Disruptors
May 6, 2023
Shoppers walking past Coach’s store on Prince Street in SoHo, New York, may be stopped on the sidewalk by a fantastical reflection. In the window is the first storefront AR try-on, done in partnership with AR platform Zero10, which shows those who stop in front of the digital mirror wearing the brand’s popular Tabby bag in a variety of colours and imagery. A black Tabby bag conjures up matching black wings on the wearer; the image then cycles to a glittery pink bag with balloon letters spelling out TABBY floating in the air.
If the AR window draws you into the store, you can continue the experience at an AR mirror kiosk, where you can browse more bags, snap a photo and save it to your phone or share on social media with the hashtag #InMyTabby.
“It’s our first AR window,” says Zero10 founder George Yashin. “It’s the first step, first interaction with a product. The main goal is to bring customers into the store using the window. That, plus the experience you get when you walk into the store and see the AR mirror, it creates a story around the bag.”
Fashion brands are leaning into big marketing moments designed to gain attention using technology like AR and AI. Jacquemus’s recent campaign featuring Le Bambino bags blown up to look like buses went viral. AR try-on in stores — next to where actual Tabby bags are available for try-on — may seem redundant, but the sidewalk-facing mirror is the draw. It’s meant to lure people into the store, particularly people who don’t typically interact with AR in other settings, says Yashin.
The partnership is an extension of Coach’s Metaverse Fashion Week experience, which was also a collaboration with Zero10. It included a “collect the Tabby” quest and an AR Tabby Swirl wearable that players received upon completion.
Success of the AR mirrors will be determined both in terms of foot traffic to the store as well as conversions, both of which Yashin says will be tracked by Zero10 with Coach. It’s also an awareness play: Zero10’s goal is to make AR technology easier to access, and the try-on mirrors make it easy not only to understand how to use AR but to get a feel for digital-only goods, which Yashin sees as something that could be sold by fashion brands in stores alongside physical product.
The AR mirror and window will be live at the Coach store until 2 June, and Yashin is already planning how to build on future iterations. One such addition could be an AI stylist, which would respond in real-time to a customer’s outfit and suggest accessories to go with it using ChatGPT. The idea is that the technology wouldn’t replace visits
via: Vogue Business
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