OTTO is testing the innovative application from UPcload with a test assortment of jackets, tops and Melrose-branded clothing. The Berlin-based start-up is currently the only provider in the market offering an accurate body-measuring solution for use at home using a webcam. What’s more, customers can also use the tool without a webcam. Besides very accurate measurements using the webcam, UPcload also offers a ‘measurement-estimate’ procedure based on size, age, gender and weight parameters.
To enable the customer to determine as accurately as possible which size of clothing item they need also when it comes to online shopping, OTTO is offering this new fitting-advice service on otto.de as a trial. “In terms of selecting the right size, we’d like to offer customers greater certainty when making purchasing decisions in our online shop. This is why we, as one of the first major users to do so, are testing how this innovative fitting-advice technology can improve the online shopping experience − and in doing so, offer the customer an additional advantage”, explains Dr Thomas Schnieders, Vice President E-Commerce Innovation & Platforms.
By making comparisons with the product sizes, UPcload provides customers with a detailed indication of how well the selected article fits at key points on the body, so they can order the right item of clothing to suit their preferences.
The implementation of the ‘virtual changing rooms’ is following a test & learn approach at OTTO. “We want to find out at an early stage which advice tools customers like and where there’s still further room for improvement. Similarly, we are testing the tools to try out the precise processes involved and determine the requirements on our article information. Only this way can we reach a decision on whether we can also achieve a wide-scale roll-out of applications”, says Dr Schnieders.
‘Virtual changing rooms’ aren’t a new topic at OTTO: the company offered its first virtual changing room on otto.de way back in 2000. With the help of photos, customers were able to try on items of clothing on their own body. Since then, the online retailer has been continuously expanding its activities in this area and is complementing its existing online fitting-advice as well as outfit and fitting-visualisation services with these new applications. Besides UPcload, the company is currently testing a fitting-visualisation solution from the Estonian company Fits.me. And with the Facebook app Trendshop, users in the social network can also try on clothes virtually, with augmented-reality technology and a webcam making it possible for customers to visualise outfits on their own body.
