Macy’s furniture business is reaping the benefits of virtual reality
When a smart company gets challenged in its core business, it tends to pull the stops out to protect other lines that it has. In the case of Macy’s, which alongside other brick & mortar retailers, has been feeling the pain of Amazon as well as the shift to Direct to Consumer models on the part of branded apparel and retail, it is has opted to embrace virtual reality to improve the furniture shopping experience. We’ve seen other retailers ranging from Ikea to Sephora bringing virtual reality to its shoppers, and at Macy’s, it’s having a positive impact – the company found that VR-influenced furniture sales increased by more than 60% versus non-VR furniture sales and decreased returns to less than 2%.
One has to wonder if this aspect of our Disruptive Innovators investing theme means the death of the tape measure, especially since Apple has added “an app for that” with its latest iOS.
Macy’s is going all out for virtual reality with what it called the “largest VR rollout in retail history.”
The department store giant is deploying VR technology to boost customer confidence in furniture purchases and help shoppers make better buying decisions. The program also allows the retailer to offer a full range of furniture in a dramatically smaller space.
Macy’s is partnering with Marxent on the initiative, and the technology is now in place in some 70 Macy’s stores nationwide. The companies expect to add the “Macy’s VR furniture experience” to another 20 locations by January 2019.
Source: Macy’s reduces return rates with help of virtual reality technology |Chain Store Age
