Dive Brief:

• Alongside other retailers trying out in-store tech, H&M is piloting new tech features at select COS stores, the retailer announced on May 27. 
• The stores will feature smart mirrors in fitting rooms that can identify customers’ products, including the size and color, and provide personalized product or styling recommendations. There will also be smart mirrors on the sales floor for virtual try-on and styling, as well as new checkout, delivery and returns technology, the company said. 
• The retailer is testing out the technology in COS stores in the U.S., starting with a location in Beverly Hills, California, per the press release. Alan Boehme, chief technology officer of H&M Group, said in a statement that the company plans to test the experience throughout the year.

Dive Insight:

To keep up with customers' evolving expectations for their shopping experience, H&M noted in its announcement that it seeks to develop new technologies that deepen relationships with its customers.

This isn't the company's first foray into smart mirrors. H&M piloted voice interactive mirrors in 2018 at its New York City location in Time Square, which also provided styling recommendations, discounts via QR codes and selfies. The retailer tapped Microsoft; Ombori, a UX design company; and Visual Art, a digital signage company, to create the mirrors.

At the COS stores, the smart mirrors use RFID technology to gather information about what items a customer has brought into the fitting room and the mirrors collect only product data, a spokesperson for H&M confirmed via email. 

“We are developing and imagining how COS retail spaces can inspire our customers, both now and for the future. Our ambition is to pilot new technologies that allow us to meet and exceed our customers’ in-store shopping expectations,” Lea Rytz Goldman, managing director of COS, said in a statement. “With COS Beverly Hills, we have seen first-hand how our customer experience can be elevated with tech enhancements. As a result, these innovations will be rolled out in more COS U.S. stores this year.”

Retailers have been experimenting with in-store technology that enhances the shopping experience in a variety of ways as consumer expectations rise. The dressing room has been an area of particular focus, with American Eagle, Amazon and Savage x Fenty all introducing fitting room tech tools in the past couple of years. In a holiday pop-up shop last year, The Bay tested a showroom concept that let customers use QR codes to buy products they liked in-store.