New York-based technology startup Oak Labs announced Wednesday that it has developed digital fitting-room mirrors, unveiled at Ralph Lauren’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue, that will collect unprecedented levels of shoppers’ data in real time. Retailershave previously tracked customers’ movements by using Wi-Fi or video surveillance, but attempts to follow customers into the fitting room are fairly new, according to a Christian Science Monitor report, which added that Oak Labs’ latest technology is an effort to provide brick-and-mortar stores with data similar to that available to online retailers. RELATED:NYU professor caught filming women in changing rooms “From the day the Polo flagship opened on Fifth Avenue, we wanted it to connect with the customer and that meant emotionally and digitally,” David Lauren, executive vice president of global advertising, marketing and corporate communications at Ralph Lauren Corp. said in a relatedWWD.comreport.
The Oak Interactive Fitting Room from Oak Labs, Inc. on Vimeo.
The newly installed digital mirrors automatically turn on when a customer enters a fitting room, allowing radio-frequency identification technology to scan clothing tags and list items on the mirror screen, the Monitor described, adding that they also make it possible for retail stores to collect data concerning who is shopping, what they’re browsing and what they’re buying. Oak Labs believes the new technology will pay off for brick-and-mortar retailers, as the company’s founder, Healey Cypher, was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor stating that the retail industry will see more change in the next five years than it has in the last 20.
