Net-A-Porter pop up interactive store

Luxury fashion etailer Net-a-Porter.com made its first move into bricks-and-mortar last night with an augmented reality pop-up window shop.

It opened two stores, one on Mount Street in London and the other on Mercer Street in New York, that allowed customers to scan pictures of products on the wall using their phones, and buy or win the items.

The stores were open for one night as part of Vogue’s Fashion Night Out event. After downloading the Window Shop application, which has augmented reality technology called Aurasma embedded, customers’ mobile phones were able to recognise product images.

After scanning a particular image the phones took customers to multimedia content related to products, and to Net-a-Porter’s online shop. Any purchases were sent by next day delivery to shoppers.

Net-a-Porter, which worked with software company Autonomy, said it is keen to help customers use their mobile phones to shop.

VP of marketing and sales Alison Loehnis said: “With the Window Shops concept, we found a way to participate in the excitement of Fashion Night Out that is true to our brand with the innovative use of technology, shopping on the go from one’s mobile device, our edit of the most relevant and sought-after fashions of the moment, and the added bonus of having the opportunity to win prizes.”

Rebecca Thomson - Retail Week

London Retailers use Augmented Reality in a virtual scavenger hunt.

Genius Idea: Buzz has been big around augmented reality, but few companies have figured out a way to turn it into an effective marketing tool. We’ve seen brands invoke everything from Iron Man masks to musical cheese snacks in efforts to incorporate augmented reality into their marketing plans. But none of these ideas exactly created the AdWords of augmented reality.

GoldRun, which launched in November with a campaign for H&M, comes closer to creating a marketing platform that will be useful across multiple industries. The app allows brands to create virtual scavenger hunts. When consumers download the free GoldRun app and sign up to follow a campaign or “run,” they can collect virtual goods from physical locations using their phone’s camera. During the H&M campaign, for instance, users could collect a different virtual item from the brand’s fall/winter collection by snapping a photo of it in front of each of its 10 Manhattan locations. Doing so resulted in an instant 10% discount on any H&M purchase.

The platform’s agility is its greatest strength. AirWalk used the platform to build virtual pop-up stores in locations in Washington Square Park and Venice Beach at which app users could purchase a special edition shoe from its website (VP of Business Development Shailesh Rao calls it “V-Commerce”). The NBC’s Today Show ran a scavenger hunt for virtual items in Rockefeller Plaza. Esquire Magazine is planning a campaign that will virtually place its February cover model, Brooklyn Decker, in more than 700 Barnes and Noble stores. Other planned campaigns range from the Sundance Film Festival to Gwen Stefani’s perfume line.

GoldRun provides a more interactive and customizable approach to location-based advertising than check-in games like Foursquare (foursquare) and Gowalla (Gowalla). Campaigns, in addition to distributing special offers, include an option for users to create interesting photos (items in the H&M campaign, for instance, were positioned in a way in which they could be virtually “tried on”). Users share these photos through their Facebook (Facebook) profiles, which is more valuable for the brand than shared check-in information.

Given how eager brands have been to adopt location-based marketing through check-in apps, it’s not a surprise that many are eager to run campaigns on the GoldRun app. Rao says that more than 40 companies from various industries have approached the as of now self-funded startup about running a campaign. It will be interesting to see if consumers respond with equivalent enthusiasm.



Posted from Mashable

Ebay's augmented reality app

A newly released update to eBay’s fashion app for the iPhone 4 allows customers in the UK to try on sunglasses before they buy.

Using augmented reality, the firm has introduced its “See it On” feature which gives shoppers an idea of how a pair of sunglasses will look on their face.

The app uses the iPhone 4’s front-facing camera to display an image of the shopper, before superimposing the selected sunglasses on top. If the customer likes what they see, they can choose to get the items shipped out using a next day courier or international delivery firm.

A number of styles of glasses have been added to the app, including Aviator, Wayfarers and rimless. Frames and lenses are also available in a variety of colours.

In a statement released today, the company said: “eBay’s fashion app makes it easier than ever to indulge in your passion for fashion anytime, anywhere, and become your own online stylist.”

Airwalk's Invisible Pop up Store.

Young & Rubicam launched the world's first invisible pop up store for legendary shoe brand Airwalk. The iconic 1994 JIM is a casual, comfortable lifestyle sneaker. It's made to be worn when you hang out with friends. That's why Airwalk wanted to launch the limited edition replica not in shops, but in typical hangout spots like parks, boulevards and beaches. Using the augmented application, GoldRun, users could reserve one of the 300 limited edition pairs by going to one of the two Invisible Pop Up Store locations (in New York and Venice Beach, CA), and snapping a picture of the augmented reality shoe. People were only able to buy the sneaker if their GPS-enabled smartphone confirmed that they were within the confines of the invisible store.

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3 to use Augmented Reality instore

Store staff for mobile phone retailer Three are to use an augmented reality app in stores to improve customers’ perception of its network coverage.

Smartphones using the app will allow store staff to point the phone camera in any direction and show the masts that 3 own to potential customers. Augmented reality involves superimposing images onto live pictures captured using the phone’s camera.

One or two handsets with the app installed will start to go into Three’s 307 stores in the coming months.

A spokesman for Three said that it is in the pipeline expand the app’s capabilities to display where stores are located.

The current app allows selection of a mast to show where it is exactly and how far away it is from where the user are standing. The app will not be available directly to consumers.

The masts will be categorized by different colours to show which ones have been added since Three’s has completed its three-year long network upgrade yesterday through sharing mast sites with T-mobile.

Post: retailweek

Pizza Hut on the go

Pizza Hut has launched an Australian iPhone app to enable mobile ordering of products.

The app features an augmented reality function or ‘GPS Store Finder’, giving iPhone 3Gs users with the ability to find their nearest Pizza Hut store. Users can hold up their iPhone 3Gs, the camera opens and the screen shows what is in front of the user, as well as small tabs highlighting the direction and distance of Pizza Hut locations nearby.


All iPhone users will have fun with the exclusive racing game – a great way to be entertained while waiting for their orders to be delivered.

The app gives customers the ability to order a selection of food including pizza, tuscani pasta, sides, and drinks. Orders can be saved as an ‘ifav’, making it quicker to order in the future.

Pizza Hut’s iPhone app has been specially created for the local market and is based on the popular US version.

The app can be viewed at http://www.pizzahut.com.au/iphone and downloaded from the iTunes store.

Pizza Hut will also launch a new ordering service for a variety of other 3G mobile phones in the near future.

To see a demonstration of the app, go to www.pizzahut.com.au/iphone.

From Inside Retailing March 17