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.

MVM 3D Visual Search Goes "Beyond Google"

How do people search for clothing? It depends of who you are, how you want to be, what you have in mind. The same question makes people hate shopping: How do I know what I want?

"My Virtual Model provides a way to search, shop, and buy with your model, which goes beyond Google. Searching evolves from text to 3D. The customer dresses up her model with the styles she is looking for, just as if she were with her own personal shopper. Any search engine gives the results by matching real sellable items with the customer's query. This enables a discovery of products by personal style."

The New Language of Marketing 2.0 by Sandy Carter, IBM Press, 2008.

Thanks Sandy. "Beyond Google", you say? I really like to quote you on this.

Personalization is not just another fad. It’s the way you choose to surf the Web. We all do it. Today’s young adults had a very different schooling than baby-boomers. During the 80’s and 90’s, new interactive methods focusing on process rather than content were introduced in primary schools. People learned how to find answers fitting their questions. These skills prepared them for the Internet Age where new content is available each day that wasn’t there the day before.

One of these interactive learning methods is called Storyline:

"Together, learner and teacher create a scenario through visualisation; the making of collages, three-dimensional models and pictures employing a variety of art and craft techniques. (...) The teacher’s role is mainly that of a facilitator."

The Storyline Method (from Wikipedia)

Lots of us know that learning has to be fun to be effective, and merchandisers know that about shopping since the Ice Age.

My Virtual Model 3D Visual Search works by helping people to find things the way they’re used to find them, visually. And they love it!

By the end of Q4-2008, MVM installed two Visual Search public pilots on Sears.com and MSN Shopping to demonstrate ROI in both retail and portal contexts. As metrics belong to our partners, we cannot say more about this for now but I will update you about our own pilot in my next post.