The Fitting Room, Reimagined
How many times have you scrolled through pages and pages of clothing online, found exactly what you were looking for, and anxiously awaited its arrival, just to be disappointed because it doesn’t fit you right? I think we can all agree that this is a shared experience, but one nobody should have to face.
In 2020, COVID began to change the way everyone lives their lives. From working from home, to having holiday parties on Zoom, to buying groceries online, little has stayed the same.
Most stores have fitting rooms closed but just because you can’t physically try on clothing anymore doesn’t mean you should have to go out of your way to make a return or be stuck with poorly fitting items. And that is why we reimagined the fitting room, using AR technology.
CHALLENGE
Identify how AR can be implemented to improve customer confidence while shopping online.
ASSUMPTIONS
Shopping for clothing online can be challenging.
Customers are dissatisfied with many online clothing purchases because they are not able to physically try on the clothing.
Return rates are high, and most returns are due to size/fit of clothing.
TOOLS USED
Miro
Balsamiq
RESEARCH
I got to work on a project to identify a service that would benefit from implementing AR technology. My early research led me to find a gap in online retail services. Currently, there are plenty of options to see furniture or other household items in your home using AR. I also found a few options to try on glasses, makeup, and jewelry, but not much to try on clothing.
After identifying the gap in retail uses of AR, I began preparing for interviews. I wanted to know if people were really having the problems online shopping that I expected.
I thought that online shoppers had a hard time finding items that they like and that fit properly since they cannot try on items before purchasing. I expected that their dissatisfaction would lead to high return rates, which are costly for retailers.
I drafted some questions and started to find people to interview.
Tell me about your overall experience shopping online.
What products do you typically purchase online?
How often do you purchase clothing online?
How thorough do you consider yourself to be when purchasing clothing online?
When shopping for clothing online, what product information do you consider?
How confident are you when purchasing clothing online?
What would make you more confident or comfortable purchasing clothing online?
How many purchases do you make each month on average?
How often do you return clothing items?
What are your main reasons for returns?
What could online retailers do to minimize those types of returns?
What, if anything, is missing from online shopping?
I spoke to 7 interviewees, all of whom responded to a poll acknowledging that they are online shoppers. Out of the 7 interviewees, 2 are male, 3 female, all between the ages of 20–27. 5 live in Texas, one in North Carolina, and one in Germany.
After conducting my interviews and synthesizing my research, I realized that I could (and should) have simultaneously expanded and narrowed down who I talked to. Instead of talking just to “online shoppers,” I should have spoken with people who purchase clothing online. On the flip side, I also could have reached out to individuals who do not purchase clothing online, and looked into the why behind that.
In addition to that, I acknowledged that a few of the questions I asked weren’t exactly resulting in a consistent answer across interviewees. For example, when I asked, “how often do you return clothing items,” several people mentioned that they hate making returns and that they would rather give unwanted items away or resell them. Instead of asking how often they returned items, I should have asked what percentage of items they were satisfied with and kept.
“Buying clothes for me is very difficult.”
“It’s difficult for me to buy online because I like to try [shirts] on.”
“It stresses me out not knowing the guarantee of what I’m getting.”
“The models themselves aren’t super small and tiny.” (a benefit of some UK-based brands)
“I’m definitely the type of shopper that gets two of the same item in two different sizes because I just don’t know my size.”
“I would be more confident or comfortable with purchasing online if I was to … find a way to physically try on the clothing…”
“I’m somewhat scared to try new brands.”
Despite all of the ways I could’ve changed my interview questions or participants, I still learned something important: a lot of people don’t have an easy experience purchasing clothing online.
SYNTHESIS
I noticed a few trends through my interviews. Most people like trying on clothing before making a purchase, especially from brands they haven’t purchased before. They like to see clothing modeled on different body types as well as videos of how the fabric moves. Everyone I spoke with mentioned that they read product reviews and/or look for recommendations from others before making a purchase.
Customers want to know what a product will really look like.
Possibly the most interesting thing I noticed in my research is that I did not find a direct correlation between the amount of research done on a product and the customer’s confidence level.
After synthesizing my research, I arrived at the problem.
PROBLEM
Online shoppers need a better way to find the correct size of an item to order because many shoppers aren’t very confident in the clothing they order online.
How might we give online shoppers an accurate gauge of how a product will fit their body type, building their confidence in their purchases?
An AR fitting room.
FLOWS & SKETCHES
PROTOTYPE
After making the flows and sketches, it was time to see how this would work, so I created a clickable prototype in Balsamiq.
NEXT STEPS & FINAL THOUGHTS
Moving forward, the first thing on my list will be conducting additional interviews as well as testing and iterations. Beyond that, future plans include a higher-fidelity prototype and measurement-based notices to highlight areas that may fit improperly.
I learned a lot working on this project and identified several areas that I would revisit with more time. While our first project is complete, I have a lot of insight that I can take with me moving forward. I’m looking forward to how much I learn and grow over the next couple of months in General Assembly’s User Experience Design Immersive.