Walmart Acquires Fitting Room Tech Zeekit

Retail giant Walmart has acquired virtual fitting room platform Zeekit. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Virtual try-on is a game changer and solves what has historically been one of the most difficult things to replicate online—understanding fit and how an item will actually look on you," said Denise Incandela, evp of apparel and private brands at Walmart U.S., announcing the deal. Zeekit provides "an inclusive, immersive and personalized experience," she added. The retailer intends to bring the technology to Walmart.com—though timing was not disclosed. Once it is live, shoppers will be able to upload photos or “choose from a series of models that best represents their height, shape and skin tone to instantly see themselves in any item of clothing, mimicking the experience of trying on clothes in a store,” Incandela wrote. This will allow customers to virtually try on any of the clothing brands Walmart carries, including Eloquii Elements, Free Assembly and Sofia Jeans by Sofia Vergara. They will also be able to share virtual outfits to get second (or third) opinions. “This brings an inclusive and social experience to digital shopping,” Incandela added. From military application to fashion tech Zeekit CEO Yael Vizel, CTO Alon Kristal and vp of R&D Nir Appleboim will join Walmart, along with their team. The company, founded in 2013, applied real-time image processing, computer vision, deep learning and artificial intelligence to build the Zeekit experience. It is technology previously developed for the Israeli Defense Force and applied to fashion. “Zeekit uses its patented technology to map a person's image into thousands of segments,” the company said. “Clothing is processed in a similar manner, and the equivalent points of the two are remapped into one final simulation, showing a person dressed, taking into account body dimensions, fit, size and the fabric of the garment.” Incandela noted Walmart hopes to apply the technology “to create other fashion experiences, including the ability to build the world’s largest virtual closet and mix and match clothing seamlessly.” The rise of social commerce The retailer has experimented with other facets of social commerce, including a shoppable fashion-focused livestream on TikTok in December, which it followed up with a beauty-based livestream in March. The concept of body scans and virtual try-ons dates back at least a decade to startups like Me-Ality, which worked with department stores such as Bloomingdale's to provide airport-security-like scanners to help identify the perfect pair of jeans. It didn’t quite work out that way. Since then, other retailers like Ikea, Sephora and Nike have also experimented with the concept of virtual try-ons for furniture, makeup and shoes, respectively. Amazon made headlines in 2019 when reports emerged it was offering $25 gift cards to consumers who consented to 3D body scans. Amazon’s plans are still not clear, although, at the time, a spokesperson said its Body Labs subsidiary sought to better understand body shape to “help us design better products and technologies,” including “innovative shopping experiences.” Livestreaming Will Take Retail By Storm in 2021