The Future Is Now: Avatar-Inspired Online Shopping

With Cyber Monday surpassing Black Friday in gross sales this past holiday season, it is

safe to say that online shopping will continue with exponential growth. While online shopping is

very popular, it still has an intrinsic downside; an estimated 30 percent of all purchases are

returned, which drives up the retailer’s overall costs. With this cost increase, it’s no wonder

that retailers are developing better ways to decrease returns and increase customer

satisfaction – Queue the Avatars.

Multiple international clothing companies, along with Hewlett-Packard Enterprises

leading the charge, have created an Avatar-based experience; multiple cameras scan your body

and stitch all of the pictures together, accounting for movability, skin-tone, hair style, etc. Once

the stitching process has been completed, you will see yourself displayed as an Avatar on your

preferred device. Now, you are able to select various clothing items to see exactly how they will

look on you without ever stepping foot into a dressing room! This technology, coupled with

your first-party browsing and shopping data, can even suggest various clothing items based on

past purchases and preferences. Hewlett-Packard believes that this is just the beginning for

Avatar use; they envision it being utilized in gaming devices, tracking weight loss, and

recommending clothing based on the changes in one’s body. As brick and mortar is still a viable

way to shop, the introduction of Avatars make it even more tempting to shop from the comfort

of your own home.