California Apparel News

Earlier this year, Macy’s launched its “Find Your Magic” campaign; now, the department store giant has taken the “magic” concept straight into the dressing room with a new technology that allows customers to “try on” fashions virtually and instantly send images of themselves to friends.

Macy’s Inc. is testing a new virtual fitting-room concept at its Herald Square flagship store in New York.

Macy’s Magic Fitting Room uses a “Social Retailing” platform created by digital marketing and technology agency LBi. The Magic Fitting Room is equipped with a large-scale mirror with multi-touch technology and a multi-touch tablet. Customers can browse Macy’s selection and virtually “try on” items. Shoppers can send images to Facebook or directly to friends via e-mail or text messaging.

Since the Magic Fitting Room debuted last month, “thousands of people have e-mailed, texted or posted their experience to Facebook,” according to an LBi statement. The Magic Fitting Room will remain at the store for another month.

“We couldn’t be happier with the Magic Fitting Room,” said Joe Feczko, senior vice president of innovation for Macy’s marketing. “Reaching out to and engaging with the digital-savvy young consumer is something all retailers are striving to do. The Magic Fitting Room marries together our goals as a marketer and consumers’ expectations perfectly.”

The Magic Fitting Room uses LBi’s “Social Retailing” platform, created in 2007. LBi revamped and retooled the technology for the Macy’s launch to create a “state-of-the-art experience [that] bridges customers’ experience in-store with their connected world, allowing them to shop the future through a full digital commerce experience,” according to a company statement.

“As the role of retail changes and the lines between physical and digital continue to blur, agencies are tasked with providing innovative solutions that help marketers enhance the customer experience,” said Christopher Enright, chief innovation officer of LBi. “Working with a foundation we invented in 2007 and folding in new technologies and functions that consumers have come to expect, we created just that—a complete digital commerce experience that brings together bricks-and-mortar and digital, showcasing the best of each.”

LBi is a public company whose stock is traded on the NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam. The company employs more than 1,800 people and has operations in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Brussels, London, Milan, Mumbai, New York, Paris and Stockholm. The company recently merged with search-engine specialist Bigmouthmedia.—Alison A. Nieder