Nordstrom tests web-connected digital mirrors in store dressing rooms
Editor
Shoppers in two stores can get product recommendations, see inventory availability and request help from a clerk by tapping a touchscreen mirror from eBay Inc.
Nordstrom Inc. is adding a dash of digital connectivity to some of its store fitting rooms. The department store chain is adding interactive mirrors that provide shoppers with product recommendations and access to in-store inventory information as they try clothes on.
The mirrors will debut Dec. 5 in fitting rooms in some departments at the Nordstrom Seattle Southcenter location and later in December at the Nordstrom Valley Fair location in San Jose, CA. The software powering the connected mirrors is from eBay Inc.
Here’s how it works. A shopper enters the fitting room with the items she wants to try on, and sees what resembles an ordinary mirror. Using a bar code scanner mounted on the wall, she—or the clerk assisting her—scans the tags on the clothes she’s brought in. This engages the mirror, and the shopper sees consumer reviews of those items, what other sizes or colors are in stock at the store and product recommendations related to those items as selected by Nordstrom’s stylists. For example, if the shopper brings in an evening gown, the recommendations might include shoes or jewelry that would work with the dress.
Using the mirror, the shopper can request items be brought to her in the fitting room, or request general help from a clerk. Clerks get an alert through an associate tablet application that a shopper wants help and they can respond to let her know help or the items she wants are on the way. The message appears on the mirror.
“Customers are very accustomed now to using digital,” a Nordstrom spokesman says. “This two-store test takes what is great with the e-commerce experience and puts it in the dressing room to find out what matters to customers.” The mirrors at launch will only show inventory available at that store, but the spokesman says they may be connected to Nordstrom’s chain-wide inventory system, including its online inventory, down the line. The spokesman says Nordstrom intends to collect information about how consumers and associates use the mirror and use that to determine what other functions, such as the ability to share online, may be added.
Steve Yankovich, vice president of innovation and new ventures at eBay, says the eBay software behind the mirrors can be made to manage many data sources and features. For example, if Nordstrom or another retailer wanted to skip the manual bar code scanning in the dressing room, an RFID reader could collect product information automatically when a consumer enters the fitting room. A retailer could also connect their customer relationship management database so recommendations shown on the mirror could reflect the styles and brands the customer previously has purchased from the retailer. “The software can be dynamically changed based on what works,” he says. Retailers including Rebecca Minkoff and Kate Spade have recently worked with eBay’s software to implement touchscreen-based shopping assistants in their stores.
The digital mirror test is the latest in a series of efforts by Nordstrom to bring technology and web features into its stores. This summer it began showing items from its Wanelo product feed on screens in its BP department (what Nordstrom calls its junior’s department) in more than 100 stores. Wanelo, a social shopping network, is popular with teens and young adults shoppers. Nordstrom, which has 1.4 million consumers following its Wanelo shopping feed, displays on the screens products that are proving popular with Wanelo users and that are currently available on the rack in that department.
In May, Nordstrom announced it would spend $1.2 billion in technology investments over the next five years. Nordstrom is No. 24 in Internet Retailer's Top 500 Guide.
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