Monsoon, Acne Studios and Country Attire become the latest fashion retailers to go live with Swedish online fitting room #Virtusize in the UK. So, what exactly is Virtusize and how is it going to help retailers?
According to the Virtusize website:
“Virtusize helps online retailers to visually illustrate the size and fit of clothing. We guarantee to help online shoppers buy clothes that fit, every time.
Our comprehensive virtual fitting solution is trusted by some of the most prestigious brands in the industry including ASOS, Magaseek and WeSC. We reduce the fit related returns, increase sales, as well as improve the shopping experience. Right fit, every time!
Virtusize helps you, as an online retailer, to strengthen the relationship with your customers. By supplying an accurate and effective way to illustrate size and fit, shoppers are more likely to make a purchase at your online store – giving you a vital edge over your competitors.”
With online shopping becoming a larger chunk of retailers overall business, successfully understanding the importance of correct garment fits and sizes is vital to gaining recurring sales. It is extremly hard for online customers to understand what size to choose and to visualise whether a garment will fit when buying clothes online. The size and fit varies between brands, markets, seasons and styles. An American small can sometimes translate to an Italian large and even if shoppers know their size in a specific brand it is impossible to know the fit of every individual style.
Furthermore, a high rate of returns is a significant problem for an online retailer and costs the eCommerce industry millions per year. According to Virtusize the only solution is garment-to-garment comparison. The industry has been experimenting with 3D technologies but due to high costs for the retailer, the lack of accuracy and the effort required by the shopper, they have not taken off – and are not about to anytime soon. Other applications such as recommendation engines, another type of fitting solution, recommend a size but don’t show the shopper how an item will fit.
So how does it work?
Using a garment the customer already owns as a reference for their new purchase is the best and most accurate way for online shoppers to understand the size and fit of an item. The Virtusize solution has been developed alongside designers, pattern makers and industry leading online retailers who share the same view that garment comparison is the only way to clearly and objectively showcase size and fit to the customer.
- Visible
- Typically solutions that use body shape fail to highlight the nuances of a garment and illustrate how it would fit in reality. The 2D garment method allows shoppers to overlay the garment they wish to buy with the one they already own to convey how the garments differ in cut.
- Intuitive
- Illustrating fit online in a comprehensible way requires an intuitive reference point. The connection between the real and the virtual world is easy to grasp when you can refer to a garment you are already familiar with.
- All garment types
- Overlaying garment silhouettes makes it easy to compare garments from any brand, in any style and category including shirts, t-shirts, trousers, dresses, sweaters, skirts and jackets and so forth. Virtusize is even available at an online retailer selling dogs’ clothing.
- Low barrier
- We’ve made it super simple to reference or tag a garment. It takes two minutes to measure a garment at home or one click to tag a previously bought garment online at any retailer that uses Virtusize. It is more straightforward since it does not require photography or any other complicated input from the shopper.
- Cost effective
- It is easy for an online retailer to integrate Virtusize with its online store and we can scale to 100% of a retailer’s range extremely quickly.
The software which is now available on 225,000 garments across 30 online retailers internationally has been designed for retailers to: increase sales, decrease returns, improve the shopping experience and build customer loyalty.
Fresh off the back of a “Retail Technology Initiative of the Year” scoop at the World Retail Awards together with ASOS, the company was also named a Young Bull at the White Bull Summits in Barcelona.
Peder Stubert, co-founder at Virtusize said. “It’s good to be working with more forward-thinking retailers in the UK. We have had a great year so far.”
Retail sales surged by 40% at Asos as the fast fashion retailer reported another strong performance for the year ended 31 August 2013. Profit before tax and exceptional items were up 23% to £54.7m but it was in the international market where its success came with 63% of total retail sales coming from overseas. In a statement, the company said it will launch in China soon after launching a website in Russia this May.
Founded in 2000, Asos is one of the biggest success stories of British retailing in recent years, selling over 65,000 branded and own-label products shipped for free to 237 countries. Nick Robertson, CEO, Asos commented: “During the year we continued to make progress towards our goal of being the world’s number one fashion destination for 20-somethings. We reached the milestone of 7 million active customers worldwide, following significant investment in our product offer, delivery options, customer experience and marketing.”
