More augmented reality

Online retailers have always had a few shortcomings when competing against physical retailing. People often like to check out the real physical object before purchasing. Online retailers have come up with several ways to deal with the issue – from long-term return policies to Amazon’s “search inside” feature.

Zugara is giving a shot at using virtual reality to help people shop for clothes. The shopper stands in front of their home camera and can “try on” different clothes. The problem here is that while you may get an idea of what the clothes would look like on you, it would not tell you what you would actually look like with the item on – after it conforms to your particular fit. I can see this working a little better with eyeglass frames or other items that don’t change shape as much. On the other hand, this may be a good start and may increase sales because it may really give you a better idea of what the colors, etc would look like on you.

Below a demonstration:

From the makers:

We like to think of it as “Augmented Reality meets Utility”. This app allows you to seemingly hold articles of clothing up in front of yourself to see “how they look”. And the Motion Capture allows the app to track your movements so you can interact with the site (e.g. cycle through a product’s various colors/styles or take a picture of yourself so you can get immediate feedback from friends on Facebook) while standing several feet away from your computer’s controls. No extra downloads, no new plug-in, no consumer headache.

Now that you’ve seen the application in its “Alpha State”, think about the potential an app like this has as we partner with brands to allow their consumers to do things like:

• Livestream their webcam’s feed to friends and loved ones, and get comments and feedback right next to the application in real time.
• Receive “clothing care packages” from loved ones who might be somewhere else in the country and set up times to “shop together”… online.
• Enter their measurements into the app and get a “fitted image”.
• Match entire outfits at the same time, both top and bottom.
• Shop right within a branded Facebook application.

It’s not a secret that friends/family recommendations influence a consumer’s purchase decision and beat any other “consumer touchpoint”. Now, we can help brands empower their consumers to integrate their friends and family into their online shopping process like never before. The thinking is that this application will help bridge the gap between how people like to shop offline and how they are forced to shop online, subsequently providing an enhanced interactive shopping experience for the consumer and increased sales for the brand.

Source: zugara.com