According to a recent survey, eShoppers return approximately 70% of the apparel they order. This percentage is more than any other product category.
The fact depicts that no matter how popular online shopping may become, it would never be able to replace the brick and mortar stores. Despite having the convenience of purchasing clothes and other products in a few clicks, people still prefer to visit a shopping mall or clothing store over eStores. There are plenty of reasons shoppers give to justify why physical stores are better than online shopping stores. Some of these reasons are:
- They can touch and feel the clothes.
- They can try them before the final purchase.
- Instant purchase and delivery
- Overall shopping experience
Besides this, the advent of augmented reality and virtual reality into the field of shopping is another strong reason why people are inclining towards physical shopping. You must be wondering what these two technologies are and how they are transforming the way of shopping.
The answer is by providing shopping outlets with the smart or virtual mirrors where shoppers can check whether a dress suits them or not. Now, there is no need to wait in long queues to access the trial room, simply, stand in front of the mirror and choose the clothing you want to try. It is as simple as boiling water.
Before knowing more about how the mirror is revolutionizing the way of shopping, let’s highlight some more information about a virtual or smart mirror:
What is a smart mirror?
It is an AR-based virtual fitting solution with a real-time try-on solution. Using a smart mirror, customers can try a dress, top, or any other piece of clothing on their virtual models displayed in the mirror.
How does an AR-based smart mirror work?
A mirror leverages RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) plus augmented reality technology, which serves the purpose of a fitting room. When the user brings a piece of clothing in front of the mirror, it scans and stores the image of the same. The mirror then scans the user to create a virtual model wearing that scanned piece of clothing.
As the user moves to view the dress from different angles, the virtual model displayed in the mirror also moves in real-time to display the 360 view. A smart mirror also has various options of changing the lighting of the fitting room, so that the user can check the look in different lights. The mirror can also act as a shopping associated to provide you with the options of different colors and sizes available in the store.
Virtual Mirror- changing the way of shopping
Customer engagement
By providing your customers top-class services such as trying out clothes using a smart mirror, you can improve customer engagement to a great extent. It would also help you in achieving the desired level of customer satisfaction. Trying various clothes using a virtual mirror not only saves their time but also makes them try different clothing without the need of using a trial room. A smart mirror is also capable of displaying a 360 view of your virtual model while you try new clothes.
Drive sales
A smart mirror can also recommend other items based on the product a customer selects. For example- when a customer chooses to try a bodycon dress, the mirror can recommend stilettos that would go perfect with the dress. This can increase sales and profit.
Ease of trial or tryouts
Forget the traditional way of trying out clothing with AR-powered smart mirrors. Yes, you don’t need to wait for your turn to use the trial room. Using a smart mirror, all you have to do is stand in front of it for a few seconds, and then choose the dress you want to try out. No frustrated dressing room experience! The mirror also helps in organizing the store in a better way.
Shopping Assistant
A smart mirror can act as a shopping assistant and help you find the different sizes and colors of a product you choose. It also allows you to compare outfits side-by-side. What’s more exciting is that you can also take photos in that selected dress and then share it with your friends on social media platforms to get their opinion.
Once you like the product, make payment to purchase. Apart from this, your shopping assistant can also various outfit suggestions and shopping tips to customers, based on the pre-defined information.
Personalized shopping experience
A smart mirror can help in delivering personalized a shopping experience by displaying similar products or the same product in different colors available in the store. Moreover, shoppers can also see how the same apparel will look if worn in different lighting. They can also select different sizes a user can try in real-time to know which one fits perfectly.
Top Retail Brands that are using Smart Mirrors
There are a several fashion brands that have already started to use smart mirrors to improve their customer experience. These brands include:
- Topshop
- Ralph & Lauren
- H&M
- Zara
- Burberry
How to build a smart mirror?
The AR-based smart mirrors are not only for the physical stores, but many online stores are also taking benefits from it by allowing customers to try on clothes virtually. To purchase, they can simply scan the QR code and buy it from the online shop of that brand.
To build a smart mirror by harnessing the potential of augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and other technology, reach out to an AR development company with your specific requirements.
Only an experienced and reliable software development or app development company, such as Quytech, can help you get exactly what you want.
Final Words
The advent of the latest technologies such as AR, VR, AI, and more have helped businesses to improve their overall customer experience and drive sales. AR-powered smart mirrors that are rapidly becoming a part of physical shopping stores have transformed the way customers used to shop. It helps in delivering personalized shopping experience, acts as a shopping assistant and offers tips and suggestions, provides the ease of trying out clothes, and increases sales, and renders many other benefits. Read this article to know all this in detail.
