8 Viral Fashion Retail App Technologies In 2018

One of the fastest growing and evolving industries of our times is the fashion industry. With the huge market and new fashion brands coming up every then and now, shopping and marketing tactics have undergone a sea change. For instance, the shift towards mobile commerce, or m-commerce as it is popularly known as, is one of the most remarkable actions the fashion industry has seen in the recent years. Features like that of easy navigation, loyalty programs, fast delivery, and push notification have made mobile shopping really easy and convenient.
Brands like that of H&M, Klothed, Dior, and ASOS are going with the latest technologies to bring in new innovations by the day. The unique solutions that they come up with lead the industry to new heights and make the shopping experience highly fulfilling. Let’s take a look at the present retail technologies that are being implemented by renowned brands and the app features that are going to rule the year.

1. Barcode scanners have taken the top spot

One of the most fascinating trends in the fashion industry is the barcode scanning. Whether it is to buy your next pair of trendy shoes or blazers, you just need to scan the barcode of the product to get the product details easily. The fashion app from H&M used this technology in aiding the customers to get endless options for discounts and coupons and also to find the store locations. The brand provides relevant and latest updates to the users through this app.

2. Selling of products through videos

Online shopping has taken a completely different direction in the product displays. You will find online stores featuring their products by showing catwalk videos for each of the products. It has emerged as one of the best ways to build up brand trust and showcase their products more lucratively. The runaway videos that are a part of the ASOS app run for not more than 11 to 12 seconds and watching them feels like you have the front row seats at a fashion show.

3. Try on the outfits virtually

Why stand in long queues at the stores when you can save time and hassle using virtual dressing rooms? The retail stores now have apps that let you choose patterns, sizes, and colors using hand gestures. You can share the look on social media for feedback and plan the wardrobe more effectively. The Klothed app has made this a reality by providing you with a virtual avatar of yourself to dress up using clothes from different retailers.

[caption id="attachment_124854" align="aligncenter" width="995"] Image - http://blog.mocaplatform.com[/caption]

4. Selling through social media

Retailers have been taking the advantage of social media for quite some time now. The social media has infiltrated the luxury industry in a big way leading to an increase in their customer base. At present, the top brands have collaborations with major technology giants to sell their products through social platforms like WeChat and Snapchat. Dior recently welcomed social selling to engage the customers of China through WeChat and registered a hugely successful campaign.

Also Read - Amazon Has Developed An AI Fashion Designer

5. Use of beacon technology

The beacon technology is another major step in improving the shopping experience. The retail shopping industry has been using the beacon technology as a crucial part of customer engagement. You can think of this as the part m-shopping that finally completes the puzzle. Macy is the best example of using beacon in its stores and more than four thousand of its shoppers receive notifications via beacons. Macy’s makes it more exciting by using beacons to announce sales, discounts, and prizes.

6. Investment in security of personal data

Securing personal data online like credit card details, usernames, and passwords are crucial to the retail apps. The threat to personal data increases in tandem to the growth of mobile commerce. To ensure the safety of the users, the Bulgari app collaborated with the Swiss online security agency known as Wisekey. Together, they came up with the Bulgari vault which stores all the personal data of the user and ensures security for the mobile payments.

7. The implementation of visual search

Visual app is the cool new feature of the fashion retail apps whereby you can take picture of any product that you liked and then search it using the app. The customer will immediately be provided with product details related to the search to help them make a purchase of whatever coveted fashion item that they are after. JC Penney is one of the first brands to have implemented this feature in their mobile app.

[caption id="attachment_124855" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image - http://retail-innovation.com[/caption]

8. A listing of retail stores through an app

Zomato has made life so much easy for the foodies by helping them locate and know the details of all local restaurants in every city. You no longer need to ask friends or look around to search the perfect outlet to shop for the latest trend. An app called SummerLabel is all set to do the same for the fashion lovers of the country. It provides a listing of every major and minor branded store within a given area. Thus, the retail app technologies are no longer limited to being viable only for the online shoppers.
You can expect many more remarkable changes and innovations in the fashion retail apps as more and more startups keep on emerging. The trends are all about adding new value to the name of retailers by enabling the customers to benefit from new and exciting shopping experiences.

