Virtual Fitting Rooms

Can one imagine walking into a Zara or a Mango store, or for that matter, even an Adidas or a Nike store, which doesn't have a fitting room? Yet, when the same brands sell online, people cannot try on their garments before buying. The biggest drawback of online shopping is that the buyer does not know how the garment will look on him or her or how good is the fit. While for online shoppers, this translates into apprehension and unnecessary headache if they have to return the purchase, portals too have to deal with a lot of "returns" and "exchanges". 

But all this may be changing now. Waking up to the need of providing customers with an equivalent of fitting rooms in physical stores, many e-commerce portals in India have now installed 'virtual fitting rooms'. So, users can "try on" different outfits and accessories online — live — either by switching on their webcams or uploading their photo on the website. Some websites even use mannequins of various shapes and sizes that best suit the user's body type. 

Apparel retailer Zovi.com recently launched a virtual trial room app called 'Zovi Eye'. With its help, buyers can view themselves in their desired clothes via an interactive webcam application. Explaining this, Satish Mani, co-founder of the Bengaluru-based brand, says, "We have realised that there are basically two concerns regarding buying garments online. One is , 'will this fit me?' and the other is 'will this look good on me?' With Zovi Eye, we are trying to address the second concern." 

Even Myntra.com, which stocks more than 350 Indian and international brands including FabIndia, DKNY and Adidas, has confirmed that it is going to launch a "trial room" application in two months.

The idea of virtual trial room is spreading to other retail segments as well. For instance, eyewear website Lenskart.com has just introduced the 'Virtual Mirror', enabling its customers to try on glasses while browsing its pages. Similarly home décor portal Kingschest.com has introduced an application wherein users can "imagine" a room by designing it step by step — right from selecting the wall paint to furniture and upholstery.

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