Looking for new summer kicks? Amazon today announced an augmented reality try-on feature for mobile shoe shopping.
It's currently available on the iOS Amazon Shopping app (Android forthcoming), and includes sneaker brands New Balance, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Superga, Lacoste, Asics, and Saucony.
When customers go to the product page for AR-enabled shoes, they’ll see a button for “Virtual Try-On.” The app then says “point at your feet.” Once it detects a shoe-hungry foot through the phone’s camera, it slaps on an animated-looking image of the product that rotates as your foot moves.
Time and data will tell if the feature achieves its goal, which is presumably to make customers more likely to purchase, decrease returns, and boost shoppers’ trust and affinity for Amazon's fashion brands.
As of March 2021, Amazon was the top online clothing seller, eclipsing retailers like Target and Walmart, MarketWatch reported. The Amazon Fashion team, led by Vice President Muge Erdirik Dogan, both manufactures original clothing (i.e. the March announcement of Amazon Aware, an in-house brand of sustainable products) and sells clothing from other brands. In recent years, it's been a breeding ground for experimentation.
This is not Amazon's first foray into AR apps. Its Made-For-You program uses it to scan customers’ bodies for custom measurements, generate a garment blueprint, and then show the customer what it will look like with virtual try-on before manufacturing it.
A few years ago, it also launched AR View, a feature that let you see how different items will look in your home before you buy them.
Amazon's rivals are getting in on the AR action, too. Walmart launched virtual fitting room technology in March, around the same time Snap released AR tools that businesses can add to their apps. Though in-store shopping has seen a post-pandemic rebound—even Amazon opened a clothing-focused store in California recently—retailers are still betting people will want to browse from the comfort of their homes, too.