During the year Asos added new third party brands including New Look, Monki, Jack Wills and Pull & Bear. Asos, who set up offices in the EuraTechnologies tech start-up hub in Lille, France a year ago, revealed that they were signing up a customer every minute at their busiest times. Gaele Wuilmet, who heads up its French office said one of the reasons the retailer decided to move to Lille was due to convenient business links with London and Paris. “Lille is the capital of e-commerce and fast fashion,” she declared during a morning briefing at Asos France yesterday.
The company announced plans on Wednesday to step up investment in support of its rapid sales growth, saying it would increase spending on people, technology, logistics and marketing to about £55m in each of the next two years. It invested £33m in 2012-13.
Shares in Asos have more than doubled in the past year, but slipped 5.1pc in early trading on Wednesday to £52.03.
BB Cream
The concept came from the Asian market, magazines / blogs cant stop reviewing them and all the big beauty brands have made them a focal part of their range. So, what actually is a BB Cream?
Some companies refer to them as Beauty Balms , others as Blemish Balms, but the general opinion is that they should provide moisture, SPF protection and sheer coverage alongside soothing and healing properties – preventing the need for numerous separate products.
The likeness to tinted moisturisers has been noted, but BB creams are designed to go one step further – with additions such as hyaluronic acid and antioxidants to regenerate skin. Originally created by dermatologists for patients who had gone through laser skin surgery, the idea is that they actually provide genuine benefits for the skin – as well as providing enough coverage to be used as either a foundation or a primer.
So what BB Cream would you recommend over the competition?
Following on from last weeks post (Guess who’s Back…Reebok! With their new FitHub concept.) Adidas group retail director Rupert Campbell confirmed further plans for the Reebok brand “It’s been nearly 12 months since JJB collapsed. Five years ago they were turning over a huge amount. There’s a gap in the market. We want to grow our share of the premium brand market and doing it in our own stores is the best way to do it.”
So, today i decided to pop back down to Reebok Covent Garden to experience 1st hand what exactly the company’s new ethos about “designed to inspire people to move, to train, to get fit and have fun doing it, the Reebok FitHub offers a new way of thinking about fitness” really meant. It may have been dull, it may have been wet but that did not stop Reebok UK making a return to retail by launching their new concept #FitHub in style! As soon as i entered the store i knew instantly something was going down as the place was packed! Customers milling around the new ranges, staff hyperactively serving the crowds and in the corners of the small store stood #ReebokFitHubCG photo booth in one corner and a meet & greet with Cross Fit athlete Annie Thorisdottir and Frederik Aegidius in another. I genuinely don’t think I have ever been in a sports store where the majority of customers actually look really fit & healthy! The social media @ReebookUk had obviously been working hard as at least 75-80% of the people in the store looked like they were there with a specific agenda. However, this could have had a lot to do with the promotions / freebies Reebook were offering everyone!
I then headed to the Covent Garden Piazza where the FitHub launch was in full swing with its new partner Les Mills UK who were demonstrating their dance program SH’BAM. Reebok UK had it all going on from the: event management, photography & videography, PR team handing out free water bottles, socks and gift cards, event MC and a Crossfit station on stage. After SH’BAM came another Les Mills program BODYCOMBAT which unfortunatley had to be demonstrated in the rain! Next up was the local Yotopia Yoga who were kitted out in one of the new AW13 Reebok ranges, despite that the rain had decided to pour down so their demo was postponed.
The event seemed to be getting tons of attention, even with the wet weather. The event was running all through out today from 11:30 to 19:30 encouraging all Londoners to get active, by offering a range of sessions and incentives led by fitness experts from within the Reebok community. Reebok has committed to offering a number of FREE workout classes at the FitHub each week of which details will be displayed via the in store Reebok Community Board. So if you live or work around the Covent Garden area dont be glum about the winter coming, head into the Reebok FitHub and join the revolution!
