eBay and Rebecca Minkoff have teamed up to opened a digitally ‘connected store’ located in New York. The shop merges online and physical shopping. The ‘connected wall’ features a mirrored display that shows videos and inspirational content, and enables interaction as shoppers can touch the surface to request associates to prepare fitting rooms, order drinks and even change the environment’s lighting.
The ‘connected walls’ recognise all items in the room through RFID and identifies other sizes and colours that are available to the consumer. This creates an environment tailored for the customer’s needs and even works alongside mobile app. “How do you most efficiently use physical space to let people discover products?”, said Steve Yankovich, Head of Innovation and New Ventures at eBay, “Our retail innovation team is building out answers to that question by putting new concepts in front of consumers. These will lead to big, big changes in retail.” “There are less and less mannequins you’ve seen in stores,’ Yankovich added. “displays, video and connected touch walls can make seeing what products look like in actual use much more engaging and true to life.
Many surfaces and spaces in stores aren’t used efficiently. There are opportunities to help consumers have much more engaging shopping experiences.” Other stores will appear in San Francisco and Los Angeles late next year. Previously eBay has worked with Kate Spade on their interactive window display demonstrating their appetite to transform the in-store experience through digital.
