Walmart is introducing a new tool in an effort to encourage customers to click the “buy” button as some shoppers cut back on their clothing purchases.
Customers can utilize a virtual try-on tool to view how a blouse or other apparel item might look on their own bodies starting this week. As a result of the company’s acquisition of Zeekit, a startup offering virtual changing rooms, it is the newest feature to be added to its website.
The retailer debuted its first incarnation of the tool in March, which allowed buyers to choose a model that resembles them in body type, skin tone and hair color. It later grew from 50 to 120 models. Amazon offers a tool that employs augmented reality to let customers view how a shoe might look on their feet. Other stores have also dabbled with virtual try-on.
The most recent Walmart innovation, “Be Your Own Model,” makes use of machine learning methods that were first developed to create more precise topographic maps. More than 270,000 goods from Walmart’s private brands, certain products from popular national brands like Champion, Levi’s, and Hanes, as well as some items from its third-party marketplace, are all available for virtual try-on by customers.
Customers can select either choice by selecting a model that is similar to them or their own photograph. Without going inside a store, the website’s customised tool takes a scan of a person’s body to give a more accurate feel of how a fabric drapes, a color looks, or where a sleeve or hem touches.
At a time when it has become more difficult to sell new clothing, Walmart is introducing the new tool. As food, rent, and other costs rise as a result of inflation, consumers are starting to decide where to make cuts. As consumers buy less discretionary goods, the big-box retailer joined a growing list of businesses, including Target and Best Buy, that have reduced their full-year profit outlooks. For the entire year, Walmart now anticipates an adjusted earnings per share fall of between 9% and 11%.
Budget awareness, however, might have a positive outcome for the discounter. While consumers are buying fewer high-margin items, they are still looking for affordable groceries and necessities, which has caused the company to increase its sales prediction for the month of July. According to the company’s August earnings call, it is also attracting more consumers with yearly family incomes of $100,000 or above.
In order to persuade more of those customers to stock their wardrobes at Walmart, Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private brands at Walmart U.S., said that she wants to see more of those customers.
Virtual try-ons are one way to achieve this, which, according to the speaker, also removes some of the guessing while making clothing purchasing more enjoyable and simple.
Walmart has also branched out beyond essentials like socks and t-shirts into more expensive, high-end fashion items. A growing number of its own brands are available, such as Sofia Jeans, which was created in collaboration with actress Sofia Vergara, Free Assembly, which was designed by the former chief creative officer of Bonobos, and Love & Sports, an activewear line developed with stylist Michelle Smith and SoulCycle instructor Stacey Griffith. Additionally, more recognizable national brands are available on its website, including Justice Kidswear and Reebok, a supplier of clothing and footwear for athletes.
These premium brands were primarily introduced by Walmart on their internet, and some of that stuff was later added to particular stores. According to Incandela, the retailer wants to ensure that customers have fewer reasons to leave items in their virtual shopping carts, like having trouble choosing a color or wondering how a dress might fit. This is because its website drives higher average selling prices for apparel items than stores.
She claimed that so far, Walmart has benefited from the initial release of its “Choose My Model” virtual fitting room application. Although she wouldn’t disclose the conversion rate, she did indicate that it is higher for online buyers who utilize the program than for those who don’t.
“We’re kind of doubling down based on the consumer insights,” she said.
She explained that the company is now considering its next steps, such as encouraging store visitors to use the technology as an alternative to the fitting rooms or making the function available for men’s and children’s clothes as well as eyewear.
