Fashionista brings three hot technologies

24 Nov '09

5 min read

RichRelevance and Zugara unveiled Fashionista, a new social shopping application that marries the benefits of the fitting room with the convenience of online shopping and the power of the social web. Launching in time for the holidays and available on fashion site Tobi.com: Fashionista brings together three hot technologies - augmented reality, motion capture, and real-time personalization - to create a more social and intuitive way to shop for clothes on the web.

Through Fashionista, shoppers can now virtually try on clothing via webcam, instantly change into new pieces recommended just for them, share images of themselves on Facebook, and get instant feedback from friends on what works and what they should buy. By combining the best of online and offline shopping, Fashionista provides an engaging and differentiated experience that builds brand and drives word of mouth, while increasing customer engagement, average order value, and brand loyalty.

“My time leading R&D at Amazon confirmed the importance of continually innovating the customer experience,” said David Selinger, CEO of RichRelevance. “Apparel retailers are leading the charge when it comes to social media and online shopping, but they can't afford to hold steady and stop investing in their shoppers. Fashionista is the next step in eCommerce: part 'Webcam Social Shopper,' part brand experience, part social tool, and totally integrated on RichRelevance's personalized product recommendations platform to deliver measurable ROI.”

“As a company, Zugara's philosophy on integrating emerging media and technologies has always been based on utility, both for the brand and the consumer,” said Zugara CEO Matthew Szymczyk. “But friends still play an important role in influencing consumers. Eighty-three percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place. Zugara and RichRelevance are excited to give retailers a new way to connect shoppers with their peers, and make the online shopping experience more like the offline: social, personal and engaging.”

How It Works
Fashionista creates a totally individualized and engaging customer experience from three core components of emerging media, technology, and eCommerce.

- Augmented Reality combines real-world and computer-generated data where computer graphics or objects are blended into real-time footage. With Fashionista, images of clothing are merged with live video of the shopper.

- Motion Capture recognizes and records an individual's movements and integrates them into an on-screen model. With Fashionista, hand motions enable the user to virtually navigate backward or forward on screen to select clothing, indicate preference, and take a photo.

- Personalized Clothing Recommendations deliver a highly engaging and individualized shopping experience based on the current shopper's session as well as “wisdom of the crowds.” With Fashionista, a stream of recommendations that leverages multiple recommendation types is displayed and updated based on immediate user feedback on preference.

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