Zalando has opened its virtual fitting room to millions of customers across its 25 markets for the first time. The pilot is part of Zalando’s Size & Fit initiatives. Customers can create a 3D avatar by entering their height, weight and gender. For a selected range of jeans (22 items from various brands), customers can use the avatar to check the fits of the different sizes. A visualization in the style of a thermal image with different color assignments shows where the garment fits tightly or loosely on the created avatar. When it comes to finding the right size, jeans are one of the most difficult product categories. That’s because there are no uniform sizing standards.
Zalando has already successfully run two pilot campaigns with selected items from Puma and its own brand Anna Field. In the process, more than 30,000 customers tried out the technology. “With the pilot campaigns, we want to understand how customers use the new technology,” explained Stacia Carr, VP Size & Fit at Zalando. “Based on this, we can develop a scalable solution for the future. Already, we’re seeing interest in the campaigns grow.”
Zalando is the only European e-commerce platform for fashion and lifestyle, with its own team dedicated exclusively to sizing and fitting. The team relies on models trying on items on site as well as machine learning, computer vision and other technologies to predict whether items will run too big or too small. Customers also receive personalized size recommendations based on their purchase and return history, as well as reference items they can add to their size profile. Size-related returns are a good 10 percent lower for items with a size recommendation compared to items that do not have a size recommendation.
