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Augmented Retail is the new hybrid virtual reality with cost benefits.

Luxury watch brand Tissot has worked with an Augmented Retail specialist to create a two-week, interactive touchscreen technology experiment in Selfridges.

By waving your paper-clad wrist at the screen in the Selfridges window display on London’s Oxford Street and a whole new collection of timepieces will be at your fingertips.

Augmented Retail (AR) is set to shape the future consumer retail experience and some brands are already putting this latest technology to use.

The mirror-like display online tracks the movement of the paper watch being worn, and transforms the image into a display of the full range of watches available from Tissot Touch. The technology allows the subject to swap watches and play with a variety of functions including compasses, diver functionality and thermometers – with the correct time and date – in real time.

Where I see this being really interesting is when this technology reaches a point where it's standard practice amongst online retail ecommerce allowing the perception of a personal experience of wearing a product.

Perhaps this could be achieved using technology similar to Microsoft's project Natal (see video example of motion detection here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HluWsMlfj68) which detects motion in a very sophisticated way with motion sensors. People could potentially try on different products and experience how they look with the product fulfilling the aspirational and emotional part of the decision making process.

This has the potential to fill the missing gap that currently exists in the online retail experience - the experience that currently takes place in the real-world experience of shopping of trying the product on.

This could go one step further and I imagine an example in the women's fashion domain where someone shopping for a new pair of black shoes to go with a particular outfit could maximise this experience to make an informed decision. Imagine being able to put on the outfit then shop and try different shoes to see which goes best with that little black dress. Perhaps there could also be the opportunity to then make relevant recommendations through clever algorithms, or perhaps even have human stylists on hand to offer personal advice, like an in-store assistant.

From the brand, or online retailer perspective, if the experience was of a high quality, this would also potentially have the benefit of reducing returns. This would make it more feasible from a cost-benefit perspective to invest in preparing products for this technology, depending of course of the overall price.

All interesting food for thought.

Original article source: LS:N, see video example here: http://www.lsnglobal.com/seed/view/1959

I'm finding it really interesting to watch the space between online editorial and ecommerce start to blend and become more prevalent.

I posted an article, on this blog, previously talking about the interesting new possibilities of interactive advertising using touch-based form factors, such as the iPad, become more mainstream.

We've been practising implementing a similar approach in digital experiences that we create, it's a case of monetising content where possible, adding value, but more importantly providing an easy path to conversion at the right moment in time.

For us utilising this concept of providing research with click-to-trade, started off with our financial services work on research and trading applications with one of our clients in the City of London many years ago. Analysing user perspectives and interviewing people on the front line allows the opportunity to realise that for those in the research phase, providing a timely click-to-trade option once they had made their decisions of financial product and appetite for risk through filtering the range of financial products available adds a lot of value and convenience to the process.

We love to cross-pollinate ideas and business models across industries, and we used a similar sort of approach with with our work on Activinstinct and their performance sports online retail store with over 17,000 products. In our research we defined a series of different persona types that were relevant users of the site. For those of you that don't know, personas are end-user character personalities with specific motivations and tasks. These personas are made from a series of 'truths' discovered from real interviews and surveys and we use these as the central figures in our design process so that we're focusing tightly on solving our customers/target user's problems and adding value. In our range of personas we discovered many levels of pre-existing knowledge of the site products and each persona would benefit from different levels of information about the products in order to be able to make a decision to buy. For example, a weekend warrior triathalon athlete would want to know detailed specifics about a products technical performance capabilities and could compare products on weight, composition, etc usually having a good understanding and previous product experience. While a working mother buying sports equipment for her son may not have experience or have purchased a cricket bat, for example, before. So in order to replicate the offline experience of walking into the Activinstinct store and talking to the sales person, we aimed to recreate that 'conversation' online.

This way we could educate and inform about the products, and still cater to all levels of knowledge. We used an innovative approach of a combined product selector, FAQ, and click-to-buy to recommend relevant products and allow conversion.

Here's an interesting article on the site: The Business of Fashion going into more detail ....

Jennifer Aniston by Steven Klein | Source: W Magazine

NEW YORK, United States — In recent seasons, fashion brands have learnt to think like publishers, creating original digital content to earn attention and attract fans who will carry their message across the internet. But the reverse is also true: squeezed by shrinking advertising budgets, traditional content creators like magazines are learning to think like retailers, embracing e-commerce to open new revenue streams and monetise their content.

“Publishers are the number one generators of purchasing intent for brands every day, but are being allocated an ever shrinking amount of ad dollars,” said Philippe von Borries, co-founder and publisher of popular fashion website Refinery29.com.

Indeed, “intent generators” like magazines are losing their fair share of sales revenue to “intent harvesters” like shopping sites at the end of the purchasing process, observes internet entrepreneur Chris Dixon in an insightful blog post entitled “A Massive Misallocation of Online Advertising Dollars.”