[Top Featured Image Via - WTVOX.com]

8 Viral Fashion Retail App Technologies In 2018

One of the fastest growing and evolving industries of our times is the fashion industry. With the huge market and new fashion brands coming up every then and now, shopping and marketing tactics have undergone a sea change. For instance, the shift towards mobile commerce, or m-commerce as it is popularly known as, is one of the most remarkable actions the fashion industry has seen in the recent years. Features like that of easy navigation, loyalty programs, fast delivery, and push notification have made mobile shopping really easy and convenient.
Brands like that of H&M, Klothed, Dior, and ASOS are going with the latest technologies to bring in new innovations by the day. The unique solutions that they come up with lead the industry to new heights and make the shopping experience highly fulfilling. Let’s take a look at the present retail technologies that are being implemented by renowned brands and the app features that are going to rule the year.

1. Barcode scanners have taken the top spot

One of the most fascinating trends in the fashion industry is the barcode scanning. Whether it is to buy your next pair of trendy shoes or blazers, you just need to scan the barcode of the product to get the product details easily. The fashion app from H&M used this technology in aiding the customers to get endless options for discounts and coupons and also to find the store locations. The brand provides relevant and latest updates to the users through this app.

2. Selling of products through videos

Online shopping has taken a completely different direction in the product displays. You will find online stores featuring their products by showing catwalk videos for each of the products. It has emerged as one of the best ways to build up brand trust and showcase their products more lucratively. The runaway videos that are a part of the ASOS app run for not more than 11 to 12 seconds and watching them feels like you have the front row seats at a fashion show.

3. Try on the outfits virtually

Why stand in long queues at the stores when you can save time and hassle using virtual dressing rooms? The retail stores now have apps that let you choose patterns, sizes, and colors using hand gestures. You can share the look on social media for feedback and plan the wardrobe more effectively. The Klothed app has made this a reality by providing you with a virtual avatar of yourself to dress up using clothes from different retailers.

[caption id="attachment_124854" align="aligncenter" width="995"] Image - http://blog.mocaplatform.com[/caption]

4. Selling through social media

Retailers have been taking the advantage of social media for quite some time now. The social media has infiltrated the luxury industry in a big way leading to an increase in their customer base. At present, the top brands have collaborations with major technology giants to sell their products through social platforms like WeChat and Snapchat. Dior recently welcomed social selling to engage the customers of China through WeChat and registered a hugely successful campaign.

Also Read - Amazon Has Developed An AI Fashion Designer

5. Use of beacon technology

The beacon technology is another major step in improving the shopping experience. The retail shopping industry has been using the beacon technology as a crucial part of customer engagement. You can think of this as the part m-shopping that finally completes the puzzle. Macy is the best example of using beacon in its stores and more than four thousand of its shoppers receive notifications via beacons. Macy’s makes it more exciting by using beacons to announce sales, discounts, and prizes.

6. Investment in security of personal data

Securing personal data online like credit card details, usernames, and passwords are crucial to the retail apps. The threat to personal data increases in tandem to the growth of mobile commerce. To ensure the safety of the users, the Bulgari app collaborated with the Swiss online security agency known as Wisekey. Together, they came up with the Bulgari vault which stores all the personal data of the user and ensures security for the mobile payments.

7. The implementation of visual search

Visual app is the cool new feature of the fashion retail apps whereby you can take picture of any product that you liked and then search it using the app. The customer will immediately be provided with product details related to the search to help them make a purchase of whatever coveted fashion item that they are after. JC Penney is one of the first brands to have implemented this feature in their mobile app.

[caption id="attachment_124855" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image - http://retail-innovation.com[/caption]

8. A listing of retail stores through an app

Zomato has made life so much easy for the foodies by helping them locate and know the details of all local restaurants in every city. You no longer need to ask friends or look around to search the perfect outlet to shop for the latest trend. An app called SummerLabel is all set to do the same for the fashion lovers of the country. It provides a listing of every major and minor branded store within a given area. Thus, the retail app technologies are no longer limited to being viable only for the online shoppers.
You can expect many more remarkable changes and innovations in the fashion retail apps as more and more startups keep on emerging. The trends are all about adding new value to the name of retailers by enabling the customers to benefit from new and exciting shopping experiences.

[Top Featured Image Via - WTVOX.com]

First Time In India: An Airport Uses Augmented Reality & iBeacons To Improve Passenger Experience

There's something new in store for all the Mumbai travellers flying out from the GVK Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). In order to up the ante of passenger experience, the airport has recently launched a new smartphone application that includes a number of advanced features. Among these, the attractive use of augmented reality technology, which provides passengers with information on nearby facilities as they walk through the terminal, is the one that stands out.

