<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"We've been told the way we shop at our favorite stores is on the cusp of major and innovative change for years. Now we're seeing retailers incorporate interactive technology to give the traditional shopping experience a digital makeover.\nActivations from digital signage to iPads to interactive displays to augmented reality encourage shoppers to browse broader collections and try inventories on \u2014 without having to visit the dressing room.\n\u201CThe conversation with retail partners for the past few years was about how they can encourage customers to share out their experiences in store, be it a photo of an outfit they tried on, or a great service experience,\u201D said Sam Ewen, CEO of The SuperTouch Group, an experiential marketing technology company helping retailers create unique in-store experiences.\nThose concepts we heard about years back are finally becoming reality.\nAugmented reality is expensive, but it's coming\nWe started hearing about augmented reality and virtual dressing rooms as early as 2005, Ewen says. \u201CIt\u2019s only now that technology, specifically Kinect, is getting closer to catching up and concept videos you may have seen are becoming more realistic. But we're still not there yet.\u201D\nBut technology needs a bit more time to match consumer expectations.\n\u201CVirtual reality and augmented reality shopping still isn\u2019t to a point where you experience the same sensuality of trying on clothes and seeing how they complement the contours of your body,\u201D says Jeremy Bergstein of The Science Project.\n\u201CShoppers don\u2019t want their dressing room experiences \u2018disrupted\u2019 by technology. They want their time to be enhanced.\u201D\nDespite the explosive growth of online shopping, as epitomized by Warby Parker, buying clothes is still wedded to in-person shopping, a reflection of the consumer\u2019s hesitation to digitize such an incredibly personal process. According to a 2013 study by Alert Technologies, brick-and-mortar retailers that get shoppers into their dressing rooms will convert 67% of them to buyers.\nMatt Szymczyk and his team at Zugara are working to increase sales conversions by making enhancements with their virtual dressing room, but still require consumers engage with in-store textile. In its pilot, the Virtual Style Sense (VSS) technology increases inventory and choice for consumers, without taking up additional retail space.\n\nZugara announced last week at London\u2019s Retail Business and Technology Expo that VSS allows consumers wearing a retail garment to cycle through additional colors and styles available in the retailer\u2019s portfolio, without having to change clothes.\nSee also: Virtually Furnish a Room With IKEA's Augmented Reality Catalog\n\u201CThe problem with the virtual dressing room and in-store augmented reality experiences is asset creation,\u201D Szymczyk says. \u201CEvery piece of inventory would have to be textured and 3D-rendered and then engineered to interact and fit on vastly different body types in a real-time experience. That would assume $2,000 to $3,000 per inventory item, and once you start thinking about that as a cost each season, you\u2019re talking big numbers for retailers right now. VSS provides a unique in-between phase for brick-and-mortar businesses.\u201D\nSzymczyk says his team has received a huge response from retailers, and has plans for activations in the U.S. in the next few weeks. \u201CTake a T-shirt as an example. You can now try on just one shirt and see how you look in the striped version or green or hot pink without having to change.\u201D\nLinda Smith, CEO and founder of FaceCake, spoke with Mashable previously about the Clueless Closet becoming a reality. She says while virtual dressing rooms still have technology limitations, there are undeniable opportunities for retailers.\nThe bigger win is social media integration\nFaceCake allows customers to try on accessories, eyewear and even makeup through AR and an interactive mirrored screen, while a gesture-enabled user interface allows for intuitive sorting through retailer inventory. \u201CWhat\u2019s really a huge opportunity for virtual dressing rooms is really the ability to capture and share in real-time with your friends,\u201D Smith said.\nFaceCake\u2019s technology also allows consumers to compare two different looks side-by-side, but now you can both see and share two entirely different looks side-by-side in real-time and share those two looks with friends. \u201CWhen given a choice between two necklaces or two dresses, there\u2019s always a standout choice,\u201D Smith says. \u201CWhat Kinect and AR can do for us right now is allow retailers to showcase more inventory, and allow consumers to make more educated choices.\u201D\nSo while this concept video from Kinect for Windows may not be realistic just yet, we're told they\u2019re working actively with brands and agencies leveraging the API to push AR further and generate more sales.\nLooks like we just may have to keep changing ourselves and wait a few more years for the full augmented dressing room experience."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/04/02/augmented-reality-dressing-room/>