Mr. Dixon suggests that better techniques for tracking how publishers generate purchase intent could lead to a more favorable allocation of advertising dollars, allowing content sites to focus purely on producing content. But many magazines are hedging their bets, becoming both “intent generators” and “intent harvesters” by launching their own online shops and integrating them into their editorial platforms.

 SHOPPING CHANNELS

Time Inc’s key fashion title InStyle first launched InStyle Shopping back in 2007, letting consumers browse and buy an edited array of products from retailers like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Bergdorf Goodman, and earning the magazine a share of the sales revenue. According to Simeen Mohsen, InStyle’s director of digital business operations, InStyle Shopping has “moved more than $10 million in product since launch.”

While InStyle declined to quantify exactly what this number means in terms of revenue for the magazine, other online publications and blogs earn 8 to 12 percent on clicks that lead to successful sales via affiliate programmes. Even if InStyle only earned about half as much  — say 5 percent — this would translate to $500 thousand in revenue since 2007.

But ShopStyle, the social shopping engine that has powered InStyle Shopping since launch, states on their website: “The rate you are paid per click depends on a number of factors, including how often clicks result in sales for the retailer, the amount of each sale, and whether those products are returned for a refund. As a result, the rate you are paid can vary over time.”

Building on the success of InStyle Shopping, Time Inc. recently made a strategic move to deepen the integration of e-commerce across InStyle.com. In January, the publisher acquired StyleFeeder, a personal shopping engine that uses pattern recognition technology to make product recommendations. StyleFeeder is expected to be woven throughout InStyle’s website and replace the current partnership with ShopStyle. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Fran Hauser, head of digital strategy for the group that manages InStyle, explained: “Our editors are generating significant consumer demand for products in the retail market. And what StyleFeeder allows us to do is share in that value creation.”

InStyle isn’t the only magazine that’s been integrating e-commerce into its offering. Last November, Condé Nast’s Lucky magazine added online shopping to its editorial platform, bringing intent generation and intent harvesting together in one destination. “We felt strongly that we wanted to weave the eboutique into Luckymag.com rather than create a separate ecommerce site,” said Mary Gail Pezzimenti, Lucky magazine’s web director. “We believe that women want to shop alongside great fashion how-to advice, styling videos, fashion news and galleries of great outfits or hairstyles.”

Independent fashion titles have also been experimenting with e-commerce. Last Autumn, AnOther Magazine launched AnOther Shop, an online boutique with specially commissioned merchandise, from artworks by Jake and Dinos Chapman to laptop cases by Gareth Pugh. Then, a couple of months later, AnOther Magazine launched AnOther Loves, a product recommendation engine that sits alongside, but separate from AnOther Shop. It’s a bit like a collective blog, with product picks crowdsourced from a carefully selected list of contributors. “We wanted to turn this collection of desirable goods into a collaborative stream, and with a little semantics have realised this could be very useful for recommendations,” said Alistair Allan, digital director at Dazed Group which publishes AnOther.

CURATED COMMERCE

Magazine brands are also positioning themselves to generate and harvest purchase intent beyond their websites. During London Fashion Week in February, AnOther Loves teamed up with London department store Liberty on an initiative called AnOther Loves Liberty, a curated selection of Liberty products that appeared on AnOther Loves, as well as on Liberty’s website and at their Tudor-style flagship.

Partnerships with sample sale sites have also been popular. Lucky has teamed up with Net-a-Porter’s online outlet, theOutnet.com, to host flash sales curated by Lucky editors, Hachette Filipacchi’s Elle magazine has a deal with Rue La La and Vogue is partnering with Gilt Groupe to let consumers shop select products from the current issue.

SHOPABLE ADVERTISING

A few weeks ago, Vogue also launched an iPhone app designed to make the magazine’s advertising shopable. Called Vogue Stylist, the app is loaded with styling advice and monthly trends supplied by Vogue editors, alongside products advertised in the magazine, which consumers can browse, mix and match with items uploaded from their own closet, and ultimately click to buy. “Vogue Stylist pairs a user’s wardrobe with products from Vogue advertisers to produce a look that is both chic and new,” said Holly Tedesco, integrated marketing manager at Vogue. Using the camera built into the iPhone, the app even allows readers to scan and shop physical ad pages in Vogue’s print issue.

FULL INTEGRATION

But some magazines are going beyond branded shopping channels, curated e-commerce partnerships and shopable advertising. They are integrating e-commerce directly into their center-of-book editorial. This month, W magazine launched a shopping guide alongside images of covergirl Jennifer Aniston, with numbered bullets — and links to external shopping sites — that correspond to the clothing Ms. Aniston wears. Indeed, the integrated shopping guides appear in all of W’s fashion spreads for April.

If this kind of deep integration of commerce and core editorial content appears to pose an inherent conflict of interest, it’s worth remembering that at fashion magazines, these lines have long been blurred. Across the industry, the products featured in editorial are often a function of a magazine’s advertisers.

