You know the frustration all too well: You go into a fitting room to try on an item and it’s the wrong size. You schlep back out of the fitting room to check the store shelves to find the same item in the right size. Now, that step can be eliminated. Microsoft and Accenture demonstrated the “Connected Fitting Room” at the National Retail Federation convention in New York City.
Using the system, which provides a store merchandise screen in the fitting room, the system recognizes and identifies the item a customer brings into the room. All a customer has to do is use the screen to request the item in another size, and an alert is sent to a salesperson on the floor to grab the right size and bring it to the customer. The screen can also show recommendations to the customer of other items they might like.
“In many retail stores, associates and managers have little insight into what the potential intelligence fitting room can provide their business,” writes Olivia Chen on the Windows Embedded blog. “For example, a customer may try on a pair of jeans, find that they don’t fit, and leave them behind without the retailer ever knowing anyone was there — or associates and managers knowing the store just lost a sale. And a pile of un-purchased clothing on the dressing room floor doesn’t tell the store manager if the customer wanted a different size, didn’t like the style, or just got impatient trying to flag down a sales associate for help.”
In the video, above, Brendan Mislin, Accenture’s global capability lead for Windows platforms, and Brendan O’Meara, Microsoft’s managing director for Worldwide Retail Industry, show how the connected fitting room can “revolutionize the shopping experience for customers, associates and store managers alike,” Chen writes. “The technology helps customers find what they came for and discover additional items that fit their interests, and helps businesses better understand and meet customers’ needs, drive informed merchandising decisions and boost sales associate productivity.”
The Connected Fitting Room is on display at the Microsoft booth (#2703) at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, through Tuesday. Read more about it on the Windows for Your Business blog post from NRF, and to read Chen’s full post, head over to the Windows Embedded blog.
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Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff