From Brick-and-Mortar to Digital: How Virtual Fitting Rooms are Shaping the Future of Fashion

As the retail market transforms, understandably, fashion sense changes, too. One of the most advanced fashions in the retail trend is the introduction of virtual fitted rooms that act as a link between the physical store and the virtual shopping experience. These augmented and artificial intelligence powered digital dressing rooms are transforming the retail market by changing the way people shop for clothes, shoes and accessories. Virtual fitting rooms will change the fashion industry in the most radical ways possible. They can improve user satisfaction and decrease the rate of returns.
Evolution of Shopping from In-Store to Online
In earlier generations, when people moved around looking for dresses, it has always involved fitting the attire in the shop. This gave the clients an opportunity to check the cut, the design, and how good it feels before buying the clothes. But with the emergence of ecommerce culture, the picture has actually changed. Online shopping is fun and flexible, however, this gives rise to an issue for the description, and fundamental understanding and fitting of the products remain vague as well. Thus, high rates of returns are the other outcome.
Virtual fitting rooms will alter this fact. With the help of integrating AR and AI technology into their websites, online retailers are now in a position to allow customers to ‘try on’ the desired piece of clothing before purchasing it. Customers do not need to move from the comfort of their homes and can see how different clothes would look on them. The investment into the advancement of this technology has already been made by fashion brands and retailers making shopping more fun.
Now, Virtual fitting Room Does it Work
Virtual fitting rooms induce the experience by implementing the combination of augmented reality with 3D bodycams and AI. Customers are free to send their measurements, state their preferences, or take advantage of the device’s camera to fit virtual items on their bodies. Users can get to view how different items such as clothes, footwear or jewelry would appear on a number of different views.
These features generally allow users who have similar experiences to recommend or go a step further by using AI algorithms to recommend the best size to the user based on other similar size information provided by them. It’s very convenient for shoppers to identify the most suitable size for them without the need to buy lots of sizes, a practice which is quite normal but ends in unnecessary product returns.
For instance, Zara and ASOS have both come up with the use of digital fitting rooms technology whereby the user is able to see the clothes on various body types. One feature of Nike that has received a lot of accolades lately is the ‘Virtual Try-On,’ a feature that enables the user to try on shoes virtually and that does embellish it to different possible designs.
Benefits of Virtual Fitting rooms for consumers
Besides their major advantage of spatial advantage, virtual fitting rooms have many more advantages. They provide consumers with a different level of engagement with the products and thus it’s called as an experiential shopping behaviour. Customers are more likely to feel empowered when engaging with the products digitally. This ultimately leads to a higher customer satisfaction level and enhances the experience of shopping.
Digital fitting rooms provide a greater context for use by all types of users. Virtual try-ons, in particular, are likely to activate many users especially users who have physical disabilities or people who do not have physical shops available. Democracy of virtual try ons is such that all women regardless of size who wish to buy clothes are able to see how they look on size models. This is quite interesting since it makes shopping easier.
Decreasing the frequency of returns and extending the shelf life of fashion goods
In most cases, the high return rates in fashion ecommerce vary from 25 to 40 percent. Customers complain about how the items fit or how they look after wearing them, and thus the reason for returning. A possible solution to this challenge is virtual fitting rooms where customers can have a better understanding of how the item would fit and appear before making a purchase.
In this way if Virtual fitting rooms come to the market then it significantly reduces the returns. It only reduces the expenses for the retailers, who these days bear the burden of many returns costs like shipment and stocking prices, but this also helps in the promotion of the green agenda through the performance of the fashion business. Fewer returns result in less waste, lower packaging, and less shipping of products resulting in a lower carbon footprint.
Retailers: Developing the Competitive Edge
Through virtual fitting rooms, fashion brands can turn the tides and take the lead in the highly competitive congested e commerce space. With this technology, retailers will be able to gain some competitive advantage over their rivals as customers would be offered more vivid and exciting shopping experience.
Virtual fitting rooms also aid in collecting data that is useful for the retailers. Companies can learn how consumers feel or choose certain styles from the way they interact with the products online. They are also able to learn the areas that are often susceptible to fitting problems. They can be utilized in product development, stocking, and marketing.
Opportunities should be seized: why are virtual fitting rooms not used today? Lastly, what are the limits?
Considerations and Conclusive Remarks
The virtual fitting room has a relatively high upside but that has some downsides as well. The variance of accurateness in measurements and the degree of fitting depends on technology. Improvement in the AR, AI finally 3D scanning technology has to be made to enhance the fitting room experience.
These challenges have the potential to make virtual fitting rooms feasible in the near future.
Virtual fitting rooms are exceedingly promising and have the capability of becoming common in the most immediately. As the AR hardware such as smart glasses becomes widespread, virtual try-ons may be integrated into day-to-day shopping. This may be done both remotely as well as physically. In the dyspnoea, shoppers are likely to go into the shops and with the help of AR mirrors and smart devices make attempts to virtual try on and pick the most perfect fit.
Conclusion
Virtual fitting rooms are one of the most crucial trends that are changing the fashion industry. Making shopping from home easier for customers, these rooms have redefined the experience of trying on clothes, shoes, and other accessories. With further sophistication in technology, virtual fitting rooms will have even more of a usefulness in the industry. We will be seeing an improvement in both the consumers and the retailers. Companies adopting this technology will not only remain on the cutting edge of the trends but will also be in the position to offer their customers a more engrossing shopping experience.