Furthermore, in the real lives of fashion consumers, magazines and shopping are already integrated. People have used magazines as inspirational product guides since their very inception, a behaviour that’s even easier now that editorial sites and online shops are just a click or tab away from each other. So why shouldn’t publishers offer shopping services that streamline the process for consumers and capture a share of the sales revenue that’s rightfully theirs?

That’s not to say that an independent stylistic point of view is not important. It’s tremendously important. It’s what attracts readers in the first place. Going forward, the most successful magazines will be those who are able to maintain their unique point of view, while capitalising on content that’s shopable. A contradiction? Not necessarily. A challenge? Definitely.

“Over the next few months we will be launching several new commerce products,” said von Borries of Refinery29. “We firmly believe that commerce should be an integral element of a digital content site that features new fashion products, trends and designers every hour. Commerce and community also belong together. Whoever does not embrace the two will lose out in the long run.”

Indeed, people love to shop, but even more than that, they love to shop together. While forward-thinking youth apparel brands like Vans have experimented with realtime social shopping, letting users share the experience of customising shoes, we’ve yet to see a content site that lets readers explore and shop fashion together, in realtime.

Vikram Alexei Kansara is Managing Editor of The Business of Fashion

It's interesting to see an example of how the magazine Wired plans to make the most of the touch screen and interactive interface.

It seems to give advertisers a lot more for their money by allowing a richer experience with full sound and video rather than a static image. One example in the video is a car advert which the reader/user of the interactive interface users their finger to motion left and right on the car image and gains access to a seamless 360 degrees product rotation.

It's really only one step away to add the ability to purchase the product, it's going to be really interesting when this happens, it will change everything.

You may already have heard about the iphone app that allows people to take a photo of a product bar code in-store? It opens up a whole new way of shopping. You can see a product instore, scan it, then find the cheapest price online and order it there. (Red Laser http://redlaser.com/)

Perhaps it will get to the point where the new Facebook monetisation model will be to image-scan the photos in peoples profiles for recognisable branding or design features for products in the photo such as watches, ties, suits, handbags, etc and associate these products in the photos with an overlay or icon that allows people to then click to learn more and then buy these products online making a percentage of each sale. It’s potentially quite intrusive, but an interesting idea none the less!

Why stop there? Let’s go a little bit further into the, perhaps, not too distant future and imagine augmented reality glasses that pop up 3D location-based messages as you walk around the city. These could be based on your pre-defined interests and preferences with the ability to purchase items you see online directly through a virtual reality interaction you would control through sensors scanning your hand movements. Obviously this could be really intrusive if developed to allow open access and advertisers bombarding people, but like any successful advertising, it should be all about relevance and timing.

Take for example the idea of increased awareness of a product when you’re in the research phase before buying (assuming it’s not an impulse purchase). Ever notice when you’re looking to buy something, let’s say a watch for instance, then when you’re in the research phase it may be the case that all of a sudden you’re looking at everyone’s watches, where before you hadn’t a second thought about it. This is a good time to engage the viewer in relevant contextual advertising that appeals to their interests, an example of these can be seen in Google search and adwords advertising now. How you would implement this would require very accurate analytics based on the number of times objects where viewed through your glasses or contact lenses in different contexts perhaps, but it would need a pretty finely tuned approach and need to really add value to be adopted.

Another dimension: Augmented reality brings life to fashion show

2010:02:26 Marissa Shirbin

London – Augmented reality (AR) made its fashion debut last week at London Fashion Week.

 

London-based ‘techno, primal, tribal’ fashion label Cassette Playa decorated garments with symbols programmed to activate AR animation. Models instantly grew headpieces, changed colour and became avatar-like; momentarily of course.

 

According to Cassette Playa designer Carri Munden, the software, developed by the London College of Fashion’s Digital Fashion Studio, facilitates an extension of the self and adds ‘another layer to the purchase’.

 

Augmented reality is being increasingly incorporated into fashion. We recently reported on wearable magazine T-post, which uses the technology to engage its readers. To further see how brands are using augmented reality to engage with consumers, read our latest feature on AR technology.

See the video of the avatar here

Another interesting development in use of augmented reality - into wearable fashion. Wouldn't it be interesting and surreal to be in a bladerunner-esque nightclub, smoke machine fog floating around, neon lasers, throbbing music, and everyone was wearing/projecting their own augmented reality avatars of all shapes and sizes.

Taking it to a more functional situation, imagine a speed dating event where everyone has wearable augmented reality fashion. Rather than a projected avatar, speed daters could create visuals of their interests, passions, etc which would hover around them as augmented reality visuals, so people could quickly spot who was suitable. It would cut down on unnecessary interaction, although who's to say someone wouldn't try to use the system to their advantage? The clever speed dater could see someone they fancied, see what they liked and projected through their avatar, then change the interests they project (or carry some spare t-shirts with a range of profiles). It might not be useful for a healthy and happy long term relationship, but it would certainly increase their popularity with the people they were targeting. That's the interesting thing about technology, there's always the human element to confound the innocent logic.