In times of reduced high street footfall and changing consumer trends, fashion brands are having to adapt their marketing strategies to deliver enhanced and rewarding customer experiences. Extended Reality (XR), which includes Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (AR), is perfectly placed to deliver these new experiences directly to consumers, and they are ready for it.

• 100 million people used try-before-you-buy AR tech while shopping for their new wardrobe in 2019
• 1.9 billion people per month will use AR in 2022, and 3 billion devices worldwide are currently AR-enabled
•  71% of shoppers would prefer to go to stores with a “try-it-before-you-buy” AR experience
  (source: Elevux)

Cathy Hackl, writing for Forbes, nicely summaries the opportunity for retail as the pandemic continues. The article spans challenges from sustainability, to virtual worlds and digital dressing.

Why Virtual Dresses And Augmented Fashion Are A New Profitable Frontier For Brands

Photo credit: The Fabricant

Facilitate seamless eCommerce with virtual try-on

AR provides an invaluable means for guiding individuals to interact with a product and triggers a greater likelihood for follow-through purchases. More AR capabilities are being added to mainstream apps, Amazon, Etsy & Pinterest, while brands like L’Oréal and Gucci have developed more sophisticated capabilities to drive sales.

Attract new audiences with immersive gamified experiences 

Gamification is being used as a way to entice new younger consumers to interact with a brand, helping to establish a relationship, grow a closer connection and increase followings and engagement across social platforms.

Balenciaga Afterworld: Players travel through a wonderland-style future world, passing avatars dressed in ripped jeans and metal-armour boots on the way.

Flagship stores become accessible to everyone with virtual stores

Virtual stores give consumers the opportunity to virtually shop from the comfort of their home, while providing them with an ultra-realistic retail experience.

Fashion shows from the comfort of your home

XR technologies are being used to bring the runway to your home and to give consumers access to exclusive catwalk experiences.

Kappa / Cyberdog: Fashion models participated live from Cyberdog’s iconic flagship store in Camden Market, North Carolina USA, and the Gold Coast Australia, while being showcased in a 3D immersive replica of the store.

Three / Central Saint Martins Top-model Adwoa Aboah was digitized into a 5G fuelled, high definition, 360 degree, full-size capture. Showgoers were able to see the AR model walk the catwalk in the finale

Blend Market helps make Extended Reality projects a reality for global brands with access to highly-skilled creators, talk to us to find out more and leverage the power of XR.