PALM DESERT, Calif.–It seems like a no-brainer, but why don’t the thousands and thousands of online clothing retailers offer customers a way to stand in front of a Webcam and virtually try things on?
That’s a question a couple of companies that presented at the Demo Spring 2011 conference here today were trying to answer. Both Zugara and FaceCake Marketing Technologies showed the audience here forthcoming offerings that would integrate virtual dressing rooms into e-tailers’ sites.
Although Demo often showcases companies with related technologies, I don’t recall a time in my many years of attending this show that two outfits have taken the stage with more or less the same product. But Zugara, with its Webcam Social Shopper, and FaceCake, with Swivel, both seem intent on building a business around the licensing of these Webcam-based augmented reality changing rooms to retailers.
And while the two companies’ approaches differ slightly, they were close enough to make one wonder how both can succeed.
For Zugara, the key selling point of such a system is making it easy for consumers to use. That means Webcam Social Shopper requires no downloads, and essentially interacts directly with a user’s PC- or Mac-based Webcam. The customer would stand in front of the camera while on an e-tailer’s shopping site and simply “try on” an outfit. The software figures out where the user’s face is, and then superimposes a garment on his or her body.
Continues at: At Demo, virtual dressing rooms promise big sales | Geek Gestalt – CNET News.
Related articles
- Augmented Reality Online Shopping: Not the Right Fit (Yet) (mashable.com)
- DEMO: Zugara engages online shoppers with dress-up visualization (venturebeat.com)
- Demo Spring 2011: And the Oscar Goes To… (spectrum.ieee.org)
- DEMO: FaceCake offers Jetson-like future of fashion (venturebeat.com)
- Meet the Winners of DEMO 2011 (readwriteweb.com)
- Facecake Hopes to Transform Online Buying & The Dressing Room #democon (downtheavenue.com)
