Looking for a new outfit? You’ve got two options: Quickly buy online and hope what you purchase fits (and looks good on you), or go to the store and spend time scouring racks before trying things on to see if they fit and flatter. In an attempt to mesh the convenience of online shopping with the confidence of buying after trying, Macy’s is revamping its dressing rooms for the current generation of shopper.
Bloomberg reports that with Amazon on the cusp of taking over the top spot in apparel retail, Macy’s is currently testing an upgraded version of its dressing rooms — using smartphones, tablets and built-in clothing chutes — in an effort to sway customers to shop at its bricks-and-mortar stores.
Under the hi-tech dressing room plan – currently only located at a Macy’s in Manhattan Beach, CA, – customers would spend very little time rummaging through clothing racks and more time actually trying on apparel.
Here’s how it works: customers browse apparel displayed on mannequins, when they see something they’d like to try on they select their size via the Macy’s app on their smartphone or company-owned tablets provided in the dressing room, the items are then quickly delivered to the fitting room through a wall chute.
If the customer finds the style or fit isn’t right for them, they can request other items be delivered to the room via the same app and chute system — all without getting back dressed again and walking on the sales floor.
The idea behind the service is that by taking the seeking part out of shopping, customers will spend more time trying on clothing, thus increasing the likelihood they’ll make a purchase, Bloomberg reports.
The system already appears to be catching on with customers.
“I came here and loved how easy it was to pick different sizes and to return the ones that didn’t fit, especially since I usually come here during my lunch break,” one customer shopping for swimsuits tells Bloomberg.
Nadia Shouraboura, the founder of the Seattle-based company that helped Macy’s revamp its dressing rooms, says the department store has already seen the system pay off.
Monitoring the dressing rooms on a recent day, she says customers typically brought in one or two things to try on, and within minutes had requested up to a dozen other apparel items.
While Macy’s declined to comment on whether or not it plans to rollout the new dressing rooms to its more than 800 other stores, a spokesperson says it will likely expand the system to other departments, namely women’s intimates.
Macy’s Tests Chutes, Tablets in Dressing Rooms to Repel Amazon [Bloomberg]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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