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Augmented Reality Experience Revolutionizes Online Retail

Imagine being able to shop for a new pair of glasses from the comfort of your home. Well, Iristocracy has made it possible with its newly launched e-commerce site.  Featuring exclusive fashion brands like Linda Farrow, Cazal and Amrita Singh. Iristocracy lets you virtually try-on the eyewear with a live 3-D technology from the company Total Immersion. This face-tracking technology calibrates the eyewear based on eye and face detection, which allows for better scale and placement of the glasses. Visitors can access the technology simply by clicking the “Try-on” button on the product’s page.

Tech-savvy companies are increasingly using CGI and digital 3-D modeling to help shoppers try the products before they buy.  Metail, for instance, is a British retail company developing online fitting room technology which allows the customer to create a bespoke 3-D model of their bodies to try-on clothes. Being able to see what products look like on the consumer seems to be the missing link to online shopping.  “Metail shoppers can try outfits as they browse the website and see how the garments and outfit combinations look against their body shape from 360 degrees. The shopper is then given the size recommendation for the relevant garments and is able to add the entire basket to bag,” says Tom Adeyoola, founder of Metail.

E-commerce stores like Metail or Iristocracy are trying to remove the barriers of online shopping by providing the technology to virtually try-on their products. This technology inherently increases sales, reduces returns, and allows for an overall better brand experience online. 

On Metail.com, the clothing collections are digitalized by photographing items on a mannequin at various angles.  The software then merges the product’s images with the customer’s avatar, which allows them to see exactly how the garment fits. If they choose to try-on a pair of pants, the costumer can see where the rise and hem fall, if the waistband lies properly and even how the fabric drapes on the body.

Ebay is also following the trend, after announcing on February 19^th its acquisition of PhiSix, a company that develops 3-D visualization and simulation technologies for clothing. The software creates 3-D models of clothing from images, pattern files and other sources to simulate the behavior of the garments.  PhiSix can also recommend a size based on the measurement inputs of the user, and allow shoppers to view the clothes in various scenarios, such as walking down the street, hitting a golf course, or going to a restaurant. With PhiSix, customers will be able to purchase the clothing directly from an app and get recommendations of other outfits in their size. Ebay is planning to integrate the technology across many of its properties including the marketplace, mobile apps and even third-party retailers that use eBay Enterprise.  Ebay is hoping that these virtual try-on features will help reduce the friction that some costumers face when deciding whether they should purchase an item without seeing it or trying it on in real life.

By integrating this technology in the right way and always improving it, it is quite possible that this will be the future of shopping.

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