Contxto – Brazilian developer ICX Labs has showcased how its interactive mirror can improve the customer experience in some São Paulo-based retailers. Nonetheless, the startup believes that by creating more variations of its featured product, Fitting You Mirror, it can reach more segments and users in 2020.
Its CEO and co-founder, Fábio Avelar believes that as virtual reality grows in importance, so shall ICX Labs’ offerings.
Smart mirror for better shopping experiences
Clothes shopping may seem like a straightforward process: go to the store, pick a few things, try them on, select what you like, ditch the rest, and complete your purchase with legal tender. Simple, right?
Wrong.
For many, buying clothes is often dampened with annoying little details.
From the shirt you wanted being out of stock or not in your size. Or the lack of staff to help find what you need. Or not even really knowing what style suits you so you walk aimlessly through the store.
With these shopping struggles in mind, Fabio Avelar and co-founder Renata Maximiano created ICX Labs to develop better purchasing experiences. Through its Fitting You Mirror, a person can browse through the store’s catalog of items whether physically there or not via an app. The shopper can verify stock and sizes as well.
Via machine learning, the mirror can also offer suggestions based on the person’s taste and prior purchasing habits.
These same nifty features are also available in a store’s fitting room where the interactive mirror is equipped. There, a person can contact a salesperson if help is required, along with ordering additional items.
If it all looks good, then the purchase can even be completed within the fitting room and the irksome line to the cashier is skipped.
Meanwhile, the retailer also benefits by better understanding a customer’s behavior and preferences so they can plan accordingly.
Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the most innovative of them all?
The ties between e-commerce and physical stores are interesting.
On one hand, with e-commerce booming throughout Latin America, retailers must become more tech-savvy in order to stay relevant. And on the other, despite the dominance of all things digital, I don’t believe retailers will fall.
At least not the ones that are aware of what the future of in-store sales is all about.
This is so because being able to try on or see the merchandise before purchasing something is still a big deal.
What is set to change is the emphasis on providing personal customer experiences that a smartphone can’t offer. In this case, ICX Labs’ proposal is a step towards keeping the customer journey relevant in the physical realm, by combining a brand’s e-commerce goods with an in-store experience.
-ML
