virtual clothes or accessories would look on their body types, the same way they would try on clothes or accessories in a traditional dressing room or mirror, and then make more informed purchasing decisions.
Machine Learning and Personalization
Some virtual fitting rooms incorporate machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to create greater accuracy and more personalized recommendations. For instance, the algorithms in a virtual fitting room app on a mobile device learns from user interactions, customer data, and feedback to provide more accurate suggestions over time and to allay customer concerns. The software and its marketing strategies could even be tailored to appeal to certain customer segments who prefer to not use an in-store dressing room and don't want to take the time to drive to physical stores.
The virtual fitting room has transformed the retail industry and online apparel shopping for many consumers. This type of virtual dressing room offers a more personalized, convenient, and confidence-boosting alternative to a traditional in-store dressing room.
With retailers like ASOS, Zara, Warby Parker, and Adidas leading the way, virtual fitting rooms, artificial intelligence, and machine learning will become an integral part of ecommerce. Virtual fitting technology will empower customers to make informed purchasing decisions, increase customer loyalty, enable more diverse shopping experiences, and improve online sales in time.
The Retail Management Degree at AMU
For students interested in the virtual fitting room, artificial intelligence, and other aspects of ecommerce, American Military University (AMU) offers an online bachelor’s degree in retail management. Some courses in this program cover various topics such as retail operations, digital retail, the principles of ebusiness, digital retail technologies, consumer behavior, and digital retail analytics.
These courses are taught by experienced faculty who can provide deep insights into the retail management field. For more information, visit our program page.
ASOS is a registered trademark of ASOS, PLC.
Zara is a registered trademark of Inditex, S.A.
Warby Parker is a registered trademark of Warby Parker, Inc.
Adidas is a registered trademark of Adidas AG.