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Reebok FitHub Campaign
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- Annie Thorisdottir & Frederik Aegidius
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- #ReebokFitHubCG #Instagram
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- SH’BAM
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- SH’BAM
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- SH’BAM
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- BODYCOMBAT 56
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- BODYCOMBAT 56
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- BODYCOMBAT 56
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- Crossfit
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- Crossfit
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- BODYCOMBAT 56
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- BODYCOMBAT 56
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- Reebok Fit Hub Billboard
When was the last time you managed to walk through a shopping centre, pick up a magazine or even surf the internet without seeing the latest flashy Ad campaign for the newest fitness get-up? The days of wearing an old pair of elasticated jogging bottoms and a big baggy T-shirt just for a wee jog around your local park are well and truly gone. Over the past few years the market leaders believe there is just no excuse for not looking good even when you are sweating!
The big sports brands likes of Addidas, Nike, Puma & Under Armour have all been leading the way with advancements in technology when it comes to the fitness & sport clothing industry. One brand releases their newest silicon infused compression top, while another produces a campaign on the latest design in running shoes. However, a brand name which has not been seen to follow as quickly into the fitness domain as its competitors is Reebok, well that was until now!
Reebok Store, Covent Garden, London.
History
Reebok International LTD, is a subsidiary of the German company Adidas since 2005. It is a producer of athletic shoes, clothing and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. In 1890 in Holcombe Brook, a small village six miles north east of Bolton, Greater Manchester, Joseph William Foster was making a living producing regular running shoes when he came up with the idea to create a novelty spiked running shoe. After his ideas progressed he joined with his sons, and founded a shoe company named J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895.
In 1958, two of the founder’s grandsons Joe and Jeff Foster renamed the company Reebok in the United Kingdom, having found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the dictionary was South African edition hence the spelling. The company lived up to the J.W. Foster legacy, manufacturing first-class footwear for customers throughout the UK. In 1979, Paul Fireman, a US sporting goods distributor, saw a pair of Reeboks at an international trade show and negotiated to sell them in North America and as they say, the rest is history!
Present
To date Reebok’s brand value is worth $1,500,000,000. It has lost $500 million from 2010 as the company only have a 1.6% share of $2.4 billion USA basketball trainer mark wet which versus Nike’s 93% share. However the brand seems to be re-focusing its objectives with the launch of their 1st ever Fitness Hub here in the U.K. According to Reebok, the concept behind the new store in London’s Covent Garden is a combination of shopping along with your fitness lifestyle.
The store has been cleverly design like a gym environment: they have fixtures which replicate gym equipment such as agility rings, music specially selected for workouts, genuine gym flooring and functioning plyometric jump boxes as seating.
Reebok Crossfit
- Reebok for every workout
Reebok in action
Apparel is merchandised in themes around the store in accordance to your specific type of workout (classic, training, running and studio), so it’s easy to find exactly what you need. The use of mannequins are not only eye catching in a urban way but are positioned to illustrate each sport, showing how the kit moves with your workout.
Reebok trainer selection
Reebok technicalities
Reebok casual
Reebok Pivot, Pop & Push
Reebok colour
Reebok popping
Reebok classics
Reebok sit down
Reebok support
Reebok compression
Reebok training
The staff are impressive, to say the least, with strong fitness backgrounds and qualifications ranging from personal trainers and nutritionists to sports scientists. They are passionate about helping you to find the right clothing for your workout, but can also help with training tips and general health advice while you shop, setting them apart from the usual sports store service.
The Reebok hub are also keen to give back something to the community and encourage Londoner’s to get active. So they are offering FREE workout classes in store throughout the week (Mon-Fri), as well as in-store fitness challenges and take away workout cards. The Reebok Community Board will also publicise local events, new workouts, local gyms and instructors etc.
Reebok Fithub
What’s more, (and i do have it on good authority) Reebok have signed a 2 year partnership deal with multinational group fitness experts Les Mills International. This partnership will see the Reebok brand being worn by approximately 90,000 Les Mills instructors, in 15,000 gyms over 80 different countries with an estimated 6 million weekly participants. http://w3.lesmills.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJoA5gMVuQ
‘Reebok are on a mission to empower people to be fit for life,’ says Covent Garden store manager Parminder Turna. ‘The hub is a game changer. We want people to be comfortable in what they’re wearing and experience the products in a real life environment.’
This is the first of six Reebok FitHubs to open in the UK this year so expect something nationwide soon!
Reebok FitHub, 32 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, WC2E. www.Reebok.co.uk
Wee Fashion Shower! 