Walmart is launching its latest virtual try-on, which allows shoppers to upload a picture of themselves and see what the items might look like.
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As some shoppers cut back on clothing spending, Walmart is rolling out a new tool that it hopes will prompt them to click the “buy” button.
Starting this week, customers can use a virtual try-on tool to see how a shirt or other garment would look on their own bodies. It’s the latest feature the company has added to its website due to its acquisition of Zeekit, a virtual fitting room startup.
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Cooling demand means raising prices becomes a test of how well companies know their customers.
The retailer launched its first iteration of the tool in March, which allowed shoppers to choose a model that resembles them in terms of body type, skin tone and hair color. It was later expanded from 50 to 120 models. Other retailers have also experimented with virtual try-ons, including Amazon, which has a tool that uses augmented reality to let shoppers see what a shoe might look like on their feet.
Walmart’s newest feature, “Be Your Own Model,” uses algorithms and machine learning technology originally used to develop more accurate topographic maps. Shoppers can use it to virtually try on more than 270,000 Walmart private label items, select items from national brands such as Champion, Levi’s and Hanes, and some sold on its third-party marketplace.
Customers can choose either option, using their own image or a similar model. With the custom tool, the website uses a scan of a person’s body to provide a more realistic idea of how a fabric falls, a color, or where it touches a sleeve or hem, without walking into a store.
Walmart introduces the new tool at a time when selling new outfits has become more difficult. As inflation drives up food prices, rent and more, consumers have begun to make decisions about where to cut back. The big-box retailer joined a growing list of companies, including Target and Best Buy, that slashed their full-year earnings outlook as people buy fewer discretionary items. Walmart now expects adjusted earnings per share to decline between 9% and 11% for the full year.
For the discounter, however, budget awareness could have a potential silver lining. The company raised its sales forecast in July because it was getting a boost from shoppers looking for low-priced groceries and essentials, even as they shop fewer high-margin items. It’s also attracting more customers with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more, the company said on its earnings call in August.
Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private label for Walmart US, said she wants to encourage more of those customers to stock their closets at Walmart as well.
Walmart’s virtual fitting room tool uses algorithms and machine learning techniques originally used to make topographical maps to show how garments might look to a shopper.
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One way to do this is to try on virtually, which makes shopping for clothes more fun and easier while taking some of the guesswork out, she said.
That’s also why Walmart has expanded beyond basics like socks and T-shirts to more fashion-forward products with higher price tags. It has a growing collection of private labels, including Sofia Jeans, developed with actress Sofia. Vergara; Free Assembly, a men’s and women’s clothing brand designed by the former creative director of Bonobos; and Love & Sports, a sportswear brand created with fashion designer Michelle Smith and SoulCycle instructor Stacey Griffith. Its website also includes more recognizable national brands, such as athletic shoe and apparel manufacturer Reebok and children’s clothing brand Justice.
Walmart has largely launched those elevated brands on its website and then added some of those products to select stores. Its website generates higher average selling prices for apparel than stores, Incandela said, so the retailer wants to make sure shoppers have fewer reasons to abandon items in their virtual shopping carts, such as struggling to choose a color or discuss how a dress fits them. .
So far, he said, Walmart has seen an increase since the first version of its virtual fitting tool, “Choose My Model.” He declined to say the conversion rate of purchases, but said it is higher for online shoppers who use the tool than those who don’t.
“We’re doubling down based on consumer perceptions,” he said.
Now, he said, he’s thinking about where to go next, like encouraging store shoppers to view the technology as an alternative to fitting rooms or making the feature available for men’s and boys’ clothing or eyewear.
Source: www.cnbc.com