O2 Business has installed a digital clothing rail in UK department store Tyrers, which displays the popularity of items using real-time social media ‘likes’.

Trend monitoring website Springwise.com reports the historic department store, which dates back to 1888, has installed the first live-feed, digital clothing rail in the country in the run up to Christmas.

Many of the businesses in St Helens, a town in Merseyside, England, are receiving a digital makeover from O2 Business.

“Towns and cities that are digital seem to be more prosperous,” says Ben Down, business director at O2, who hopes the project will to make the local community in St Helens more connected.

The live-feed clothing rail displays the physical items which are also on their Facebook and Instagram pages. As users ‘like’ pieces online, a meter will fluctuate in real-time, according to the corresponding item’s popularity.

O2’s research demonstrated that social media trends are a significant factor in determining what shoppers buy.

“Projects like this could help high street stores stay connected with online shoppers, while still offering consumers the physical interaction with products,” observes Springwise.

“How else can retail businesses integrate the online with the offline, and provide consumers with the best of both?”