Using the app, passengers can select their flight on the app and opt to receive push notifications relating to their specific flight. A combination of Indoor Atlas and iBeacon technologies provides the platform for the magnetically modelled indoor maps. Interestingly, this is the very first time that iBeacons have been installed in an Indian airport.

For the unaware, iBeacon, as the name suggests is a protocol developed by Apple, which makes use of bluetooth low energy proximity sensing in order to transmit a unique identifier picked by an operating system or a compatible app. The identifier and several bytes sent with it is then used to determine the device's physical location, track customers, or carry out a location based action on the device such as a push notification or a check-in on social media.

With beacons, airlines can easily provide passengers with indoor directions, walk times to gates, lounge access and alerts about boarding. Knowing where a passenger is before sending information enables more effective communication.

Currently available for free on iOS (here) and Android (here) platforms, the CSIA plans to continue to develop and better the current application. For example, it plans on adding a taxi booking service and a virtual walkthrough feature in order to allow passengers to experience various sections of the airport on their smartphones.

[caption id="attachment_102522" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The new Mumbai T2 App features augmented reality, push notifications, airport maps and retail guides.[/caption]

Called Mumbai T2, the app is India's first-ever indoor navigation app with augmented reality feature to guide a passenger through the terminal building. In the coming months, the app would get more ambitious as it will coordinate information from multiple sources to tell you what time to leave for the airport.

After the flight number is keyed in, the app will give constant information on the relevant flight, including details such as delays, change in boarding gates and boarding time. "The app uses technology that creates magnetically modelled maps and provides location-based information to the passenger using their 3G connections or free Wi-Fi services available at the airport

"We constantly endeavour to provide world-class facilities at T2, and always strive to make it as easy as possible for air travellers to discover them. With the Mumbai T2 app, travellers can design their own customised experiential tour with a single click," said Rajeev Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Mumbai International Airport Limited, in a statement.

"Moreover, we being a ‘silent’ terminal, cutting down on public announcements, the app will be a very handy tool for passengers to keep track of their flight schedule through constant notifications," he further added.

First Time In India: An Airport Uses Augmented Reality & iBeacons To Improve Passenger Experience

There's something new in store for all the Mumbai travellers flying out from the GVK Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). In order to up the ante of passenger experience, the airport has recently launched a new smartphone application that includes a number of advanced features. Among these, the attractive use of augmented reality technology, which provides passengers with information on nearby facilities as they walk through the terminal, is the one that stands out.

Using the app, passengers can select their flight on the app and opt to receive push notifications relating to their specific flight. A combination of Indoor Atlas and iBeacon technologies provides the platform for the magnetically modelled indoor maps. Interestingly, this is the very first time that iBeacons have been installed in an Indian airport.

For the unaware, iBeacon, as the name suggests is a protocol developed by Apple, which makes use of bluetooth low energy proximity sensing in order to transmit a unique identifier picked by an operating system or a compatible app. The identifier and several bytes sent with it is then used to determine the device's physical location, track customers, or carry out a location based action on the device such as a push notification or a check-in on social media.

With beacons, airlines can easily provide passengers with indoor directions, walk times to gates, lounge access and alerts about boarding. Knowing where a passenger is before sending information enables more effective communication.

Currently available for free on iOS (here) and Android (here) platforms, the CSIA plans to continue to develop and better the current application. For example, it plans on adding a taxi booking service and a virtual walkthrough feature in order to allow passengers to experience various sections of the airport on their smartphones.

[caption id="attachment_102522" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The new Mumbai T2 App features augmented reality, push notifications, airport maps and retail guides.[/caption]

Called Mumbai T2, the app is India's first-ever indoor navigation app with augmented reality feature to guide a passenger through the terminal building. In the coming months, the app would get more ambitious as it will coordinate information from multiple sources to tell you what time to leave for the airport.

After the flight number is keyed in, the app will give constant information on the relevant flight, including details such as delays, change in boarding gates and boarding time. "The app uses technology that creates magnetically modelled maps and provides location-based information to the passenger using their 3G connections or free Wi-Fi services available at the airport

"We constantly endeavour to provide world-class facilities at T2, and always strive to make it as easy as possible for air travellers to discover them. With the Mumbai T2 app, travellers can design their own customised experiential tour with a single click," said Rajeev Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Mumbai International Airport Limited, in a statement.

"Moreover, we being a ‘silent’ terminal, cutting down on public announcements, the app will be a very handy tool for passengers to keep track of their flight schedule through constant notifications," he further added.