Dive Brief:
- Japan’s Rakuten has acquired Fits.Me, a tech startup offering virtual fitting room technology, in the latest in a string of tech investments.
- Thomas Pink, Hugo Boss, and QVC are clients of Fits.Me, which Rakuten plans to operate as a standalone business with few changes to staffing.
- The virtual fitting room space has become very competitive recently, with several smaller companies merging and being acquired by bigger players such as eBay.
Dive Insight:
Fits.Me offers a two-way virtual fitting room technology that allows users to visualize how apparel items might fit, using robot mannequins that match the user’s measurements. The technology also collects shoppers’ information to improve personalization.
“Not only does the virtual fitting room provide customers with a more realistic shopping experience, it also empowers merchants with the valuable data they need to continually improve their service,” Rakuten’s CEO and founder Hiroshi Mikitani said in a statement.
Several Rakuten businesses may be able to put Fits.Me technology to good use, including its main portal, and fully-owned apparel sites Vault and StyLife. Rakuten has also made recent investments in Pinterest, the social bulletin board site that’s shifting rapidly toward e-commerce, and Lyft, the rideshare company that competes with Uber.
