Farfetch ×Wanna Fasion
VTO has transformed online luxury shopping
In 2024, when we talk about augmented reality, it will no longer be a new word. So how can a brand or company integrate augmented reality into its products and achieve good results? Let’s take a look at Farfetch’s performance in augmented reality.
Wanna × Farfetch
Farfetch began investing heavily in augmented reality in 2018, and two years later, farfetch and Wanna launched an augmented reality try-on feature. Initially, the feature only supported try-on for jewelry, watches, and shoes. Later, they found that this feature could bring more attention and purchase rates to their products. Farfetch found that the website traffic of watches equipped with WANNA increased by 47% compared to watches of the same price range without virtual try-on. The number of people adding the watch to their shopping bag increased by 22%, and the number of people adding it to their wish list increased by 81%. So they seized the opportunity and acquired Wanna in 2022 and decided to use augmented reality to bring great changes to the luxury industry.
Worth Invested？
Due to the pandemic, our lifestyles have changed dramatically. Most people have started to shop online. I think that as long as there is online shopping, augmented reality technology can bring certain benefits to brands, because which buyer doesn’t want to try on clothes at home to see if they fit? This is especially true for luxury brands, because luxury brands are relatively expensive, so consumers will definitely choose styles and brands that suit them better. At this point, viewing photos of models trying on clothes is not very satisfying for consumers, but augmented reality technology can do this. Studies show that 61% of consumers say they prefer retailers with AR experiences. 71% of consumers say they would shop more often if they used AR. 40% of consumers say they would pay more for a product that they could customize in AR. All of this research shows that virtual try-on is worth investing in.
Farfetch saw this opportunity and has since partnered with Snapchat, Gucci, IWC, and Valentino to offer consumers virtual try-on experiences for more than just jewelry and shoes. As the technology matures, virtual try-on can now mimic the effects of gravity and add the responsiveness of clothing to joints.
Does virtual try-on bring benefits to businesses?
The answer is yes. If people know what the clothes they want to buy will look like on them, their hesitation will be reduced and there will be less chance of returns because consumers will have seen what the clothes look like on them before buying them. Compared to online shopping, consumers often make impulse purchases in offline shopping. The emergence of virtual try-on allows online consumers to also feel the impulse to purchase goods. According to Wanna’s official data, the conversion rate of merchants using virtual try-on has increased by 9%, and the return rate has dropped by 4%.
Conclusion
Overall, the changes that augmented reality brings to online shopping are huge. Whether it is with the popularity of online shopping and the future trend of augmented reality, I think virtual try-on is a technology that is worth investing in for major clothing brands. And we can already see how augmented reality can benefit brands. I hope that in the future, virtual try-on can be popularized in every region of the world, both offline and online.
