Under Armour to Beta Test Volumental Self-service Fit Solution
Fit technology solution provider Volumental is rolling out a new self-service version of the company’s AI-powered foot scanners. The company said it is specifically designed “for a shopper-driven in-store experience, customers can take their own foot measurements at the click of a button and receive the best-fitting footwear recommendations on their phones, making it easy to select and buy shoes.”
The launch, sometime this year, begins with a beta test with Under Armour at select retail stores in the sporting goods segment and in outlets and brand houses.
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The value proposition for the technology has benefits for customers and retailers alike. To date, Volumental has scanned 36 million feet, and its data shows that foot scanning “improves the customer experience, with scanned shoppers purchasing at twice the rate of unscanned shoppers and generating 32.5 percent higher average transaction,” the company said in a statement, adding that the results also show a 25 percent reduction in returns.
Alper Aydemir, chief executive officer at Volumental, said the self-service scanners “will bring the same technology that specialty footwear retailers have enjoyed to many more retail segments.”
Aydemir said having worked with footwear retailers “across different store formats, service environments and staffing models, we realized the need for a self-service enabled shopping experience that is both innovative and easy to use for shoppers. This solution takes the guesswork out of the whole fitting experience and helps shoppers make smarter and faster purchase decisions with better-fit outcomes.”
Additionally, he said the personalized recommendations feature creates “a more engaging customer experience, allows retailers to manage inventory in a much smarter way and helps solve the issue of the huge returns facing the industry.”
The company said the self-service scanners will be in dedicated co-branded spaces in-store. “Touch screens will provide the customer with instructions on use as well as nearly instant personalized size recommendations on their perfect fitting brands and styles,” Volumental said.
