Louise Guay at the Club e-Luxe Summit 2009, Paris

Strategies for Luxury Website Design, e-Merchandising & e-Customization

Last June, Louise Guay and Gregory Saumier-Finch presented My Virtual Model to the luxury industry leaders at the Ritz Hotel, Paris. The Club e-Luxe Summit is held each year since 2007 by Uché Okonkwo, Luxe Corp.

Luxe.TV Interviews - Click to play

"As the creator of My Virtual Model, the 3-D visual merchandising application that enables the re-creation of the real-self in the virtual space, Louise's presentation was filled with her passion of visionary invention that transform everyone into an online star.

Louise took the audience on a journey of virtual self discovery by demonstrating how to create a personalized avatar, which enables users to try on products ranging from apparel, shoes, bags and jewellery as well as to test as many "looks" as one wishes. She also introduced My Virtual Model fashion community and its role in shaping the collective experiences of online users who are increasingly being exposed to 3D virtual interactions. The power of the online community through engagement and sharing of content prior to making purchases was also underlined.

Her proposition for luxury brands was that the online shopping experience should be fun and a celebration of the luxury brand through unique personalized experiences online."

Source: Luxe Corp Summit Book 2009

Shop.org 2009 Strategy and Innovation Forum

Feb. 2-4, Louise Guay, Jean-François St-Arnaud and Chantal Desrosiers demoed MVM's new offering at Shop.org 2009 Strategy and Innovation Forum. Our 3D Visual Search and My Virtual Model Community seem right on target as demonstrated by Ellen Davis' post on Shop.org Blog, "On the EXPO Floor":

"I spent quite a bit of time at last night’s networking dinner speaking with Jean-François St-Arnaud, one of the founders of My Virtual Model, which attempts to help retailers get customers over the hurdle of buying apparel online. The concept allows customers to build an avatar with their measurements and customize features like hair and eye color so that people can virtually "try on" clothing. In addition to helping customers put together outfits and get an understanding of what clothing would look like on them, the platform features a community where people can rate and comment on others’ looks, in addition to sharing their own styles.

Don’t take my word on how cool this is: check out the retail "dressing rooms" using My Virtual Model on websites like H&M, Sears and MSN Shopping. In addition to making people feel more comfortable with the idea of buying apparel online, I imagine that a platform like this could lower return rates as well."

Ok, if you don't want to take Ellen's word, you may take these:

The Technology Starlet: "My Virtual Model is the best virtual dressing room I found so far. You can find this interactive web app anywhere."
Virtual Dressing Rooms... Have They Gotten Any Better?

Momentary Lull: "One of the pleasures - and main selling point - when shopping for clothes is the ability to try things on, stroke the fabrics and have a reality check in the changing room. You can’t do that online but stores like sears.com try to fill this gap by letting you create a virtual model that looks like you. You can dress it and undress it at will and get a sense of how these crazy colors suit you."
Shoppertainment: 5 ways to have fun while shopping online

3DWalkthroughs: "My Virtual Model is one of the few companies that have really nailed it with regards to creating an application with real business value."
My Virtual Model - 3D Virtual Commerce Hit’s it’s Stride

Digital Vinyl: "It’s definately the best shopping avatar I’ve seen."
Style Avatars - H&M rocks online retail

Second Life Pros: "My Virtual Model is a concrete, and in my opinion very good, example of how you can try to make business on virtual things."
My virtual model

YPulse: "If this is successful, other brands will soon be forced to rethink the way they sell clothing online."
Sears Introduces Online 3-D Shopping

Thank you all, folks. Spread the word.

Fun is Transforming Online Fashion Shopping

There’s no doubt that online fashion shopping coupled with social networking is gaining momentum on the Internet. Online shopping will even grow faster in coming years as Digital Kids replace Boomers on the marketplace.

As John Palfrey and Urs Gasser say in "Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives" (Basic Books, 2008):

"The first generation of "Digital Natives" - children who were born into and raised in the digital world - are coming of age, and soon our world will be reshaped in their image. Our economy, our politics, our culture and even the shape of our family life will be forever transformed."

Already popular with teens and young fashionistas, social shopping strongly appeals to a wider market of professional women, working moms, special sizes and seasonal shoppers going for casual and workplace clothes, swimsuits, outerwear, party dresses, jeans, sportswear, sleepwear, lingerie, etc.

Beth Cherry posted this plea on her blog (October 12, 2008):

"Dear All Clothing Stores in the World,

Could you please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top, engage with My Virtual Model? Right now, you can only really play with Landsend, H&M, Sears, and a few others. I stayed up way past my bedtime tonight dressing my blue-eyed pony-tail wearing model, but I PROMISE this is the way I want to shop online: (1) it’s fun, (2) I "try on" things I would never try on in the store because it is fast, (3) I can store the data (outfits) for future reference (or for when I go into the store to try on an outfit for real) and share with my girlfriends. The more stories that participate, the more I can build outfits without running from store to store. It reminds me of that Fashion Plates toy from when I was a kid, except my model actually has hips as wide as my own. She needs to get on an exercise bike.

Regards,

Beth"

What we have learned from MVM users is that there’s never enough clothing, brands, styles, colors or accessories to curb any appetite. That’s because sameness is boring; the end of fashion is boring; having your cake and not eating it is boring.

The truth is: Fashion is Fun!