October 23, 2015
Virtual reality brings 3-D runway experience to retail
Tommy Hilfiger is bringing virtual retail headsets to select locations to enable shoppers to feel like they’re sitting in the front row of the designer’s recent runway shows.
Using a Samsung GearVR device, shoppers gain "a front-row seat in 360 degree 3-D virtual reality" to view the introduction of the Fall 2015 Hilfiger Collection that took place at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory in mid-February. Beyond an expansive view of the runway, the VR experience provides a sneak peek backstage, which is typically inaccessible for individuals not involved in the show production.
Shoppers are then able to shop the collection immediately.
"Through virtual reality, we’re now able to bring our one-of-a-kind fashion show to the retail setting," said the designer, Tommy Hilfiger. "From the incredible set and music to exclusive backstage moments, consumers will be able to watch the clothes move and see the collection in the original show environment — it’s a compelling and interesting elevation of the traditional shopping experience."
The concept has been created in collaboration with WeMakeVR, the Netherlands-based startup that has also worked on virtual reality with IBM and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Photo: Tommy Hilfiger Corp.
Testing the device at Hilfiger’s s Fifth Avenue flagship, Fashionista’s Dhani Mau, said she was able to see models walking directly in front of her, photographers to her left when she shifted her head, and even look behind to see those wrangling for a better view. She wrote, "The view sporadically shifted from the front row to backstage. Before the finale, I watched all the models lining up to stampede the field, before watching them do so from the front row."
Ms. Mau said she wasn’t sure if the spectacle gave her better insight into or appreciation of the collection but admitted it was drawing attention to the store.
Hilfiger said the VR headsets are part of a larger plan to elevate the shopping experience and encourage social engagement.
"These days, you can’t just wait for people to come into the store and try on your jackets. You have to provide entertainment," Daniel Grieder, CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, told The New York Times. "It’s not about turnover by square foot anymore. It’s about surprise by square foot, or newness."
- Tommy Hilfiger Introduces in Store Virtual Reality Experience – Tommy Hilfiger
- Tommy Hilfiger Introduces Virtual Reality Headsets for Shoppers – The New York Times (tiered sub.)
- Tommy Hilfiger is using virtual reality in stores from New York to Moscow – Quartz
- I Tested Tommy Hilfiger’s In-Store Virtual Reality Headset – Fashionista
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Ryan Mathews
Founder, CEO, Black Monk Consulting
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Does Tommy Hilfiger’s use of VR headsets to watch runway shows point to the potential of virtual reality at retail or its limitations? How do you see virtual reality eventually impacting the shopping experience?
Poll
Some day these giant headsets will be laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s no doubt that virtual reality will be a powerful tool for retail. It will provide a depth of product information and “experience” that isn’t possible today. It’s conversation-worthy today, but I’ll predict lasting staying power as the technology matures.
I have been exploring VR, AR (Augmented Reality), haptic technology and related topics and their application to retail for the past 18 months or so. Based on being able to test some “bleeding edge” technologies and talk with the people driving this round (easily the third) of VR I’d say the answer to the first question is yes it shows VR’s potential and yes it demonstrates its limitations.
While NDAs limit what I can say, I think it is safe to note that many retailers are actively looking/piloting VR applications.
For one thing the cost of the technology is coming down rapidly — you can have a pretty effective VR experience with your smartphone, an app and a 10 cent cardboard viewer and the negative side effects (like motion sickness on steroids) are being mediated every day.
The real battle is for content and finding appropriate narrative material.
But beyond VR there is AR (think Google Glasses without the issues); haptic (think micro sensors woven into clothing); smells and dozens of other technologies that, I believe, have the potential to completely revolutionize the entire retail experience.
So, rather than thinking about VR “impacting” the shopping experience, based on what I’ve seen and tested it could, in some sectors, become the shopping experience. Of course, it has been tried before and the technology hasn’t yet lived up to its promise, but progress in VR technologies is proceeding at an exponential rather than incremental rate.
For me this use of VR isn’t anything more than a gimmick — it is appealing and sure to draw attention to the store, but like Ms. Mau I can’t see how this would give better insight. There are absolutely opportunities to integrate VR into shopping, but this isn’t a sustainable or particularly effective model.
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Some day these giant headsets will be laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s no doubt that virtual reality will be a powerful tool for retail. It will provide a depth of product information and “experience” that isn’t possible today. It’s conversation-worthy today, but I’ll predict lasting staying power as the technology matures.
I have been exploring VR, AR (Augmented Reality), haptic technology and related topics and their application to retail for the past 18 months or so. Based on being able to test some “bleeding edge” technologies and talk with the people driving this round (easily the third) of VR I’d say the answer to the first question is yes it shows VR’s potential and yes it demonstrates its limitations.
While NDAs limit what I can say, I think it is safe to note that many retailers are actively looking/piloting VR applications.
For one thing the cost of the technology is coming down rapidly — you can have a pretty effective VR experience with your smartphone, an app and a 10 cent cardboard viewer and the negative side effects (like motion sickness on steroids) are being mediated every day.
The real battle is for content and finding appropriate narrative material.
But beyond VR there is AR (think Google Glasses without the issues); haptic (think micro sensors woven into clothing); smells and dozens of other technologies that, I believe, have the potential to completely revolutionize the entire retail experience.
So, rather than thinking about VR “impacting” the shopping experience, based on what I’ve seen and tested it could, in some sectors, become the shopping experience. Of course, it has been tried before and the technology hasn’t yet lived up to its promise, but progress in VR technologies is proceeding at an exponential rather than incremental rate.
For me this use of VR isn’t anything more than a gimmick — it is appealing and sure to draw attention to the store, but like Ms. Mau I can’t see how this would give better insight. There are absolutely opportunities to integrate VR into shopping, but this isn’t a sustainable or particularly effective model.