DDi - March 2011 - (Page 94)

94 | In-Store Technology Fittingly social Macy’s Magic Fitting Room bridges social media and the in-store experience By Janet Groeber I t’s plenty hard to get customers in the doors these days—especially the vaunted youth demographic. Last year, Cincinnati-based department store giant Macy’s Inc. partnered with LBi International NV, a digital marketing and technology agency headquartered in Amsterdam, to create Macy’s Magic Fitting Room, a virtual dressing area, as part of its “Find Your Magic” campaign. Macy’s positioned the walk-in fitting room on the ground floor of its Herald Square flagship in New York in the high-traffic real estate between its main escalators. It also launched the Millennial-friendly feature on Fashion’s Night Out—Sept. 10, 2010—during high-profile New York Fashion Week. The virtual fitting room remained in the store until the first week of November. In that time, thousands e-mailed, texted or posted to Facebook friends. Macy’s Magic Fitting Room featured a 72-in. mirror with Internet-connected touchscreen technology. Using the Social Retailing Technology system developed by IconNicholson, a unit of LBi Group, the Magic Fitting Room offered in-store apparel shoppers a chance to first browse, then try on clothing and share images of the garments with friends (after obtaining a password) by touching the “magic” mirror. “As the role of retail changes and the lines between physical and digital continue to blur, agencies are tasked with providing innovative solutions that help enhance the customer experience,” explains Christopher Enright, LBi’s chief innovation officer, based in the company’s New York office. LBi’s Social Retailing Technology System, a kind of “augmented reality,” dates to 2007 and the company’s work with designer Nanette Lepore. “By folding in new technologies and functions that consumers have come to expect, we created a complete digital commerce experience that brings together bricks-and-mortar and digital, showcasing the best of each,” Enright explains. After selecting from about 60 garments (a variety of the latest must-have tops, bottoms, dresses and jackets), fashionistas using Macy’s Magic Fitting Room first needed to stand on markers so that a photo could be taken. The mirror is connected to a professional SLR camera and the Internet, so there was no need to strip down or worry about mussing hair or make-up. The image allows the technology to better “understand” that customer’s body shape and orientation. With image in place, the shopper simply “flicks” the desired garment from an iPad app interface onto the body-length mirror (powered by Apple’s iOS 4, Windows 7 .Net WPF Gesture Control), and then the magic happens. The selected pieces are then superimposed onto the customer’s reflection. Since the Magic Fitting Room is meant to be social (a customer can invite as many “virtual” friends as they’d like to join in), the customer can view friend’s comments flashed on the mirror, including alternate fashions gal pals could select on Macys.com. Should the customer greenlight any of the goods, she could find the real item in-store (she can receive a text message or Facebook post telling her where to find items in-store), slip it on and use the mirror again to share those new looks with her closest style sisters. “Reaching out to and engaging with the digitalsavvy, young consumer is something all retailers are striving to do,” says Joe Feczko, senior vice president of innovation for Macy’s Marketing. The Magic Fitting Room, Feczko explains, “marries together our goals as a marketer and consumers’ expectations perfectly.” To e-mail this article, visit www.ddionline.com/magazine. Photos: LBi, New York City | March 2011 www.ddionline.com http://www.Macys.com http://www.ddionline.com/magazine http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - March 2011

DDi - March 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor's Choice
Design Snapshot: Kusmi
Design Snapshot: Avril
Channel Focus: Toy Store
Longo’s
Brown Thomas
11 Retail Trends for 2011
Bloomingdale’s
The Exchange
Lola
White Castle
Design Leaders 2011
GlobalShop
Show Coverage
Right Light
In-Store Technology
Product Spotlight
Classifieds
Calendar
Advertisers
Shopping With Paco

DDi - March 2011