Online fashion platform, Zalando is introducing a virtual fitting room where customers can try on select items to check for size and fit.
The pilot will allow customers to create a 3D avator by entering their height, weight and gender, which can be used for a selected range of jeans, the company said in a statement.
The category, which includes up to 22 items, was chosen for the pilot as it is one of the more challenging categories in terms of finding the right size due to the lack of sizing standards. Using the avator, customers can see how different sizes from various brands would fit them, with a heatmap indicating where the item sits tight or loose.
Zalando has already completed two pilots with selected items of clothing from Puma and Zalando’s private label Anna Field, where more than 30,000 customers tried out the technology. The latest pilot will be run across all 25 Zalando markets for the first time.
“Our goal with these pilot campaigns is to learn and understand how customers engage with this new technology so we can develop a seamless scalable solution for the future,” said Stacia Carr, Vice President of Size and Fit at Zalando.
She added, “We can already see that customer engagement with these campaigns increases and, in fact, around half of the customers try more than one size on the avatar. We want to support the industry as it continues to adopt and leverage 3D digital design software and workflows to produce fashion. These processes generate digital assets necessary to scale a virtual try-on experience.”
Zalando operates with an in-house team dedicated to size and fit. The team uses a combination of fitting models, machine learning, computer vision, and other technologies to predict if items will run big or small. It has also created personalised size recommendations based on customers’ purchase and return history along with reference items that customers can add to their size profile. For those items where the company provides size advice, size-related returns have reportedly decreased by 10% versus similar items where size advice is not provided.
The company added that its Size and Fit team is currently working on a body measurement feature, which will allow customers to receive personalised advice based on their actual measurements. This is expected to be rolled out in the upcoming months.
