News Feature | December 8, 2015

Zara Adding iPads To Dressing Rooms As Fashion Meets Technology

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Zara Adding iPads To Dressing Rooms

Devices allow customers to request clothing to be brought to them.

Zara, the Spanish fashion giant, is installing iPads in the dressing rooms of its Spanish stores, allowing customers to request clothing to be brought straight to them, according to The Local . The pilot is being tested in Spain, and ultimately could be introduced to Zara stores in the United States as well. Zara has more than 2,000 stores worldwide.

The plan is the “first such scheme in the world of high-street fashion” and allows customers to scan their items onto the iPad as they enter the changing room, and then request alternative sizes or items to be brought to them by sales staff.  Several Inditex brands have been using the scheme, but so far it has been exclusively used by staff, allowing them to contact each other to request different items, or contact colleagues in different stores.

As Fortune asserted, “It’ll make changing your mind a lot less stressful.”  The move also follows a Black Friday that highlighted the importance of catering to online and mobile shoppers.

According to Fortune, last year Zara’s chief competitor Sweden’s H&M, tried a different approach when it put cash registers and sales advisers in the fitting area, allowing customers to avoid standing in line at checkouts.

In the U.S., upscale department store chains such as Bloomingdale’s, Neiman-Marcus, and Nordstrom are testing smart systems to aid customers’ purchase decisions.  Some US retailers, including Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, have been testing touchscreen mirrors in dressing rooms at certain US locations, collecting data on customer tastes while also providing convenience. And Nieman-Marcus has installed the Memory Mirror, a system that allows customers to try on and compare items virtually, at three of its U.S. stores. 

These efforts are an attempt to bridge the online and brick-and-mortar worlds, bringing the convenience of mobile and online shopping to the in-store experience.